If proof were needed that Aussies like a drink, then the discovery of a pub cellar built just 13 years after European settlement should be enough.

The remains of what is believed to be one of the oldest pubs in the country were found by construction workers at a development site in Parramatta.

Just a metre below the surface, workers unearthed the cellar belonging to the Wheatsheaf Hotel -- which stood on the corner of Marsden and Macquarie Sts from 1801 to 1808.

A second hotel -- The Shepherd and Flock Inn -- opened at the site in 1825 and continued trading until 1870.

Amazingly, the cellar's timber floor was still intact -- preserved after being water-logged and starved of oxygen. Several spigots -- brass taps put into barrels -- have also been found.

[Editor's note: See Roundup's Talking About History for more.]