Consumer practice at Viewbank homestead

Understanding consumer practice is important for contextualising the material culture of the past. Previous studies on trade networks and shopping in Australia have demonstrated this contribution. This paper aims to contribute further by examining the consumer behaviour of an upper middle-class family. Analysis of the artefact assemblage from the Viewbank homestead, Melbourne, provides an excellent case study for this aim. The homestead was occupied by wealthy doctor Robert Martin and his family from 1844 to 1874. This paper examines the trade networks utilised by the Martin family, and compares this with the networks used by working-class people at Casselden Place, to illustrate how these networks indicate the social and economic structure of Melbourne. It also examines how the Martins were shopping and what this reveals of the factors of necessity and price in the context of a wealthy family.