Month: July 2023

1920s · 1930s · 1932 · 20th century · Aesthetics · Bridges · Collective Memory · Commemoration · Community identity · Cultural and Heritage Tourism · Cultural Heritage · Engineering Heritage · Engineering History · Entertainment · Film · Heritage · History · Industrial Heritage · Interwar · JE Bradfield Engineer · Living History · Memory · Modernism · Monuments · Place making · Political history · Sense of place · Storytelling · Sydney · Sydney Harbour Bridge · Tourism · Transport · transport history · Uncategorized · Urban development · Urban growth · Urban history

The Sydney Harbour Bridge, an engineering marvel

camdenhistorynotes

Turning the first sod

In July 1923, the first sod was turned at North Sydney, marking the commencement of the construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

The crowd at the turning of the first sod for the construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge in North Sydney in 1922 (SRNSW)

When construction started after the speeches and ceremonies, there was the destruction of over 500 houses in the North Sydney area. Neighbourhoods in Waverton and Milsons Point were destroyed.

North Sydney historian Ian Hoskins estimates that 5%-10% of North Sydney’s population was displaced.

Harold Cazneaux ‘The Old and the New’ 1920s NGA. This image shows some of the destruction of the houses necessary for the bridge’s construction.

Commissioning the bridge

When the bridge was commissioned in the early 1920s, it was the largest construction project ever undertaken in Australia. It was a bold concept and design and captured the Sydney imagination. It joined two parts of the emerging city and crossed the picturesque Port Jackson waterway.

The Sydney Harbour Bridge at night in 1961 (SRNSW)

Historian Peter Spearritt’s The Sydney Harbour Bridge A Life states that the idea of linking Dawes Point with the North Shore was first proposed in 1815 by ex-convict and government architect Francis Greenway. The first bridge sketch appeared in 1857 when the NSW Commissioner of Roads and Bridges, WC Bennett, proposed a pontoon. Other ideas included a tunnel under the harbour. Meanwhile, ferries plied between both sides of the harbour carrying millions of passengers yearly.

JE Bradfield

In the 1890s, a Sydney University-educated Queenslander joined the NSW Department of Public Works. He was engineer JE Bradfield. He was an enthusiastic bridge supporter and profoundly impacted the bridge story and the Sydney transport system.

Linking Sydney and North Sydney became political in the 1880s. Between 1880 and 1909, it was the subject of two Royal Commissions and advisory board reports.

JE Bradfield c1920s HC Krullti (NLA-136648686-1)

Bradfield put his first proposal for a Sydney Harbour Bridge in 1909. After a study trip to North America and England, his ideas were incorporated into the 1922 enabling legislation, the Sydney Harbour Bridge Act 1922 (NSW), passed by the New South Wales parliament.

In 1922 tenders were invited for both an arch and a cantilever-designed bridge, with English engineering firm Dorman, Long and Co winning the tender for their arch design. The bridge was to cost over £4 million.

Before construction began, hundreds of houses and businesses were demolished. Tenants were evicted while landlords received compensation. Construction started in 1923, and excavations began in 1925.

Nation-building project

There was great public interest during the construction of this nation-building project, with daily updates in the Sydney press and further afield. The construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge was the great engineering wonder of its day.

The Sydney Harbour Bridge under construction in 1930 (SRNSW)

The two arches, one each from either side of the harbour, grew in height and were visible all over Sydney. The arches were eventually joined in 1930. The bridge deck was completed by the end of the following year.

Bridge Opening

The notoriety of the bridge was assured when Francis De Groot, from the New Guard, stole the moment and cut the ribbon with his sword at the official bridge opening in 1932. Just as NSW Premier Jack Lang was going to cut the ribbon de Groot rode through on a borrowed horse and captured all the glory – for that moment, anyway.

Francis De Goot at the opening 1932 newspaper clipping (Pylon Lookout)

Celebrating the bridge

Various events and publications commemorated the bridge’s opening, including a postage stamp.

Postage stamp, Australia, 1932 – Sydney Harbour Bridge (Australia Post)

At the time and later, the bridge was celebrated in song, poetry, stories, novels, postcards, paintings, photography, cartoons, commemorative booklets, biscuit tins, jigsaws, teapots, coffee cups, salt & pepper shakers,  calendars, tea towels, cake icing, construction kits, pamphlets, brochures, newspaper supplements and even a bottle stopper.

Examples included the Reverend Frank Cash’s self-published book  Parables of the Sydney Harbour Bridge (1930) and CJ Dennis’s poem ‘I Dips me lid to the Sydney Harbour Bridge’ (1932). The bridge was used on the cover of Dymphna Cusack and Florence James’s novel Come in Spinner (1951). The romantic story was set in Sydney at the end of the Second World War.

The cover of the Pan Giant edition (1960) of Dymphana Cusack and Florence James’s romantic novel Come in Spinner (DoS)

The bridge story was recorded by photographers Harold Cazneaux, Henri Mallard and Frank Hurley, while artists Grace Cossington, Ure Smith, and Margaret Preston put a different slant on the story.

Harold Cazneaux – Arch of Steel 1947 (NGA)

Pylon Lookout

Bridge visitors could go up the Pylon Lookout from  1934. A 1950 advertisement proclaimed:

See Sydney from the Harbour Bridge Pylon Lookout. The highlight of a trip to Sydney is your visit to the Pylon Lookout. The Pylon Lookout has dozens of attractions to interest youngsters, school-children, youths and adults. Among the many features are…unusual souvenirs…See ’The Magic Picture’ – only one in the world – amusing, historical… Open every day 9.30am to 6pm.

The pylon lookout has been marked on this image by Lorenze Rychner (2018)

Lorenz Rychner on his blog International Travel News writes;

Few visitors realize the bridge can be crossed on foot in about 20 minutes and that the southeastern pylon is open to the public, rewarding a fairly short climb up a flight of stairs with wonderful, 360-degree views from a viewing platform. I’ve taken many visitors up there, and nobody has yet been less than enthralled.

Once inside the pylon, whether on the way up or down, one can study the fascinating displays showing how and when the bridge was constructed, what life was like for those who built it and what impact the bridge had on life in Sydney.

https://www.intltravelnews.com/2018/sydney-harbour-bridge-pylon-lookout

Crazy Brave

One of the crazy brave, and illegal activities taken up by young, energetic Sydneysiders as a rite of passage was to climb the bridge at night in the 1960s and 1970s. After scaling the man-proof fence and climbing up the inside on one of the girders, the young adventurers could walk up and along the top of the bridge arch. The result was a magnificent view of the Sydney night-time city skyline. Eventually, the  BridgeClimb was opened in 1998, and everyone could legally take in the views.

Specs

One of the most unusual things linked to the harbour bridge is the official unit of measurement – one Sydharb.  It is used to measure volume and is equivalent to 500 gigalitres and is the volume of water in Sydney Harbour.

An aerial view of Sydney Harbour with the bridge in 2009 (Wikimedia)

And just for the pedants and the record, the bridge was opened in 1932. It contains 6 million hand-driven rivets. The bridge toll was 6d. for a car, and for a horse and rider 3d.

The bridge is the world’s longest steel arch bridge. It is 1149 metres long, height 141 metres, width 49 metres, 134 metres above sea level and 16 men died during its construction. It took 272,000 litres of paint to give the bridge its first three coats, and the four pylons are only for decoration. (australia.gov.au)

Watch a video on the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Made by the Cinema Branch 1933. Directed by Lyn T Maplestone. Officially opened on 19 March 1932, the Sydney Harbour Bridge was a massive engineering undertaking that transformed the city. This short film documents the construction of one of the world’s great landmarks in its various stages. It provides a fascinating glimpse of life around Sydney Harbour and Circular Quay in the twenties and thirties. The Cinema Branch regularly filmed events of special interest to the nation. There were at least 3 different films on the progress of the bridge. Sydney’s Harbour Bridge was filmed over several years and edited to celebrate the opening.

Video on the construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge

Produced by the Sydney Division of the Institution of Engineers Australia on the 75th Anniversary of the Sydney Harbour Bridge (2007) Production by the Audio Visual Unit, UNSW.

Iconic status

The bridge has achieved iconic status and has transcended from being a symbol of Australian nationalism in the 1930s to a Sydney and Australian brand instantly recognisable the world over.

The Sydney Harbour Bridge is recognised globally for the annual New Year’s Eve fireworks.

New Year’s Eve fireworks in 2007 using the Sydney Harbour Bridge as a platform to launch the spectacle. (Wikimedia)

This is a view of the western side of the Sydney Harbour Bridge with Pier 2 at Walsh Bay in the foreground (I Willis 2023)

Updated 30 July 2023

20th century · Aesthetics · Architecture · Attachment to place · Belonging · Biography · Built heritag · Camden Cottage · Camden Story · Campbelltown Art Centre · Collective Memory · Community identity · Cultural Heritage · Cultural icon · Domestic Architecture · Family history · History · History of a house · Hope and loss · House history · Housing · Lifestyle · Living History · Local History · Local Studies · Macarthur · Macarthur region · Memory · Mid-century modernism · Modernism · Peri-urban region · Placemaking · rural-urban fringe · Social History · Stereotypes · Storytelling · Symbolism

‘Fibro Majestic’, a new exhibition at the Campbelltown Arts Centre, a review

camdenhistorynotes

A simple, cheap housing style

Post-war housing domestic architecture in Camden is typified by a simple, cheap utilitarian building called the Camden fibro cottage.

This style of domestic architecture, the fibro cottage, can be found all over Australia and has provided a basic form of housing for thousands of families.

Modern fibro cottages in Burrawong Crescent Elderslie were built around the 1960s. (I Willis, 2005)

Yet it has been derided, rubbished, and scoffed at for decades after initially being heralded as the height of modernism in the early 20th century.

Fibro Majestic exhibition

The simple fibro house is celebrated in a new exciting exhibition at the Campbelltown Arts Centre called Fibro Majestic by renowned Australian artist and sculptor Catherine O’Donnell.

The exhibition by artist Catharine O’Donnell runs from 8 July to 13 August 2023 with free entry.

Promotional flyer for Fibro Majestic at the Campbelltown Arts Centre, Campbelltown (CAC 2023)

Initially conceived for the artist’s survey exhibition ‘Beyond the Shadow’ at the Orange Regional Gallery in partnership with Grafton Regional Gallery, curated by art historian Lucy Stanger in 2022.

At the centre of the exhibition is the imposing spectacle of a 75%-scale replica of a fibro house.

The exhibition promotion states:

‘Catherine O’Donnell: Fibro Majestic’ presents a body of work by O’Donnell that considers the historical and social context of fibro and social housing in Western Sydney and across Australia. O’Donnell grew up in a fibro home in Green Valley, Western Sydney, which at the time was the largest public housing estate in Sydney. The shape and form of the fibro house has long since informed her practice as she explores architecture, social history and the notions of home and memory.    

Cover for the Fibro Majestic Exhibition Catalogue at the Campbelltown Arts Centre, Campbelltown (CAC, 2023)

Exhibition notes state that O’Donnell has taken the floor plans from the New South Wales Housing Commission around the mid-century. They are a type of modernism that has fallen out of favour with the government, the public and the building industry.

A small-scale model of a fibro cottage.
Catherine O’Donnell, ‘Gold leafed house 1’, 2022. Stereolithographic model and gold leaf 13x26x30cm. Campbelltown Arts Centre, Campbelltown. (I Willis, 2023)

Complementing the main sculptural installation is a range of small housing models and intimate drawings that evoke memories of living in a fibro house.

Catherine O’Donnell, ‘Beyond the curtain beats a loving heart’, 2020. Charcoal on paper diptych, 107×50 framed.
Campbelltown Arts Centre Fibro Majestic Exhibition 2023. (I Willis, 2023)

The fibro houses were more than just buildings. They sheltered people’s lives, provided a safe haven, and were a site of family celebrations, birthdays, marriages, anniversaries, and rituals. The curtains also hid many dark secrets, from domestic violence to poverty and unemployment. While there were many dysfunctional families and disrupted lives, there were many happy families with children who grew up and led successful lives.

One of the happy stories with many fond memories is the story of Fiona, who grew up in the Airds Housing Commission Estate in South Campbelltown. with its many fibro homes.

Fiona recalls:

Living in Airds during the late 70s and early 80s, friendships were built, and people stuck together. It was the freedom of riding bikes with friends until the street lights came on, building makeshift cubbies and performing concerts for the neighbours.

I still remember the excitement of walking to the local shops with my sisters to buy a few groceries for Mum. The constant search for ‘bargains’ in the hope there would be twenty cents left over to buy some mixed lollies.

Ugly Australia

According to O’Donnell, fibro cottages ‘were compact, mass-produced, box-like structures’ built across Sydney’s western suburbs.

The simple fibro cottage has characterised Western Sydney and its lifestyle.  The simplicity of the fibro cottage was its attraction and part of its downfall.

Typical of the urban fringe, the simple fibro cottage has been derided and ridiculed by those who are snobbish about Sydney’s outer suburbs.

The fibro cottage is typical of suburbia on the edge. The edge can be marginalised people, the urban fringe, or the perception that it is a type of housing that is unacceptable to some.

The fibro cottage represents a type of Otherness, an ugly Australia. These images have been reinforced by the Sydney press, which labelled Campbelltown an ‘ugly houso wasteland’ in 1975.

According to historian Ian Willis

The humble fibro cottage in Camden in the 1950s and 1960s has been integral to the town’s 20th-century history. The fibro house represents the baby-boomer era, when drive-ins, Holdens, Chiko rolls, black & white TV, rock & roll, and vinyl LPs were the norm. Fibro is evocative of long summer holidays by the beach, with adolescent love, boogie boards, zinc cream and paddle pops.  

This is the essence of Fibro Majestic, a metaphor for mid-century Australia.

Optimism and hope in a compact box

The fibro cottage came to the rescue in the post-war years, when Sydney experienced a housing shortage due to the ‘baby boom’ and increased immigration.

The postwar years were a period of optimism and hope for a better lifestyle. These cottages were cheap and utilitarian and could be erected quickly.

Fibro, as a building materialz, was invented at the beginning of the 20th century and imported into Australia before the First World War. Wartime restrictions resulted in the product being manufactured in Australia by the war’s end.

This is an image of a Camden fibro cottage built in 1920. Chesham Cottage is at 49 Broughton Street, Camden, built by the Camden Voluntary Workers Association following the First World War. (Camden Images)

Leaked heat like a sieve

The fibro cottages of the 1950s leaked heat like a sieve and failed by today’s energy-efficient efficiency standards for housing. According to Lloyd Nicols from the Illawarra Flame retrofit project, these cottages can be made energy efficient to make them sustainable, affordable, and attractive. The project, a joint venture between the University of Wollongong and Wollongong TAFE College, aims for kits to be able to retrofit existing fibro cottages to increase their thermal performance.

Nostalgia and memory

Nostalgia and memory are a big part of the exhibition. Artist Catherine O’Donnell states that the fibro cottage is the architecture of my childhood and an ‘everywhere-everyman example of mid-century developments across Australia’.

The simple fibro shacks littered along the Australian coastline are part of this nostalgia. Wendy Shaw and Lindsay Menday argue

The old beach shacks that dominated seaside fishing villages or isolated holiday surfing spots provided low-cost accommodation for holidaymakers in often remote and low-populated settings with few services. Some of these holiday houses were owner-occupied but remained vacant outside holiday times. Most were available for short-term holiday rental. All were relatively basic.

These fibro cottages straddled the class divide and were easily accessible by the motor car by mid-century. These were egalitarian holiday experiences for Australians.

The Fibro Majestic sculptural installation attracts an audience at the Campbelltown Arts Centre, Campbelltown (I Willis 2023)

Shaw and Menday maintain that

In northern New South Wales, tropes of nature, community, and heritage [around fibro cottages] have been incorporated into a new beachside ‘town’ identity.

These fantasies of bygone days play out in the Fibro Majestic exhibition, which conjures up memories of beach holidays with long lazy days lounging in the sun in a mystical past. All viewed through rose-coloured glasses misty with nostalgia.

O’Donnell maintains that these memories are ‘synonymous with Australian identity’.

Flawed Plans, a commission

In addition to the main exhibition, The Campbelltown Arts Centre has commissioned a site-specific art installation on the stairs and front wall of the gallery amphitheatre called ‘Flawed Plans’.

The Flawed Plans art installation in the forecourt of Campbelltown Arts Centre.
‘Flawed Plans’, 2023. (Campbelltown Arts Centre Amphitheatre). Vinyl, dimensions variable. Commissioned by the CAC. (I Willis, 2023)

The artwork highlights the many layers to the story of the fibro cottage and how perceptions shift and twist.

Where once the fibro house was seen as a saviour as a cheap and effective form of housing, it has become a to be seen as an urban disaster by many.

The artist maintains that as the viewer climbs around the installation, their perception shifts and skews ‘as the viewer climbs, descends or orbits the work’.

Fibro Majestic, a reflection

Fibro Majestic reminds us all how perceptions and memories change over time. Fibro houses were once the height of modernism, yet in later decades, they were derided and rubbished.

The sculptural installation at the Fibro Majestic exhibition at the Campbelltown Arts Centre, Campbelltown.
‘Fibro Majestic’, 2022. Mixed media, common household construction materials, 587x587x220cm. (I Willis, 2023)

The exhibition evokes the fibro heritage of affordable accommodation for the working man and his family in the postwar years when there was a housing shortage for ordinary people.

Fibro was a practical building material that, despite its dangers, could provide a model for the current housing crisis. The fibro cottage was a simple effective housing solution that could be reborn again.

The exhibition Fibro Majestic has captured the essence of nostalgia around this housing style. Baby boomer memories are full of fibro houses and other mid-century Australian lifestyle icons.

The art installation encapsulates the essential elements of the architectural style and is evocative of the lives of those who lived in this utilitarian style of domestic architecture.

More reading

Shaw, W. S., & Menday, L. (2013). Fibro Dreaming: Greenwashed Beach-house Development on Australia’s Coasts. Urban Studies, 50(14), 2940–2958. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098013482507

Jenna Reed Burns 2015, ‘Shacking Up’, Green Magazine, Issue 43, May. https://greenmagazine.com.au/article/shacking-up/

Artefacts · Belonging · Camden · Camden District · Camden Historical Society · Camden Story · Collective Memory · Community identity · Cultural Heritage · Cultural icon · Historical consciousness · Historical thinking · History · Local History · Local Studies · Memorialisation · Memorials · Monuments · Place making · Storytelling · Uncategorized

Camden Historical Society, 60 years of local history, 1957-2017

camdenhistorynotes

Address by Dr Ian Willis at the 60th Anniversary Meeting, 24 July 2017, Camden

Welcome all.

First, I would like to thank the 60th Anniversary Organising Committee for their work in organising this event. Rene, Cathey, Dawn and Lee.

Dr Ian Willis, society president, gave the 60th-anniversary address standing next to Dawn Williams, the event MC. The anniversary was held in the Camden Library Museum atrium and the Camden Museum. The anniversary birthday cake is on the table in front of the image. (CHS)

When I was told I was presenting the keynote address at this anniversary meeting, I was told there would be no other speakers. So what to say?

The society has had 60 wonderful years since its foundation in 1957.

 I want to drill into those 60 years and ask the question: What is the business of the society? What is our mission statement?

The 60th-anniversary birthday cake of the Camden Historical Society was cut and distributed to the many who attended the event. (CHS)

I maintain that role of the Camden History Society is to tell the Camden story.

Stories are an integral part of place-making and the creation of community identity. They are full of meaning by allowing the past to inform the present. They help those in the present to understand why things are like they are. Stories are about context and help explain where we fit in the big picture.

And telling the Camden story explains why our community is how it is today.

Telling the Camden story has led to several firsts for the society.

Camden History Journal

The first history of the society was written by Peter Mylrea in the first journal published by the society, Camden History, in 2001. The upcoming issue of the journal will be part of volume 4.

The cover of the first edition of the Camden History Journal under the editorship of Peter Mylrea. (I Willis, 2023)

The first public lecture was presented at the first ordinary meeting of the society meeting in August 1957 by the society’s first vice-president Harold Lowe. The talk was called the ‘History of Camden Park’.  Harold was an interesting local identity, a farmer from Elderslie and a good cyclist who competed in the Goulburn-Sydney cycle races. He was an alderman on Camden Municipal Council for many years. In 1925, Toby Taplin rescued undertaker Percy Peters and his driver George Thurn when their hearse was washed off the Cowpastures Bridge in the flood.

Lobbying

The first lobbying of the Camden Council by the society occurred in 1957.  The society was concerned about the location of John Oxley’s anchor that the Council had been given in 1929. The British Admiralty had given Australia three commemorative anchors to serve as a memorial of the death of John Oxley.

The other two are in Wellington and Harrington, NSW. The Camden anchor was from the Destroyer Tomahawk. Oxley was a naval officer and the first colonial Surveyor General in NSW and had been assigned the grants of Kirkham and Elderslie.  The anchor languished in the council yard for over 25 years, all but forgotten. The society lobbied the council for six years, and in 1963 the anchor was unveiled in Kirkham Lane. The society has recently lobbied the council again, and in 2015 the anchor was moved to Curry Reserve, along with a sculpture of Oxley’s profile. 

Camden Museum display of hand tools. Each object has a story to tell those who care to listen to it. (2021 KHolmquist)

Community Partnership

The first community partnership was with Camden High School on the foundation of the society in 1957. The first meeting was held at the school and chaired by the Camden High School P&C Society president. The first president Bill McCulloch was the deputy principal of Camden High School, whom John Brownie, the school principal, followed. Society meetings were held at the school for 42 years.

There have been a host of other community partnerships, and two of the largest have been with Camden Rotary in the foundation of the museum in 1970, and currently with Camden Council Library and Camden Area Family History Society. Other organisations collaborating with the historical society have included   Camden Lions, Camden Quota, Camden Show Society, Camden Red Cross, Camden Council, and our affiliation with the Royal Australian Historical Society.  

Many firsts

Some other firsts for the society include:

  • The first society excursion was a day trip to Yerranderie in March 1958 before the Burragorang Valley was flooded, with the first overnight trip to Canberra in 1964.
  • The first time the society acted as a tour guide was on a visit to the Catholic Historical Society in September 1958.
  • The community speakers were provided at the Festival of the Golden Fleece in August 1960,
  • The first newsletter was put together in 1970, with a short rebirth in 1985-86 as the Camden Historian, and most recently, from November 2005.
  • The first radio broadcast was Dick Nixon’s ‘Know Your Camden’ for community radio 2CR in 1978,
  •  The first society publication was John Wrigley’s, ‘A History of Camden’ in 1979.
  • The state government’s first grant to fund society activities was $150 in 1979.
  • The first website for the society appeared in 1997, sponsored by Christine and Steve Robinson, and in 2006 the society launched its website, <camdenhistory.org.au>
  • And in 2015, the society launched into the social media space with its Facebook page. 

Camden Museum

The most important first for the society was the establishment of the museum.  

In 1967, a children’s book, EL Konigsburg’s From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler was published in the USA.  The book tells the story of two kids, 12-year-old Claudia and her 9-year-old brother Jamie, who ran away from home to live in New York’s Metropolitan Art Museum.

Claudia and Jamie have an exciting adventure living in a museum coming face-to-face with the thrilling mysteries of art history. They immerse themselves in the adventures of learning about everything. The book won numerous awards and is used extensively in schools in the US.

Now, the Camden Museum is not the New York Met.

I hope visitors to our museum want to learn about everything about Camden. 

Hopefully, a visit to the Camden Museum will allow folk to immerse themselves in the mysteries of the past.  And be a learning adventure on the way.

A yearning for the past is not new.  For some people, the past provides security and safety.  The Camden Museum provides a safe zone where visitors can immerse themselves in their memories. Nostalgia.

Camden Historical Society 25th Anniversary past presidents. L-R: RE Nixon, Colin Clark, Owen Blattman, John Wrigley in1995 standing outside the original entry of Camden Museum adjacent to laneway (Camden Images)

Nostalgia is a yearning for a sentimental rose-coloured view of the past. Recent research has shown that nostalgia can be a positive thing. But it was not always so. In the past, nostalgia was a medical disease and a psychiatric disorder. Hopefully, a visit to our museum does not affect visitors this way.

Local museums tell local truths and are trusted sources of local stories and histories. They are honest and straightforward. What you see is what you get.  They are not fake news.

The Camden Museum is a mirror to the community where visitors can reflect on their past in the present. The museum displays, collection and archives represent the Camden community to itself.  The museum is the custodian of these stories.

Camden Museum frontage in the Camden Library Museum complex 2022 (CHS)

The Camden Museum can also provide challenges for visitors who take their time to look for the nuances in our stories. If you drill into the stories of museum objects, they touch on deeper social and cultural characteristics of the country town of the past.  Some of these elements include class, rural conservatism, gender, intimacy, race, religion, parochialism, localism, rural ideology, city/country divide, and many other things.

I would argue that the Camden Museum has a critical role in the construction of resilient communities of the present. The museum acts as a site for place-making. The continued growth and expansion of the Camden Local Government Area demands sites that contribute to creating social connections and facilitate community networks.

The museum provides a space for creating social capital through volunteering and philanthropy. Museum volunteers provide a successful model as a centre of active citizenship and volunteering which contributes to the social glue of the community.

The museum helps create a healthy society characterised by trust, reciprocity, support networks and social norms. The museum provides an opportunity for volunteers to actively participate in the social, political, and economic life of the Camden LGA. The museum is a local tourism centre and can play a role in job creation.

So, while the Camden Museum may not be the New York Metropolitan Art Museum, it does provide a meaningful window into our past.

Like the story of Claudia and Jamie, the Camden Museum can provide a learning adventure into the thrilling mysteries of our past. Something that we can draw on in the present.

Camden identities and volunteers Frances and Harry Warner standing outside the Camden on the 2018 Australia Day Open Day (I Willis, 2018)

Legacy

The legacy that we are currently leaving will ensure that the Camden Historical Society and the Camden Museum continue to tell the Camden story for another 60 years and beyond.

Volunteers Julie, Peter, Chris and John busy doing research work in the Camden Museum research room in 2014 (I Willis)
Aesthetics · Art · Artists · Built heritag · Camden Council · Camden White Gum · Community identity · Cowpastures · Cultural Heritage · Cumberland Plain Woodland · Ecology · Environment · Heritage · Landscape · Landscape aesthetics · Local History · Memorials · Nepean River · Oran Park · Public art · Sense of place · Storytelling · Uncategorized

‘The Tree of Life’, public art at Camden Council Administration Offices

camdenhistorynotes

Art celebrates the Camden White Gum

When you enter the administration building of Camden Council at Oran Park, you pass an exciting sculpture along a wall adjacent to the entry.

The art installation extends from the entry to the end of the building. It is called The Tree of Life by sculptors Gillie and Marc celebrating the Camden White Gum.

The Tree of Life art installation by sculptures Gillie and Marc was commissioned by Camden Council for the opening of the administration building in 2016 (I Willis, 2023)

The artwork dimensions are described as ‘lifesize’, and the medium is corten steel. Corten or weathered steel is used in outdoor construction and artwork. The steel is designed to eliminate painting and will develop a rusted appearance if left exposed to the elements.

This image shows the situation of the art installation ‘The Tree of Life’ adjacent to the entry of the Camden Council office building. (I Willis, 2023)

Gillie and Marc describe the style of the artwork as contemporary sculpture, silhouette and botanical.

The information plaque tells the story of The Tree of Life adjacent to the art installation on the Camden Council administration building. (I Willis 2023)

The Tree of Life information plaque states:

The Tree of Life is to bring nature into the urban space and raise awareness about the Camden Whilte Gum that symbolises growth and vitality. It represents the passing of time and marking of the landscape. The tree’s branches mirror the branching out and emergence of the diverse social and cultural communities both of the past and present. The Camden White Gum (Eucalyptus benthamii) known as the Nepean River Gum is a threatened native tree, occurring along the Nepean River and its tributaries in Camden.

Camden Council administration building, 70 Central Ave, Oran Park.

The Camden White Gum is an endangered species and can be found along the Nepean River in the Camden area, Bents Basin, and the Kedumba Valley in the Blue Mountains.

The Camden White Gum, Eucalyptus benthamii, along the Nepean River. (Wikimedia, 2005)

The Gillie and Marc website describes the art installation, The Tree of Life, on the Camden Council office building this way:

A combination of steel and nature, trees and architecture. This is the relief for the Camden Council. Proudly displayed on the outside of their headquarters, this relief shows how a community can stay strong. There is a need for steel and strength, building infrastructure that will stand the test of time and keep people safe. But it is also important to not forget the natural world, combining the man-made with the organic qualities of the earth to keep us happy and healthy. Only then can we thrive.

https://gillieandmarc.com/collections/nature

Sculptures Gillie and Marc

The website of sculptors Gillie and Marc states

British and Australian artists, Gillie and Marc have been called “the most successful and prolific creators of public art in New York’s History” by the New York Times. Creating some of the world’s most innovative public sculptures, Gillie and Marc are redefining what public art should be, spreading messages of love, equality, and conservation around the world. Their highly coveted sculptures and paintings can be seen in art galleries and public sites in over 250 cities. They’re Archibald Prize Finalists and have won the Chianciano Biennale in Italy, together with winning 2 years in a row People’s Choice Award in Sydney’s Sculpture by the Sea, among many other notable awards and accolades.

Gillie and Marc are based in both Sydney and London, sharing their time between their two countries of birth.

https://gillieandmarc.com/pages/about

Opening of the administration building in 2016

The artwork was commissioned by Camden Council for the opening of the new administration building in 2016 at 70 Central Avenue, Oran Park.

The plaque commemorating the opening of the Camden Council administration building in 2016 (I Willis 2023)

The plaque at the opening of the council administration building in 2016 with members of the official party Chris Patterson MLA, Mayor Lara Symkowiak, Minister Paul O’Toole MLA, Tony Perich (2016 A McIntosh)

This image shows the Camden Council administration building (right) adjacent to the library. The artwork ‘The Tree of Life’ is on the RHS of entry at the centre of the office building at the end of the walkway. (I Willis, 2023)

The Tree of Life sculpture complements the art installations in the council library building commissioned by the council. The library building was opened at the same time as the administration building in 2016.

Updated on 18 July 2023. Originally posted on 17 July 2023 as ‘Public art at Camden Council Administration Offices’.

20th century · Attachment to place · Built heritag · Campbelltown · Collective Memory · Community identity · Community organisations · Community work · Cultural Heritage · Cultural icon · First World War · Frances Day · Local History · Macarthur region · Menangle · Military history · Patriotism · Place making · Red Cross · School of Arts · Sense of place · Storytelling · Uncategorized · Urban growth · Urban Planning · Volunteering · Volunteerism · War at home · Wartime

Menangle School of Arts hall, the heart of a village, under redevelopment

camdenhistorynotes

In 2022 the Wollondilly Shire Local Planning Panel approved the demolition and reconstruction of the Menangle Community Hall.

The Menangle Community Association originally lodged the Development Application with Wollondilly Shire Council in July 2021.

The Menangle Community Association originally is managing the Menangle School of Arts project.

In 2023 there is a vacant lot in central Menangle with a security fence. The reconstructed hall is proposed to open in 2024.

The vacant lot at 4 Station Street Menangle. The former Menangle School of Arts site was demolished after the Menangle Community Association received permission to demolish the building in 2022. (I Willis, 2023)

On the security fence is an information sign with the hall’s history, what is happening, funding and building timeline.

The information signage about the redevelopment of the former Menangle School of Arts building at 4 Station Street Menangle (I Willis, 2023)

What is happening

The information signage on the site security fence states:

The existing hall is unusable due to significant structural damage and will be deconstructed and materials reused where possible within the new building.

The hall will comfortably accommodate 132-150 guests, incorporating 242m2 of fully enclosed area including  a stage and storage area, spacious hall, kitchenette, box office and entry foyer.

As well as 63m2 of unenclosed covered areas: verandas, covered entry way, courtyard and ramp.

The hall will be fully accessible with suitable access ramps and accessible toilets.

The hall will also be fit out to ensure it is acoustically sound inside and out.

The hall will respect to the existing hall while ensuring it will be fit for purpose into the future.

The Menangle Community Hall project will construct a new state-of-the-art modern building.

Source: Signage, 4 Station Street, Menangle. 2023

The Australian, New South Wales government, South32, and South32 Community Partnership Program fund the hall.

The key milestones in the construction are listed as

  1. January 2023 -Deconstruction and preservation of materials and elements
  2. Feb 2023 – Foundations and construction
  3. Mid 2024 – Opening

The history of the hall

The information signage on the site security fence states:

The Menangle School of Arts hall was constructed c1890 by the Macarthur Onslow family for the use by the local village.

The building was used for funding raising for the Menangle Roman Catholic Church and the Australian Land Army used the hall during World War 11.

The hall was also used for functions, dances, plays and musicals.

It had many modifications over the years including in 1908, 1960 and a major refurbishment in 1984 that saw the flooring, roof, kitchens and bathrooms replaced.

In 1984 the hall was transferred to Wollondilly Council control who commissioned a number of reports in the late 2000s into its structural integrity.

The hall was later closed due to safety concerns.

In 2010, after petitioning the Council, the hall was transferred to the Menangle Community Association to rebuild the hall.

More history on the Menangle School of Arts can be found at Menangle.com.au

Source: Signage, 4 Station Street, Menangle. 2023

Wartime Red Cross fundraisers

Red Cross wartime fundraisers were held in the School of Arts hall during the First World War.

One notable 1917 Red Cross fundraiser was the ‘The Gilbulla Gad-Abouts’ concert. Described in the Camden press as ‘highly successful’ to ‘large audience’ present, which used ‘every inch of seating space’.  (Camden News, 7 June 1917)

In 1917 18-year-old Helen Macarthur Onslow, daughter of Enid Macarthur Onslow, held a Red Cross fundraising concert to smooth over local controversies following the 1916 conscription campaign.

According to historian Ian Willis:

The show attracted a huge crowd of over 400 who ‘travelled long distances’ from all over the district. While the night raised a modest £30, it was a much-needed boost for Red Cross morale. The show included several distinguished performers, including Lady Doris Blackwood, aged 22 years and the niece of Lady Helen Munro Ferguson, the founder of the Australian Red Cross. Doris Blackwood was Lady Helen’s companion when she came out to Australia in 1914 with her husband, Sir Ronald Munro Ferguson, who took up the post of Governor-General. Helen Macarthur Onslow and Doris Blackwood had formed a friendship on one of Helen’s regular trips to the Camden area. Other members of the concert party included Enid’s other daughter Elizabeth, aged 14 years, and Ethelwyn Downes, aged 25 years, the only daughter of FWA Downes MLA, politician and Camden conservative, from Brownlow Hill at Cobbitty, who had campaigned for the ‘Yes’ vote in the 1916 conscription referendum. The concert was topped off when a necklace, donated by Helen Macarthur Onslow, was won by Mrs McDonald, the wife of Sergeant McDonald, from the Menangle Light Horse Camp.

Source: Ian Willis, Ministering Angels, The Camden District Red Cross 1914-1945 CHS, Camden, 2014, pp.45-46.
One of the members of the 1917 concert party was Lady Doris Blackwood [2nd from left], who is shown in this group photograph with her patron, the wife of the Australian Governor-General, Sir Ronald Munro Ferguson [3rd from left], Lady Helen Munro Ferguson [4th from left]. Lady Helen was president and founder of the Australian branch of the British Red Cross in 1914.
(Personal Papers of Prime Minister Cook, NAA M3614, 3)

Another concert was held in August 1917 for the Red Triangle and Frances Day patriotic appeals, which raised £50. Press reports stated it was standing room only at the ‘highly successful’ show. There were instrumental and vocal solos, recitations, a children’s choir, and tableaux. During intermission, donated vegetables, cakes and ‘fancy work’ were auctioned off by Campbelltown Mayor Moore. At the end of the proceedings, a number of raffles and guessing competitions were drawn. (Camden News, 16 August 1917)

Renovations in 2013

The front view of the Menangle School of Arts at 4 Station Street Menangle in 2012. (I Willis)

The interior of the Menangle School of Arts, 4 Station Street, Menangle, during renovations in 2013 (I Willis)

A commemorative plaque to Menangle identity FV Veness was located on the decorative gates at the entry to the Menangle School of Arts, 4 Station Street, Menangle (I Willis, 2013)

A front view of the Menangle School of Arts, 4 Station Street, Menangle (I Willis, 2013)