At home (which I started building in 1991) the landscape outside the house shows effects of Aboriginal occupation that predate white settlement and there are isolated bits of tools that predate the microlith (~5000ybp) tradition but the oldest whitefella thing is probably the remnants of the salt lick (~1880s) next to the house. Salt licks were located where the sheep naturally camped overnight (mostly the warmest overnight spot on the property, here in the Tablelands) so that's a major reason for locating the house here; the topsoil (with all its additions from the sheep camp) was relocated while doing the cut for the house and now forms the garden.

The oldest man made thing inside the house is a toss up between a Lachenal Anglo and a microscope, both ~1860. The oldest woman made thing known to be so is some knitting of my mother's from when I was born.

At work I can see an Aboriginal quarry site, undated so far, from my office in a weatherboard on brick building built in 1959; we're being relocated from it (the fellow controlling the buildings is fearful of anything to do with heritage and wants to demolish it before it becomes 50 years old and eligible - in his dreams - for heritage listing) inot a brick building built in 1961. The oldest anthropogenic object in my office is an Achulean hand axe ("Unfair!" you cry, as I'm an archaeologist; fair enough) but discounting that, a theodolite (Troughton) or a 4x5" full movement camera (Plaubel), neither of which I've dated but probably from the 1930s.

In the office, the oldest thing that I've made, is the housing and its accoutrements I made in 1970 for a max-min thermometer my supervisor could hoist into the canopy of the Eucalyptus regnans forest he used as his study area. I had to climb 150' up into the canopy to place its pulley system, so he understood I'd like it as a keepsake when he'd finished.

Cheers, Rowan