Routes as latent information—spatial analysis of historical pathways on the peripheries of the Victorian gold fields

Abstract

Abstract This article argues that the existing network of roads, arising from socially mediated human behavior, represents a well-preserved feature present across a broad region and contains latent historical information that can be retrieved using appropriate analytical techniques. It presents a method combining iterative cost path modeling and proximity analysis to reconstruct patterns of historical movement, and uses the results of this analysis as a heuristic tool to delineate regional social distinctions evident in characteristics of land appropriation and settlement within an area on the peripheries of the goldfields of central Victoria. The results of the least-cost route and proximity analysis presented in this paper delineate variations in patterns of movement across the study area that suggest distinctions in community development and character, adding depth and nuance to histories of the gold fields and their later years and supporting alternatives to assumptions of linear historical change.