Rubbish or historic artefact?

Plastic wrappers, "Up'n'Go" liquid breakfast in tetrapaks and other rubbish clearly don't belong in the outdoors. But what about things that have been around for long enough to become historic? This track marker had been grown around by a tree and was quite a cool thing to see on a recent tramp. How long before it becomes completely engulfed by the tree?

What about bits of history and artefacts like cog wheels from gold mining operations, or historic items in a hut. A pile of rusty cans slowly decomposing in the bush is ugly regardless of how old they are in my opinion, although the right kind of historian could possibly go into spasms of joy at finding them, I would still try to get rid of it.

Chances are, if you find something and it looks cool and old and you could consider it a souvenir, then it is worth leaving for others to appreciate. Like lots of other great finds, take a photo and if in doubt, let DOC know in case it should be taken care of in a museum.

Cultural items like historic huts and middens (shellfish piles from old pa and kainga sites) are part of our outdoor experience and our national heritage. Generally it is clear what is rubbish but I thought it was interesting to think about the grey area between rubbish and historic artefacts.

Perhaps in future people will think our rubbish is valuable, but that is no excuse for leaving rubbish behind.