Category: 1930s

1920s · 1930s · 20th century · Aesthetics · Alan Baker Art Gallery Camden NSW · Art · Art Deco · Artists · Camden · Camden Story · Cultural Heritage · Heritage · Hotel History · Hotels · Interwar · Living History · Local History · Mid-century modernism · Modernism · Mural artwork · Murals · Place making · Poster Art · Public art · Storytelling · The Arts

‘Alan’s Art Deco’ exhibition at Macaria

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Review: ‘Alan’s Art Deco’ Exhibition, Alan Baker Art Gallery, Macaria, 37 John Street, Camden. October 2023-April 2024.

Interwar Art Deco style

A new art exhibition at Camden’s Alan Baker Art Gallery highlights the modernity and cosmopolitanism of the interwar period in an exhibition of artist Alan D Baker called ‘Alan’s Art Deco’.

The interwar period was a vibrant time for Australia following the trauma of the First World War. It was a time of hopes and dreams, new ideas and styles, best expressed by the Sydney Harbour Bridge, an exclamation mark in modernism.

The cover of ‘Alan’s Art Deco’ exhibition catalogue which tells the story of the artist Alan D Baker and his artworks as a commercial artist between the 1930s and 1950s. (I Willis 2023)

In sleepy Camden, cosmopolitanism and modernity appeared in the form of new banking chambers, car dealerships, motor garages and movie palaces that appeared in the town centre from new coal.

Pubs in Camden were modernised. Across the state, the big brewers wanted modernity displayed in their commercial promotions and hired commercial artists like Alan Baker to express this in the Art Deco style.

Art Deco is a style that the exhibition catalogue describes for its

clean shapes and lines, geometric and stylised ornamentation and above all, a celebration of the luxury of modernity, the style influenced every visual medium, from architecture to fine art.

(Catalogue Notes)

The Art Deco style first appeared in the 1925 Paris Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, and then developed over the next 15 years in Western Europe and the USA.

Exhibition

‘Alan’s Art Deco’ exhibition illustrates the artwork of artist Alan D Baker and is spread across four galleries, portraying his work from the 1930s to the 1950s. Baker created a range of artworks that were used as posters, murals, bottle labels, coasters, newspaper and magazine advertising, menus and theatre programs. (Catalogue Notes)

Alan D Baker (1914-1987) left school at 15 and enrolled full-time to study art at JS Watkin Art School in Sydney. Gary Baker, Alan’s son, writes that

Great emphasis was placed on tonal drawing in pencil charcoal , pen and washes and after about 4 years Alan was allowed to paint in oil colour.

https://www.garybaker.com.au/alan-d-baker/

According to Gary Baker, Alan had

a great love of the Australian countryside and enjoyed travelling in his caravan with his family and dog, visiting the Flinders Ranges – South Australia, Central Australia, Queensland – especially Longreach, and Northern and Western New South Wales. On the south coast of New South Wales, at Gerroa, he had a holiday house. This was the source for many of his landscapes and seascapes.

His works are in the New South Wales Art Gallery, the National Gallery – Canberra, Queensland Institute of Technology, the Hinton collection at Armidale, and many private and public collections.

https://www.garybaker.com.au/alan-d-baker/

Exhibition Across Four Galleries

Fittingly, exhibition curator Roger Percy has divided Baker’s career into four galleries, starting with Gallery 1, themed ‘Welcome To The Era’. This gallery displays a series of Baker’s works from the 1930s. These artworks were part of the artist’s life between being a student at JS Watkins Art School and then as an art instructor until 1938 when the school closed on the retirement of John Watkins.

After 1938, Baker turned to commercial art after his return from war service in New Guinea during the Second World War. Themed ‘Black & White’ Gallery 2 displays advertisements that were created using a scratchboard for ‘newspaper image printing’. This fine detail required the artist to use ‘scrap knives to scrape ink off a surface to reveal the white clay beneath’. Originating in 19th century Europe, this was ‘a cheaper and quicker alternative to alternative to other printing methods’ while retaining the fine lines from the artwork.  (Catalogue Notes)

‘The Originals’ displayed in Gallery 3 shows work commissioned by one of Australia’s oldest brewers, Tooth & Co, which tied over 600  hotels to sell its products. The company commissioned artists like Baker to advertise beer and link it to sport, health and cultural sophistication. Baker’s contributions were created using self-portraits, while other works depict his father.

Visitors at the exhibition opening of ‘Alan’s Art Deco’ consulting the catalogue and viewing Alan Baker’s work ‘And KB on the Ice for Supper’. (I Willis 2023)

One of ‘The Originals’ is ‘And KB on the ice for supper!’ and has been described by the Australian Beer Posters website as

 a fantastic Australian brewery poster to compliment any wall [that] are highly collectable and a refreshing way to bring colour and verve onto any wall.

(Australian Beer Posters)

Journalist Stephen Gibbs has written in the Daily Mail Australia that

KB was first brewed in Sydney at Tooth & Co’s Kent Brewery – hence the name – in 1918 and was the dominant packaged beer in New South Wales for much of the 1970s and 1980s.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10175639/KB-Lager-returns-bottle-shops-decade-legendary-beer-disappeared.html
The gates of Tooth & Co Kent Brewery at 26 George Street West, Broadway, Sydney. KB Beer was named after this brewery. The two images are from 1939 and 2005. (CoS)

Gallery 4 is themed as ‘Commercial Print’ and depicts Baker’s original commercial artworks ‘in classic Art Deco scenes with flawless figures, precise draftsmanship and idealised scenes’. (Catalogue Notes)

The exhibition is privileged to be loaned several artworks from the Powerhouse Museum Collection and the Josef Lebovic Gallery in Sydney.

Poster art outdoors

Baker’s poster art for Tooth & Co was often displayed on the outside walls of hotels and is a form of public art.

The exhibition curator, Roger Percy, has followed a similar principle and made some of Baker’s artworks into outdoor posters displayed in prominent locations in and around the Camden town centre, including bus shelters, car park walls, fences and garbage bins.

This poster art of Alan D Baker’s artwork is on public display on the wall of Camden’s Oxley Street Carpark at the rear of the Alan Baker Art Gallery at 37 John Street Camden. Baker created his poster art for Tooth & Co to be on public display on prominent hotel walls around Sydney. (I Willis, 2023)

I think Baker would be pleased that his artwork is on public display for everyone in the general public to view. It is a very democratic approach to public art.

Baker created his artwork for Tooth & Co to be on public display in prominent locations for all to see.

Ringing in the opening

At the official opening, the MC Philippa Percy invited Gary Baker, Alan’s son, to tell his father’s story and then invited Camden Mayor Ashleigh Cagney to ring the gallery bell to officially open the exhibition.

Gary Baker, Alan Baker’s son, tells his father’s story at the opening of the exhibition ‘Alan’s Art Deco’. (I Willis, 2023)

The exhibition is found in Camden’s historic Macaria, a Victorian gentleman’s townhouse designed and built in the Picturesque Gothic Renaissance Revival style in 1860, the Alan Baker Art Gallery home.

The gallery is in the Camden Town Centre’s historic John Street precinct, where you will find next door the former police barracks (1878) adjacent to court house (1857), all opposite the former temperance hall (1867) and school of arts (1866).

This is an enticing exhibition that highlights another aspect of the talent and skill of Alan D Baker as a commercial artist. ‘Alan’s Art Deco’ adds to earlier exhibitions that have demonstrated other aspects of Baker’s art career, for example, the 2021 exhibition FACE to FACE: Live Sittings 1936 – 1972 .

The Alan Baker Art Gallery is located at 37 John Street, Camden. Exhibition entry is free, and the gallery is open Thursday to Sunday from 11am to 4pm. Free off-street is available in Larkin Place, Camden and the Oxley Decked Car Park, Camden, at the rear of the gallery.

The Alan Baker Art Gallery in the historic Macaria building at 37 John Street Camden. (I Willis 2023)
1930s · Aesthetics · Cabaret · Cultural Heritage · Cultural icon · Entertainment · Film · History · Music history · Storytelling · Symbolism · The Arts · Theatre · Uncategorized

Billie Holiday on stage at the Belvoir Street Theatre

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Review: Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill by Lanie Robertson. Musical Arrangements by Danny Holgate. Belvoir St Theatre, 14 September – 15 October 2023.

Theatre performance with heart

I recently attended a theatre performance with a strong humanitarian message at the Belvoir Street Theatre in Surry Hills. The show was a combination of cabaret and drama, highlighting many historic social issues and challenges of the early 20th century that still resonate today.

The show portrayed the life and times of African-American jazz singer Billie Holiday in a performance called ‘Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill’. Originally performed in New York Off-Broadway Vineyard Theatre in 1986 at a venue renowned for staging provocative, cutting-edge new plays and musicals. This version of Lady Day is a co-production between the Melbourne Theatre Company and the State Theatre Company of South Australia.

Cover of the programme for Lady Day at the Emerson Bar & Grill at the Belvoir Street Theatre (BST 2023)

The premise of the production

The premise of the production is that it is set in a south Philadelphia bar at about midnight in March 1959 and is the last performance before Holiday died. This adaptation of Lanie Robertson’s Lady Day is directed by Mitchell Butel, starring Jamaican-born Zahra Newman as Holiday, supported by a marvellous three-piece jazz band consisting of piano, bass and drums.

The staging moves away from a typical biopic and encapsulates many aspects of Holiday’s life in one evening, Butel told ABC Artworks and is not a normal cabaret show. The show does not stray away from the challenges that Holiday faced in her lifetime. These social issues and changes have contemporary resonance, including sexual assault, drug addiction, alcoholism, and racism.

Zahra Newman told ABC ArtsWorks that she wanted to honour the life of Holiday. To achieve this, she and her voice coach, Geraldine Cook, sought out the few primary sources of Billie Holiday. In one of those sources, Holiday states that the name Lady Day was given to her by her sax player, Lester Young.  

Billie Holiday, a musical genius

In the show, Newman pays tribute to the influences on Holiday’s life and amongst them were Holiday’s love of Bessie Smith and Louis Armstrong. Holiday was a skilled performer and one of the few African-American singers who toured with an all-white band across the American South. According to Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday was a musical genius who influenced every major singer of her generation, particularly himself.  

Zahra Newman sings the blues

Singing a range of Billie Holiday’s classics, Newman’s voice filled the room, and the blues have never sounded sweeter. Newman’s powerful rendition of Holiday’s 1930s tune ‘Strange Fruit’ came straight from the heart. Holiday originally recorded the song in 1939, with the lyrics drawn from a poem published in 1937 by teacher and songwriter Abel Meeropol called ‘Bitter Fruit’. The protest song deplores lynchings, mainly African Americans, which reached a peak in the Southern American States at the turn of the 20th century. The lyrics compare the lynchings to fruit hanging on a tree. The 1939 recording by Commodore sold over a million copies and was adopted by the civil rights movement as its anthem in the mid-20th century.

Billie Holiday sings the blues protest song ‘Strange Fruit’ originally recorded in 1939 (The Kennedy Centre 2023)

The show ended with the audience in raptures. Newman and the band received an enthusiastic standing ovation for a magical performance – a great evening’s entertainment for all, closing with a strong humanitarian message.

1920s · 1930s · 1973 New Cities Campbelltown Camden Appin Structure Plan · 20th century · Agriculture history · Attachment to place · Belonging · Camden Council · Camden Council Heritage Advisory Committee · Camden Mayor · Camden Museum · Camden Produce Market · Camden Story · Camden Town Centre · Camden Town Farm · Colonialism · Commemoration · Country town · Cowpastures · Cultural and Heritage Tourism · Cultural Heritage · Entertainment · Festivals · Food · Heritage · History · Interwar · Living History · Local History · Local Studies · Macarthur · Memorialisation · Place making · Ruralism · Sense of place · Social History · Storytelling · Symbolism · Tourism · Unlock Camden · Urban history

Unlock Camden 2023, a festival celebrating our past

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The fifth year of Unlock Camden

In its fifth year, Unlock Camden was on again. This year, Unlock Camden 2023 was on Saturday, 2 September, from 10am – 3pm at the beginning of 2023 History Week.

The 2023 History Week theme was Voices from the Past. Unlock Camden encouraged local folk to tell their own story in a social media campaign run by the Heritage Advisory Committee called #mycamdenstory.  You can submit your own story or listen to other local stories about events, places and people.

This image is from the #mycamdenstory project which is part of the Unlock Camden 2023 social media campaign (Camden Council)

The Unlock Camden 2023 program celebrated Camden’s history and heritage. The activities were centred around John Street as in the past, with the addition of activities at Camden Library. For the first time, there were activities at Camden Markets located on the Camden Town Farm in Exeter Street.

The official opening was at 10am at the Camden Town Farm Market site by the Camden mayor Ashleigh Cagney.  

Unlock Camden 2023 promotional artwork from Camden Council (Camden Council)

The Alan Baker Gallery Art Gallery hosted  Weaving with Aunty Michelle Hailes.

Several art activities were hosted at the Camden market site of the Camden Town Farm. They included En Plein Air with Bob Gurney, Charcoal White Gum with Tracey Prioste, Botanical Drawing with Belle Mitchell and Heritage Drawing with Michele Arentz.

At the Camden Library was a talk by Taylor Clarke on family history, the Burragorang Valley’s future, and an Unlock Camden Small Works Art Exhibition.

Unlock Camden 2023 outside the Alan Baker Art Gallery Macaria in John Street Camden. Here, members of the Camden Musical Society have got into the swing of the vibe and dressed for the occasion in vintage costume. They are standing in front of ‘Clem’ a French 1911 Clement Bayard Roadster, 4 cylinder, 8.6 litre motor, with a 4-speed manual transmission. This car was for a time displayed at the Greens Motorcade Museum at Leppington (1974-1982). (I Willis, 2023)

Starting at the Alan Baker Art Gallery, there were four guided history walks of the Camden town centre starting at 10.30am, then the half-hour until 1.30pm by members of the Camden Historical Society.

Camden Council was awarded $25,000 for interpreting and promoting heritage through the Heritage NSW 2023-2025 Local Government Heritage Grants Program. The grant required a dollar-matched contribution from the council.

Some folk dressed for the occasion at the Unlock Camden 2023 History Festival. These two damsels are from the Camden Musical Society and are dressed for a motoring tour of the historic Camden town centre. (I Willis 2023)

Where it all began

The first Unlock Camden was held in 2019. It was the initiative of the Camden Council Heritage Advisory Committee under the dynamic leadership of committee member Laura Jane Aulsebrook.

The cover of the publicity flyer for Unlock Camden 2019 showing Edithville at 18 Mitchell Street, which was Camden’s first hospital (1889-1902) (Camden Council)

The committee hoped the event would focus community attention on the area’s rich colonial history. (Camden Advertiser, 13 March 2019)

Timed to coincide with the History Week conducted by the History Council of New South Wales, the day was held on the first Saturday in September.

History Week

The first History Week was started in 1997 by the History Council of New South Wales. The HCNSW website states

History Week is a fantastic opportunity for member organisations, large and small, throughout NSW to engage and educate the community about the vitality, diversity and meaning of History and its practice.   

https://historycouncilnsw.org.au/history-week-nsw/

Organisations celebrate history with

talks and lectures, behind-the-scenes tours and heritage trails, exhibitions and radio features, film festivals, open historic houses and gardens, book sales and launches.   

https://historycouncilnsw.org.au/history-week-nsw/

Unlock Camden 2019

The first Unlock Camden was based around the Alan Baker Art Gallery on John Street, with several stalls from community organisations.

This is the information page in the publicity flyer for Unlock Camden 2019. The flyer shows images of Alan Baker Art Gallery at Macaria (1860), The Honey Sippers, Camden Museum (40 John Street) and Brookfield House (30 Hill Street, 1896) (Camden Council)

On the day, the windy spring weather proved challenging for stall holders and caused havoc with tables and umbrellas, while other events in Camden were cancelled.

Heritage Advisory Committee Chair Councillor Cindy Cagney said, ‘It was an exciting idea and a positive for the community’. (Camden Advertiser, 13 March 2019)

Committee member Laura Jane Aulsebrook, a ‘local identity and Camden’s living piece of history’ launched the #mycamdenstory social media campaign.

Unlock Camden 2023 cutout of Elsie Pyrke at a Camden Hospital Carnival. Elsie worked as a receptionist for Dr Robert Crookston. The cutout was located outside of Camden Library. (C Cagney 2023)

“Residents are encouraged to share photos and stories that showcase their Camden story, historic and modern photos, and anything that shares why they are in Camden and why they love Camden,”  said Ms Aulsebrook. (Camden Advertiser, 19 August 2019)

The day was highlighted by walking tours of the historic town centre, live music, and displays at the Alan Baker Art Gallery and Camden Museum.

The Camden Heritage Walking tour and brochure were relaunched, music was provided by the Camden Community Band and the Honey Sippers, and their owners displayed several vintage cars.

Organiser Ms Aulesbrook said, ‘This was a chance to learn more about their history and why they are so important to the fabric of the community.’  (Camden Advertiser, 10 September 2019)

This image shows the Unlock Camden 2019 organiser Ms LJ Aulesbrook posing for a photograph in one of the vintage cars that were displayed on the day in John Street outside the Alan Baker Art Gallery located in the former gentleman’s townhouse Macaria (1860). The community stalls are shown on the gallery forecourt in the rear of the image ( Brett Atkins/Camden Advertiser 10 September 2019)

The day was quite successful despite the council not allocating any specific budget for the occasion.

Covid-19 forces Unlock Camden online in 2020

In 2020 Unlock Camden Council held its second event as a digital online event because of the outbreak of Covid-19 and the associated restrictions. 

For the first time, the council allocated a small budget for the event of $3500.

Events included virtual tours of the historic town centre, the #mycamdenstory social media campaign, and a series of historic sites highlighted through the council website and on social media.

Unlock Camden 2023 cutout of the Thomson sisters, Annette and Elizabeth, of Maryland. The sisters worked with the Royal Agricultural Society and had a herd of prize-winning dairy cows. The cutout was located in the market area of the Camden Town Farm. (C Cagney 2023)

Camden Mayor Cr Theresa Fideli said:

Unlock Camden allows us to celebrate the history, culture and achievements on Camden that we are all incredibly proud of. We are lucky enough to be living in an area with a great historical significance and while it is unfortunate that we cannot open the doors to our historic buildings and locations this year, our Virtual Historic Tour will allow residents to walk through Camden’s heritage precinct and key historic locations right from the comfort of their own homes. 

Camden Council Website 20 August 2020

Unlock Camden 2021 online again

Unlock Camden 2021 was an online event due to Covid-19 restrictions and included virtual tours, a #mycamdenstory social media campaign and the promotion of historic sites on the Camden Council website. The event had a small budget of $2900.

Things look up at Unlock Camden 2022

The 2022 Unlock Camden celebration of our local history was first held after Covid-19 restrictions were lifted. The event was held away from History Week on Saturday, 15 October.  

The day’s events ran from 10am-3pm using the theme of unlocking stories and images. 

Similar to 2019, the event was centred at the Alan Baker Art Gallery with walking tours of historic Camden town centre by volunteers from the Camden Historical Society, community stalls and historical games in the gallery forecourt, vintage car displays in John Street, music, and an online photographic display.

The day aimed to ‘Unlock the stories, the people, the images and the history of Camden’. (LJ Aulsebrook, CCHAC)

The increasing importance of the event in a post-restrictions Covid-19 environment regarding community resilience and cohesion saw an increased budget from the council of $10,000.

This is part of the #mycamdenstory social media campaign for Unlock Camden 2023, showing well-known Camden identity Llewella Davies (Camden Council)

The legacy

The aim of the day and the associated events has been to tell the Camden story through walks, art, images, stories, and a host of other activities.  

The Camden story is about what the town centre represents in the narrative of the Australian story.  Founded on Dharawal country, the colonial period started with the Cowpastures the Macarthur private town on Camden Park Estate in 1840. Growing into the market town in the late 19th century, the early 20th century saw the town become a regional hub. The development of the Interwar years created a prosperous country town that was subsumed by the Macarthur Growth Centre in 1973 and Sydney’s urban growth.

Unlock Camden was an initiative of the Camden Council Heritage Advisory Committee to tell the Camden story and has been ably assisted and coordinated in conjunction with the work of Camden Council staff.

Over the past five years, the program of events has offered another view into Camden’s past as we celebrate Unlock Camden 2023 and explore our history and heritage.

This image was part of the 2019 Unlock Camden social media campaign generated by organiser Ms LJ Aulsebrook (Camden Council)

A group of notable locals at the tree planting commemorating Llewellas Davies, who donated The Camden Town Farm to the Camden Community, for Unlock Camden 2023 at the Camden Town Farm ‘Sheep Dog Paddock’. From L-R are Mr Buckely CTF, Cr Cindy Cagney, Dr Ian Willis CHS, …..Glenda Chalker CCHAC, Mayor Ashleigh Cagney, Sally Quinnell MP Member for Camden, … (M Willis, 2023)

Unlock Camden 2023 Mayor Ashleigh Cagney planting the commemorative tree (I Willis, 2023)

Updated 3 September 2023. Originally posted on 22 August 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

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The Camden Story: the historiography of the history of the country town of Camden NSW

camdenhistorynotes

Journal Article Review

‘Making Camden History: local history and untold stories in a small community’. ISAA Review, Journal of the Independent Scholars Association of Australia. Special Edition, Historiography. Volume 19, Number 1, 2023, pp. 23-38.

The history of telling the story of a small community has been interpreted in different ways at different times in the past by different historians.

This area of study is called the historiography.

This is an aerial image of the country town of Camden in the 1940s with St John’s Church on the ridge overlooking the town and the Nepean River floodplain. The Macarthur family-funded church is the community’s soul and was constructed shortly after the private town was established by the Macarthur family at the river crossing into Camden Park Estate. (Camden Images)

I have recently published an article on the historiography of the small country town of Camden, NSW.

The Camden township is located 65 kilometres southwest of the Sydney CBD and, in recent years, has been absorbed by Sydney’s urban growth.

The main streets are a mix of Victorian, Edwardian and interwar architecture comprising commercial, government and domestic buildings.

The town site was originally the entry point into what became Governor King’s Cowpasture Reserve at the Nepean River crossing, part of the lands of the Dharawal people, which then called Benkennie.

Jill Wheeler argues that while local histories are embedded in a long storytelling tradition, new understandings inform our interpretation in a contemporary context.

The historiography of the history of a small country town demonstrates the shifting nature of storytelling and how different actors interpret the past.

This article seeks to examine some of what Wheeler calls ‘the other’ by looking beyond the conventional history of Camden as found in newspapers, journals, monuments, celebrations, commemorations and other places.

I have written an article about the making of the history of Camden NSW to illustrate and explore these issues.

Click here to learn more

This is the cover of my Pictorial History Camden & District, which tells the Camden story in words and pictures. The book is a brief account of the main events, characters and institutions that were part of the Camden township from its foundation to the present, as well as the Indigenous story in pre-European times and the foundation of the Cowpastures Reserve.
1920s · 1930s · 20th century · Argyle Street · Camden · Camden Story · Collective Memory · Community identity · Cowpastures · Cultural Heritage · Cultural plantings · Dairying · Farming · Gardening · Horticulture · Landscape · Landscape aesthetics · Local Studies · Memorials · Memory · Pepper Trees · Place making · Settler colonialism · Settler Society · Storytelling · Street Trees · Town planning · Urban Planning

Camden pepper trees, a remnant of the past

camdenhistorynotes

Cultural plantings define local landscape

In the 1890s, Camden Municipal Council started beautifying the town area by planting various trees, including peppercorns. These cultural plantings defined the local urban landscape for decades, yet only a handful remain today.

This is a handsome remnant individual specimen located in the Camden town farm area. The graceful weeping nature of the tree is clearly shown here. This site was a former dairy farm, and many pepper trees indicate the sites of former farms and homesteads that have been abandoned. (I Willis, 2023)

Popular nationwide

In Australian Garden History magazine, John Dwyer writes that the pepper tree (Schinus ariera, syn. Schinus molle) or peppercorn tree has been popular nationwide for over 150 years. Originally from the Americas, from Mexico to Peru, it was first introduced into Australia in the mid-19th century. Country towns across inland New South Wales were supplied with specimens from the 1860s from the Adelaide Botanic Gardens. (Dwyer, 2023)

Remnant pepper grove at the corner of John and Exeter Streets

This remnant grove of pepper trees at the corner of John and Exeter Street on the former Dominish farm block’s site is on the edge of the Camden town centre. The trees were planted in the early 1920s by Elmo Dominish on the corner of their farm block adjacent to the farmhouse. (Sue Lyons Dominish) Their survival is probably due to their location, where they were not a problem to property owners or a traffic hazard. (I Willis, 2023)

A remnant grove of pepper trees was planted in the early 1920s by Elmo Dominish on the corner of his farm block at 3 John Street.

Elmo Dominish (Dominish family)

The Dominish farmhouse at 3 John Street Camden in the mid-20th century. The house would have been built in the late 19th century. The pepper grove was planted adjacent to the house on the RHS of this image. (Dominish Family 2024)

The Dominish family rented the farm from a member of the Whiteman family, and, on Elmo’s marriage to Ivy, he bought the farm block. The family lived in the farmhouse built in the late 19th century.

The Dominish women, Elmo Dominish’s daughters (L_R), Edna, Jean, and Doris, are standing in front of the pepper grove planted by Elmo in the early 1920s. The grove is at the corner of John Street and Exeter Streets on what was the corner of the Dominish farm block located at 3 John Street, now part of Camden Public School. This photograph was taken in 1980. (Dominish family, 2024)

Cowpastures colonial gardens

The pepper tree was one of several exotic and hardy ornamental trees that fascinated the colonial Victorians in Camden. Pepper trees could be found in the fine gardens of the Cowpastures gentry estates.

Cowpastures gardens were shaped by various English garden trends and landscape gardeners, arguably the most important being JC Loudon and his gardenesque movement.   (Landarc 1993).

William Macarthur’s Camden Park Nursery from the 1840s and Francis Ferguson’s Australian Nursery from the 1850s catered to these garden trends and sold plant stock throughout Australia and the Pacific. (Landarc 1993)

Ferguson’s Nursery listed pepper trees for sale in the 1890s, as well as oriental planes, pinus insignus, azaleas, and camellias. (Camden News, 12 March 1896)

Town beautification

Town beautification interested Camden’s civic fathers in the late 19th century, and pepper trees made an excellent street tree. (Landarc 1993)

With a ‘graceful habit,’ pepper trees have an attractive gnarled trunk, grow to about 9-15 metres, have semi-weeping branches and leaves, and have decorative sprays of tiny rose peppery pink berries, which are toxic. (Dwyer, 2023)

Street plantings started in the Camden town area in the mid-1890s, including pepper trees (Camden News, 26 August 1897) and in 1899, the council allocated £10 towards tree planting in Murray Street. (Camden News, 26 June 1899)

St John’s Anglican Church in its hilltop location at the top of John Street Camden. During the 1890s, the street was planted with a mixed avenue of pepper trees, and Monterey pines, and possibly another unidentified species. A heavy timber guard protected each tree from wandering stock’s ravages. These guards cost the council 4/5½d each in 1898.
(Kerry & Co c1890s/Camden Images/Landarc 1993)

In 1898, council alderman HP Reeves donated 60 pepper trees to be planted in Elizabeth and Mitchell Streets. Alderman Downers donated a further 150 assorted trees. The council paid for heavy-duty tree guards at 4/5½d each to protect the trees from roaming stock in the town area. (Camden News, 18 May 1939)

The new Camden Cottage Hospital board decided to beautify the hospital grounds by removing the native trees and planting ornamental exotics, including pepper trees and pines. (Camden News, 28 June 1906, 18 August 1910)

Pepper trees were included in advice from the NSW Director of Forests on shelter and the beautification of farm homesteads. Shade trees provided ‘a picturesque air’ and beautified an area, and directions were provided on tree types, planting, care and maintenance. (Picton Post, 23 August 1911)

Beetles stripped pepper trees of foliage in the town at the end of the First World War, and the Camden press provided advice on how to deal with the infestation. Apparently, by taking a long pole to the tree in the early morning, the beetles would fall to the ground and be devoured by the chooks. (Camden News, 18 December 1919)

This image shows mature pepper trees outside the Camden Total Abstinence Benefit Society Hall in John Street in 1903 (Camden Images)

Problems and removal of pepper trees

By the 1920s, pepper trees were becoming a problem, with intrusive roots entering the unformed gutters on the roadsides in the town area. Other people objected to their presence. Dr West was granted permission by the council to replace a pepper tree at the front of Macaria in John Street with a hitching post. (Camden News, 23 February 1922)

Pepper tree showing drooping leaves and gnarled trunk in Edward St (I Willis, 2023)

The following year, the council parks committee decided that pepper trees were starting to pose a problem in the town area. The committee recommended the removal of pepper trees in John Street in front of Mr Pike’s residence, outside the stables of the Commercial Bank, the entrance of Dr West’s premises Macaria, one tree outside the Police Barracks, the removal of two trees in Murray Street and other sites in the town area. The council decided only to remove trees that had caused property damage. Aldermen were concerned that the council would be inundated with requests to remove all pepper trees in the town area. (Camden News, 23 March 1922)

Requests to the council to remove pepper trees came from landholders, the Mains Road authority, and the police. Trees were a traffic hazard along Argyle Street between Edward Street and the Cowpastures bridge, causing property damage in Mitchell Street, Menangle Street, John Street and other locations. (Camden News, 4 May 1939, 27 July 1939)

Trimming of the pepper tree hedges continually preoccupied the hospital board  (Camden News, 20 June 1912). By the 1930s, the trees were causing problems, prompting their removal from the hospital grounds. (Camden News, 17 April 1930)

Remnant trees

Dwyer states that there are often remnant specimens of pepper trees of cultural plantings on abandoned farms, railways and other sites across Australia. (Dwyer, 2023) In the Camden town area, there are remnant stands of pepper trees with some handsome individual specimens, while there have been newer plantings at the civic centre.

A grove of newer plantings of pepper trees outside the Camden Civic Centre. Pepper trees still provide a handsome addition to a civic building where they will not pose a problem. (I Willis, 2023)

Greg Frawley writes:

I went to school at St Paul in the mid-50s and there were several mature pepper trees in front of the original classroom building. With a square of timber seating underneath each pepper tree the strong scent kept flies and insects away when we were eating our Vegemite sandwiches.

I think that is the real reason they were so popular in the early years. Planted near homes – particularly back doors to keep flies away. We planted one in Narellan 46 years ago for this purpose. Although it never grew very big, it gave off a wonderful scent.

Email 21 April 2023

Francis Warner writes:

Love these trees. Our first house at Camden Park was Stables Cottage. Had a carport and outdoor picnic area under a peppercorn. The fragrance was soothing, and the seeds looked so pretty.

Email 29 April 2023

References

John Dwyer 2023, ‘Schinus molle var. areira, Peppertree, Peruvian peppertree, peppercorn tree’. Australian Garden History, vol. 34, no. 4, April, pp22-25

Landarc Landscape Architects 1993, Camden Significant Trees and Vegetated Landscape Study. Camden, Camden Municipal Council.

Updated 23 February 2024. Originally posted 8 April 2023.

1920s · 1930s · Architecture · Attachment to place · Built heritag · Business History · Collective Memory · Community Health · Cultural Heritage · Design · Edwardian · Film · Foresters Hall (former) · Heritage · History · Interwar · Leisure · Living History · Local History · Local Studies · Memory · Modernism · Movies · Narellan Military Camp · Placemaking · Second World War

The former Foresters’ Hall, a marvellous Edwardian building

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A prominent building

The former Foresters’ Hall occupies one of the most prominent sites in the Camden Town Centre at 147 Argyle Street on the corner of Oxley Street and Argyle Street. On its opening in 1908, the hall was considered the best in New South Wales by the Order of Royal Foresters.

The Royal Foresters was a friendly society at a time long before governments provided welfare benefits, and workers who became sick or injured had bleak prospects. British immigrants brought the idea of friendly societies with them and created branches of large English societies in Australia. Workers who joined friendly societies and paid a fortnightly contribution were provided health and sickness benefits for themselves and their families.

The Morning Glory No 504 of the Order of Royal Foresters was formed in Camden in 1874. The Order of Royal Foresters was a friendly society that originated in England in 1834 and offered members savings plans, health and sickness insurance, and gave sponsorships and grants to community organisations. In 1921 the Camden Royal Foresters merged with the  Manchester Unity Independent Order of Oddfellows. (Mylrea, 2008; Camden News, 14 December 1922)

Purchase of the building site

The Royal Foresters purchased the hall site, with frontages on Argyle Street and Oxley Street, in 1907 for £483. (Mylrea, 2008) The purchase of the hall site was guaranteed by three Royal Foresters’ trustees, HJ Huntley, Stephen Kelloway, and WF Peters. Huntley and Kelloway were part of the Camden Methodist community, who exercised power and influence well beyond their numbers in the local area.

WF Peters ran a local business as an undertaker, timber merchant and stonemason at 42 Argyle Street as WF Peters & Son, a brickyard at 24 Edward Street, and a branch of the business at Auburn. (SMH, 25 June 1928) He was briefly mayor in 1917, alderman for several years, captain of the Camden town fire brigade, committeeman with the AH&I Society and Camden District Hospital board member. (Camden News, 28 June 1928; Wrigley, 1990) Stephen Kelloway was a local dairy farmer, and HJ Huntley was a local painting contractor who served a term on Camden Municipal Council. (Camden News, 14 December 1922)

An impressive building

The hall was an impressive addition to Camden’s built heritage and cost a substantial amount of money. The hall was designed by local builder WC Furner and constructed by WF Peter. (Camden News, 4 June 1908)

WC Furner, Methodist, was a larger-than-life figure and carried on a business as a timber merchant, ironmonger, and hardware outlet. (CN, 9 March 1939) He served as mayor from 1896 to 1899 and as an alderman on Camden Municipal Council from 1892 to 1905. He was a local magistrate, justice-of-the-peace and coroner (1890-1917), vice-president of the Camden AH&I Society, and president of Camden Hospital Board from 1911 to 1913. His building firm constructed some of Camden’s most notable landmarks, including CBC Bank, police barracks, Dr Crookston’s house, and Hilsyde at Elderslie. (Wrigley, 1983; Wrigley, 1990)

The former Foresters’ Hall around 1920 shows the two retail outlets on either side of the hall entry. The hall was occupied by Pinkerton’s and Fox’s Camden Star Pictures until 1921 when Pinkerton sold out to PJ Fox, who rebranded it as the Empire Theatre. (Camden Images)

The best in News South Wales

The Camden News described the hall as a ‘magnificent and substantial building’, and a male-only banquet for over 100 was held for the official opening on Wednesday, 27 May 1908, with the Foresters in their regalia adding a ‘becoming tone’. (Camden News, 4 June 1908) The women were relegated to cooking with catering provided by Mrs WH McDonald and the hall ‘tastefully decorated’ by Mrs Woodhill and Mrs Coleman. (Camden News, 4 June 1908)

Speeches followed, and SCR (Sub Chief Ranger) Brother H Hedger officially declared the hall open and stated it l ‘was the best building in connection with their Order in the State’. He said ‘nothing had been stinted to make this building up to date’ and emphatically stated that the hall was ‘the finest friendly society’s hall in NSW’. He said that the hall ‘was admirably located for the convenience of the Shire and other councils’ for community use. (Camden News, 4 June 1908)

Brother Hedger spoke of the work of Royal Foresters. He boasted that no other friendly society in New South Wales did more to alleviate ‘distress’ and paid over £1,100 yearly for ‘medical fees and expenses’ for members. (Camden News, 4 June 1908)

There was much applause, and the reply was taken by Camden’s Brother E O’Farrell, 80 years old, who was a foundation member of the Court in Camden in 1874. Toasts to the King and others followed.

In the evening, the festivities continued with a social where over 250 people danced to Beverley’s band with a piano, cornet, and violin line-up. (Camden News, 4 June 1908)

Royal Foresters’ social, attended by 250 people, was held in the evening following the male-only official banquet that celebrated the hall’s opening on 27 May 1908. The acetylene lighting has provided an even light for the photographer for the entire hall length, allowing the faces of those present to be made out to the observer. (Camden Images)

The building design

The Camden Heritage Inventory describes the building as a ‘two-storey adapted Federation brick building (of Federation style origins) with parapet roof. Double hung windows with timber shutters.’(Camden Heritage Inventory)

The upstairs part of the building had a supper room described as ‘a perfect room for socials and meetings, well fitted with two fireplaces, windows, and doors leading onto a large balcony commanding a splendid view of the town.’  (CN, 4 June 1908)

There was an ‘admiral stage and dressing rooms’ all lit by acetylene gas, as town gas had yet to be installed in the Camden town area. Plumber W Wilkinson of Camden constructed the acetylene plant. (Camden News, 4 June 1908) 

In 1908 acetylene light was considered a modern and cost-effective way to light public spaces. The Kalgoorlie Miner reported that Coolgardie Municipal Council had installed the acetylene system to light the council offices and town hall. The press story compared the cost with electric lighting and reported favourably on the running costs of acetylene. The Coolgardie town hall supplied ‘soft light’ with 74 lights and was well suited to theatrical performances where light could be turned off and ‘instantaneously lit again’. (Kalgoorlie Miner, 5 June 1909)

Many occupants

Over the decades, the hall has had a variety of occupants and has been repurposed several times.

There were retail premises on the hall’s Argyle Street from 1908.   

The building frontage was modified in 1914 when the building served as a movie palace that celebrated the arrival of modernism in the town. The Camden Star Pictures, operated by Pinkerton & Fox (Fuchs) ran a movie theatre from 1914 to 1921. Pinkerton sold out in 1921 to PJ Fox for £2150 and renamed it Empire Pictures (1921-1933). (Mylrea, 2007; Mylrea, 2008)  

In 1936 Camden Municipal Council ordered the removal of verandah posts and the balcony from the Empire Theatre. (Camden News, 15 October 1936) From 1938 the Empire Sports Club ran a billiard saloon on the upper-level access by the stairs in Oxley Street. (Mylrea, 2008)

During WW2, soldier support services ran the ACF-YMCA Hospitality Centre in the building from 1944 to 1946 and purchased the equipment from the Sports Club. Lots of Camden’s women, young and old, volunteered to entertain the troops from the Narellan Military Camp. (Willis, 2004)

 In the post-war years, the Sydney-based firm Fostars Shoe Factory Pty Ltd occupied the auditorium as part of post-war reconstruction from 1947 to 1958. (The District Reporter, 1 May 2020)

Fostars Shoe Factory Pty Ltd occupied the former Foresters Hall in the postwar years, partly funded by the Commonwealth Government Post-War Reconstruction Scheme to foster employment. Note the upper mezzanine level where the movie projector would have been placed during the interwar years for the Star Pictures and Empire Theatre. (c.1950, Camden Images)

In the following years, the building was primarily used as commercial premises. In 1960 the building was sold to Downes Stores (Camden) Pty Ltd for £10,000, then in 1985, the premises was purchased by B Rixon for £420,000. He operated Southern Radio and Piano Agency, known as Southern Radio (trading as Retravision), from 1985 to 2007. Most recently, the building has been occupied by Treasures on Argyle charity shop (2008-present). (Mylrea, 2008)

When John Kooyman took this photograph, Southern Radio was trading as Retravision Camden in 1997. (Camden Images)

References

 Camden Heritage Walk Tour

PJ Mylrea, 2007, ‘The Birth, Growth and Demise of Picture Theatres in Camden’. Camden History, Journal of the Camden Historical Society, March 2007, Vol 2, No 3, pp. 52-59.

PJ Mylrea, 2008, ‘The Centenary of the Royal Foresters’ Hall’. Camden History, Journal of the Camden Historical Society, September 2008, Vol 2, No 6, pp.204-213.

John Wrigley, 1990, Camden Characters. Camden Historical Society, Camden.

John Wrigley, 1983, Historic Buildings of Camden. Camden Historical Society, Camden.

Ian Willis, 2004, The women’s voluntary services, a study of war and volunteering in Camden, 1939-1945, PhD thesis, School of History and Politics, University of Wollongong. http://ro.uow.edu.au/theses/168

Updated 27 July 2023. Originally posted 11 February 2023 as ‘A marvellous Edwardian building’.

1920s · 1930s · 1932 · 20th century · Adaptive Re-use · Aesthetics · Architecture · Argyle Street · Attachment to place · Belonging · Built heritag · Business History · Camden Story · Camden Town Centre · Collective Memory · Colonial Camden · Community identity · Cultural Heritage · Cultural icon · Design · Economy · Governor Macquarie · Historical consciousness · History · Interwar · Local History · Local Studies · localism · Macarthur region · Mid-century modernism · Modernism · Place making · Placemaking · Sense of place · Storytelling · Streetscapes · Town planning · Uncategorized · Urban growth · Urban history · Urbanism

 The former Bank of New South Wales building in the country town of Camden

camdenhistorynotes1 Comment

A Camden interwar banking chamber

In central Camden is an empty bank building of understated significance at the intersection of John and Argyle Streets. This building was the premises of Westpac, formerly the Bank of New South Wales, and was the second banking chamber on that site. Constructed in the 1930s by a prominent firm of local builders and designed by one of Sydney’s top award-winning architects. It is a building of much architectural merit, and few know its history. 

The former Bank of New South Wales building was built in 1936, designed by Sydney architects Peddle, Thorp & Walker and constructed by Harry Willis & Sons (I Willis, 2009)

First bank in Camden

The Bank of New South Wales was the first bank in Camden. The bank initially occupied 23 Argyle Street, a colonial-style brick building with corrugated iron gable and brick chimneys. This banking chamber opened in 1865. These premises were used by Wilkinson & Sons as a plumbing and tin smithing business. A funeral parlour currently occupies it. (Willis, 2015)

The Bank of New South Wales at 23 Argyle Street Camden in 1865. (Camden Images/JB Mummery)

The oldest bank in Australia

The Bank of New South Wales is the oldest bank in Australia and was established in 1817 when Governor Macquarie signed its charter of incorporation. It was set up to provide financial stability in Sydney’s military garrison but quickly became a South Pacific trading hub. The new bank financed local economic activity and financed overseas trade. The bank eventually merged with the Commercial Bank of Australia in 1982 and became the Westpac Banking Corporation. It is still one of the largest banks in Australia. (DoS)

When the Bank of New Wales moved into Camden, it provided the newly emerging market town with financial stability. It financed the emerging trading activity for the town’s small business sector. In 1873 the original building had outlived its usefulness, and the bank moved west along Argyle Street to its current location at the corner of John and Argyle Streets.

Woolpack Inn (later Crofts Inn)

In 1873 the Bank of New South Wales purchased the former Woolpack Inn (later Crofts Inn) at 121 Argyle Street with its picturesque Victorian verandahs. Licensee Thomas Brennan had purchased the Woolpack site in 1852 and constructed the Victorian-style two-storey building with iron-lace work and outbuildings. Brennan sold the inn to Henry Denton, who sold it to innkeeper Samuel Croft by 1863. (Willis, 2015)

The Bank of New South Wales at 121 Argyle Street Camden c.1900, formerly the Woolpack Inn (Camden Council Library)

The former hotel served the Bank of New South Wales well until the 1930s during the Interwar period when the economic prosperity of the district from the Burragorang coalfields encouraged the bank to build new premises to reflect its status in the town better. (Willis, 2015)

In 1936 Camden Municipal Council ordered the bank to remove the verandah posts on the Argyle Street frontage as part of the modernisation of the town centre. The council orders may have prompted the bank to consider updating its banking chamber on Argyle Street and demolishing the Victorian premises (Camden News, 15 October 1936).

121 Argyle Street

Architect-designed and locally built

The contract for the two-story banking chamber was awarded to Camden builder Harry Willis & Sons and designed by Sydney architects Peddle, Thorp & Walker. These architects were established in Sydney in 1889 and designed Science House, corner Gloucester and Essex Sts, Sydney, which won the inaugural Sir John Sulman Medal in 1932. (PTW; SMH, 14 July 1936))

On the awarding of tenders, the old bank building was demolished. Temporary premises for the bank staff were found in one of WC Furner’s shops opposite the Empire Theatre. Here Mr J Stibbard, the bank manager, assured customers that they would find banking convenient during the building work. (Camden News, 11 June 1936)

Hand-made nails and a cellar

During dismantling, the Sydney Morning Herald reported that hand-made nails had been extensively used in the construction of the former hotel,  made by ‘nail-smiths’ (SMH, 14 July 1936). The nail-smith in the 19th century was probably the local blacksmith, one of the most important trades in the area.

Local timbers had been used extensively throughout the former hotel building and were reported to be in ‘an excellent state of preservation. A long-forgotten cellar was discovered under the bank floor and ‘recalled the existence of an inn on [the] site during the coaching days’. (SMH, 14 July 1936)

Commodious banking chamber

In 1936 the Sydney Morning Herald stated the new building had a ‘commodious banking chamber and offices for the staff’. ‘Textured brick’ was used for ‘facing’ throughout the building ‘relieved by lighter-coloured treatment of the external woodwork. The bank entrance at the splayed angle at the intersection of the two streets will be treated with especially brick architraves and pediment surmounted by a synthetic sandstone ornamental shield. The interior was treated with polished maple woodwork throughout. The Georgian character design will be a colourful and artistic addition to this historic town’s architecture. (SMH, 14 July 1936)

A collage of images illustrating different aspects of the Georgian Revival architectural style that is reflected by the 1936 building of the former Bank of New South Wales (I Willis, 2019)

Georgian Revival

The NSW Heritage Inventory states: ‘The 1936 two-storey glazed and rough brick building with double hung windows and tiled roof. Its detailing includes quoining and multipaned windows, typical characteristics of the Georgian Revival style.’ (HNSW)

Georgian Revival is an architectural style nostalgic for the colonial period in the USA and the early 19th century in the United Kingdom, sometimes called Neo-Georgian. The style has a proportionate symmetry and austere elegance, characterised by proportion and balance. Commonly there is brick construction with a gable or hip roof line and equal placement of windows, generally two storeys and rectangular.

The former Bank of New South Wales building is a high-quality contributor to Camden township’s substantial eclectic fabric and the overall cultural significance of the Camden Town Conservation Area. The building retains its historic integrity and is intact. (HNSW)

Vacant

Westpac closed the Camden branch in 2020, and the building has remained vacant.

Collages of images of the former Bank of New South Wales (I Willis, 2009)

References

Ian Willis, 2015, Pictorial History Camden & District. Kingsclear Books, Sydney.

Dictionary of Sydney staff writer, Bank of New South Wales, Dictionary of Sydney, 2008, http://dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/bank_of_new_south_wales, viewed 06 Feb 2023

Updated 11 July 2023. Originally posted 6 February 2023 as  ‘Interwar Modernism and a Camden banking chamber’.

1920s · 1930s · Advertising · Aesthetics · Camden · Campbelltown · Cultural Heritage · Film · Gender · Hawaii · Heritage · History · Leisure · Media · Media History · Modernism · Movies · Music · Music history · Myths · Newspapers · Picton · Stereotypes · Storytelling · Tourism

Hawaii arrives in Camden

camdenhistorynotes

Hawaiian music and hula dance craze

Hawaiian music and dance arrived in Camden after sweeping the rest of the country on the stage, at the movies and broadcast across the radio waves. The craze of the 1920s and 1930s was centred on hula dancing and the steel guitar. 

The first mention of Hawaiian culture in Camden occurred in 1925 when a young Daphne Butt dressed as a Hawaiian hula dancer at the 1925 Fancy Dress Costume Ball for the Camden District Hospital. She was the only example of Hawaiian culture in a sea of fairies, princesses, dolls, butterflies, American sailors, jazz musicians, and princes. (Camden News, 20 August 1925)

Postcard of Hula Dancers in Honolulu, Hawaii in the 1930s (Ebay)

The dark history of Hawaiian music and dance

Daphne Butt’s naïve interest in hula dancing hides a dark past with links to transnational capitalism and colonialism. In pre-contact Hawaii, the hula was a strict religious practice of telling epic stories, past glories, and great chiefs within a framework of fertility rights expressed through poetry and body movements. Newly arrived Christian missionaries in the 1820s condemned the hula for its sexual and spiritual overtones. Restrictions on Hawaiian culture in 1859 effectively banned public performances, and the hula was driven underground. (Imada, 2004, Hawaiians on tour)

Grossly indecent

Moralistic attitudes towards Hawaiian culture were also evident in the Australian press.   Sydney’s Evening News reported on ‘hula hula’ dancing at the San Francisco Midwinter Fair in 1894. The reporter wrote:

‘the Hawaiian hula-hula dance. I think it would paralyse the average Australian playgoer, not merely to see this grossly indecent, immoral, and suggestive performance, but the class of people standing around looking at it.’ 

(Evening News, 4 April 1894)

Even in 1924, Lester Way wrote in The Bulletin that Hawaiian hula  ‘dances were like the frolics of happy children who had learned with candor naïve and unshamed the lesson of sex’. (The Bulletin, 31 January 1924)

Racial stereotypes at the movies

By the 1920s and 1930s, American business interests recognised the tourism potential of Hawaiian culture, and Hollywood produced films depicting Hawaiian music and hula dancing that screened at Camden, Campbelltown and Picton.

Commodified Hawaiian women became the new ‘hula girls’, used to promote Hawaiian plantation sugar and pineapples. They were also marketed in print, on stage, and in film, appearing in bikini tops, grass skirts, flowers in their hair sensuously hips swaying to the tones of the steel guitar. (Imada, 2004, Hawaiians on tour)

The first appearance of Hawaii on local movie screens occurred in 1926 when ‘The Hawaiian Melody Makers’ promised ‘a twilight in Hawaii’ at the Royal Pictures in the Picton Town Hall. (Picton Post, 1 September 1926) The Lopez Hawaiian Melody Makers, a nine-piece ensemble with steel guitars, had toured Australia in 1925 and played at Broken Hill Crystal Theatre. (Barrier Miner, 1 May 1925)

Film promotions from American film studios published in the Camden News relied on racial stereotypes and the language of primitivism. The film promoters for Cosmopolitan Productions ‘White Shadows in the South Seas’  promised ‘native instruments and customs, alluring dancing girls and feasting give intimate and colourful scenes of native life’. ‘White Shadows’ was an adventure romance loosely based on a book by Frederick O’Brien and screened at Sydney’s State Movie Theatre in 1929. The silent film ‘White Shadows’ was innovative and had synchronised ‘dialogue, sound, song and music’ where the soundtrack matched the film.   The first synchronised musical soundtrack was the film Don Juan in 1926.   (Camden News, 14 March 1929, 28 March 1929)

At Campbelltown’s Macquarie Cinema in 1933, the RKO-Radio Pictures ‘Bird of Paradise’, filmed in the ‘authentic background’ of the Hawaiian Islands, showed the ‘breathtaking’ beauty of the islands. The film, a romantic adventure drama, depicted the love of the hero and ‘white man’, Johnny Baker, with the ‘primitive, trusting Luana’ who ‘hopelessly sacrifices’ her love in a ‘sublime’ setting. The Hawaiian hula was described as ‘the barbaric beauties of the primitive Hawaiian mating dance were caught in all their splendour’. (Campbelltown News, 27 October 1933) Wikipedia states that the director King Vidor presented ‘this “tragic” romance as a clash between modern “civilisation” and a sexual idyll enjoyed by Rousseauian-like Noble savages’. In the early 1930s, Hollywood produced several films that connected former Pacific colonies with widespread interest in “exotic” tropical locations. (Wikipedia)

Poster for King Vidor’s ‘Birds of Paradise’ film (RKO/The Film Daily)

Dolores del Río in a dance scene from King Vidor’s ‘Bird of Paradise’ in 1932 screened at Campbelltown’s Macquarie Cinema (Wikimedia)

In the late 1930s, film promoters used less paternalistic language in advertising. The 1938 Camden’s Paramount Movie Theatre screened RKO Radio Pictures ‘Hawaii Calls’, and the advertising stated that the story of an ‘island paradise [that] rings with song’ and full of ‘adventure, beauty, novelty, song and entertainment’. (Camden News, 16 June 1938) The following year, Paramount  screened MGM’s ‘Honolulu’, a movie that promised to ‘call you’ to Hawaii with ‘the sweat heart of musical hits!’ ‘It’s star-packed, song-filled, laugh-jammed . . . .the romantic colossus of spectacle . .with hundreds of hip-swinging hula honeys!’  (Camden News, 6 July 1939)

Promotional material for the film ‘Hawaii Calls’ screened at Camden’s Paramount Movie Theatre in 1938 (RKO Radio Pictures 1938)


Camden News, 6 June 1938

Hula dancing direct from the Tivoli circuit

Camden was part of the country circuit for Hawaiian musicians. In 1935 local promoter Charles New announced in the Camden News that The Royal Hawaiians, ‘direct from the Tivoli circuit’, would appear at the Camden Agricultural Hall on a Tuesday night. Patrons were promised the ‘greatest instrumentalists in Australia’ who were ably supported by comedians the Richie Brothers and ‘All Star Vaudeville’ of acrobats and dancers. Front seat prices cost 1/6, with others 1/-. (Camden News, 31 October 1935)

Camden News, 31 October 1935

The Royal Hawaiians toured Australia appearing at Geelong’s Her Majesty’s Theatre in 1922 and 1929 at  Hobart’s Theatre Royal. The company had an ‘extensive repertoire’ of Hawaiian music on steel guitar, ukuleles, and banjos. The show included ‘native songs and dances’ provided by Honolulu’s ‘premier hula hula dancer’, the ‘graceful Lilloukalani’. (The Mercury, 19 February 1929)

Author Jackie Coyle has stated that Hawaiian musicians toured on the Tivoli circuit in Australia from the 1920s. (ABC News, 23 January 2023). Hula hula dancing first appeared on Australian stages in the 1890s in Melbourne  (The Argus, 6 August 1892), and Hawaiian sheet music,  wax cylinders and 78rpm records were sold across the country. (ABC News, 23 January 2023)

Hawaiian music filled the Camden airwaves

Camden radio listeners who owned a Fisk Radiola wireless set from James Pinkerton’s store in Argyle Street could tune into the tones of Hawaiian music from the Sydney Hawaiian Club Band. The band had a spot-on Sydney radio 2GB every Sunday at 10.00 am and on 2GZ at 5.45 pm. (Goulburn Evening Penny Post, 17 February 1938)   The popular radio show ‘Hawaii Calls’ was broadcast from the Moana Hotel on Waikiki Beach to a global audience from 1925. (Imada, 2004, Hawaiians on tour)

Fisk Radiola Wireless Set advertised by James Pinkerton, Argyle Street, Camden (
, 22 December 1938)

 In 1938 Camden residents could purchase a Radiola wireless set from James Pinkerton at 59-61 Argyle Street, where he ran a tailor shop. Prices for the latest Fisk Radiola started at 13 guineas, a princely sum in 1938 when the average weekly wage for a factory worker was just under £5. Built by ‘master craftsmen’ and allowed Camden listeners to tune into global short-wave broadcasts with ‘better tone and performance’. (Camden News, 22 December 1938)

In country NSW, the Hawaiian Club band broadcasts on Goulburn radio 2GN on Friday nights at 8.00 pm. (Goulburn Evening Penny Post, 17 February 1938)  For those who wanted to immerse themselves in Hawaiian completely, the Sydney Hawaiian Club toured country NSW, offering tuition on the steel guitar with weekly lessons costing 2/6 in Goulburn. The Hawaiian club Goulburn representative in 1938 was E Scarpas in Clifford Street. Steel guitars could be purchased for 30/1, with a 5/- deposit, or with weekly repayments of 2/-. (Goulburn Evening Penny Post, 17 February 1938)

References

Adria L. Imada (2004). Hawaiians on Tour: Hula Circuits through the American Empire. American Quarterly, 56(1), 111–149. doi:10.2307/40068217 

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The Roy Dowle collection and old photographs

camdenhistorynotes

Old photographs are a window into a more authentic past

Old photographs of Camden provide an entry to a world that was apparently more authentic than the present.  They are a window into a captured moment in the past by local photographers.

Roy Dowle is one of the most important local photographers from Camden’s past, and his collection of glass plates. Trish Hill and Allen Seymour have outlined how The Oaks Historical Society digitized Dowle’s glass plates.

In addition Covid has prompted an increase in nostalgia for the authentic past.

Covid prompts nostalgia for the past

As Harriet Richards from the University of Melbourne writes:

In response to today’s COVID-19 crisis, we are turning to old movies, letter writing and vintage fashion trends more than ever. Nostalgia is a defence mechanism against upheaval.

One way nostalgia for the past can be satisfied is by old photographs.

Roy Dowle glassplate negative print (Roy Dowle Collection The Oaks Historical Society)
A glass plate negative from the Roy Dowle Collection at The Oaks Historical Society. (TOHS)

The viewer of an old photograph is a time traveller into another world and is given a snapshot of a moment frozen in time. The observer has a glimpse of a world before the present.   

For the viewer, observing photographs is a form of nostalgia, where they create a romanticized version of the past accompanied by feelings that the present is not quite as good as an earlier period.

The History Skills website argues that photographs are excellent sources.

Photographs provide a rare glimpse of a particular second in time, which will never again be repeated. This is especially true for events that occurred before the development of television or digital technologies.

According to Peter Mylrea Camden’s most important photographers have included: W Macarthur; JB Mummery; HP Reeves; HT Lock; W Norton; J Donnellan; C Kerry; W Jackson; W Thwaites; CA Sibert; OV Coleman; AE Cash; R Cash; HE Perkins; R Dowle; J Driscoll. (Mylrea 2005)

More recent photographers have included: J Burge; R Herbert; J Kooyman; P Mylrea; J Wrigley; B Atkins and others.

The work of these Camden photographers can be viewed on the photographic database Camden Images Past and Present.

The photographic work of Roy Dowle has found its way to The Oaks Historical Society and his collection of glass plates negative have been digitized by the society. The following article on the Dowle collection has been written by two members of The Oaks Historical Society.

Digitizing The Roy Dowle Photographic Collection

Trish Hill and Allen Seymour

Roy William Dowle was born in 1893, the first child to Charles and Madeline Dowle (nee Dominish) and his siblings were Frank (1896), Edgar (1898) and Leonard (1904).  Charles Dowle purchased their “Collingwood” property in Quarry Road, at The Oaks around the time of Roy’s birth. It is presumed that Roy lived there until his marriage to Emily J Smith in 1915.

Portrait Roy Dowle 1920s Camden TOHS
Portrait of Roy and Emily Dowle in the 1920s. Roy was a keen photographer in the Camden district, and his collection of glass plate negatives is now with The Oaks Historical Society at the Wollondilly Heritage Centre. (TOHS)

Roy & Emily’s home was in Camden at the top of Barsden Street. Roy was a photographer and the Camden News of March 26th, 1914 records that he received an award for photography in the amateur section at the Camden show.

In 1937 he supplied photographs of Camden to the Council for use by the railways in their passenger carriages. Roy worked for Whitemans, and in 1943 he was called on to make a presentation to Charles Whiteman when the latter retired. The Dowle’s also had a holiday home at Erowal Bay – St George’s Basin.

Roy died in 1955, but fortunately, a large number of his glass and film negatives survived. These were donated to the Wollondilly Heritage Centre in 2016 by Roy’s grand-daughter. An index book came with the collection, but unfortunately, a lot of the negatives were not in their original boxes, making identification of the people difficult. The photographs range in age from around 1910 to the 1940s.

The Wollondilly Heritage Centre was successful in obtaining a New South Wales Community Heritage grant in 2019 to digitize the collection which consists of 1100 glass plate negatives and a further 120 plastic film negatives.

There was considerable work in preparing the negatives for digitizing, as they all had to be cleaned and numbered. This was done by volunteers from the centre over several weeks, and they were then transported in batches to Digital Masters at Balgowlah for digitizing. Most were still in excellent condition, and the quality of the scanned images is superb.

Roy photographed a lot of people, with weddings, babies and young children being popular subjects. He also photographed local buildings and houses, views, animals, local events such as parades or sporting events.

Buildings photographed include St Johns church (inside also), Camden Hospital (even inside shots), Camden Inn, Plough & Harrow Hotel, Narellan Hotel, Oakdale wine shop, Maloney’s store, Narellan school, Mt Hunter school, Camden railway station, Camden Milk Depot, Mater Dei and others.

The unveiling of the Mt Hunter war memorial (pictured) was also covered by Roy, along with Mt Hunter School and some beautiful interior shots which show honour boards with photos of local soldiers.

Mount Hunter Unveiling of War memorial 1920s R Dowle TOHS
The opening of the Mount Hunter Soldier’s War Memorial, opposite the public school took place on Saturday, 24 September 1921, at 2.30pm. The official unveiling ceremony was carried out by Brigadier-General GM Macarthur Onslow. The memorial listed 40 names of local servicemen. Afternoon tea was provided by ‘the ladies’ at 1/- with all money going to the memorial fund. (Camden News, 15 September 1921, 22 September 1921. Image Roy Dowle Collection)

Some really fascinating photos are of children in fancy dress, and two that stand out, are of the same girl dressed firstly as a wedding cake, and then as a lampshade!!   A number of the houses have been identified as still being in Camden, and other more easily identified homes include “Edithville” in Mitchell street, the former Methodist parsonage in Menangle Road and Harrington Park house.

Among the groups photographed are St John’s Choir, returned servicemen, cricket teams, football teams, Masonic dinner, the Royal Forrester’s, staff and children from Macquarie House, visiting school teachers and Sunday school groups. One photograph of a group of three male cyclists picnicking may be one of the first selfies, as we believe the centre one is Roy himself, holding a string which runs to the camera. Soldiers were another popular subject, and there are also some women dressed as soldiers. Roy also copied photos. This was done by photographing it, and a lot of the soldier photos have been copied this way.

Some of the views are of Wollongong, Bulli, Burragorang, Douglas Park, Theresa Park, Chellaston Street and some great shots taken from St Johns steeple. There are also numerous flood scenes around Camden. Animals didn’t escape Roy’s camera, and there are shots of cattle, horses, poultry, dogs. Even a camel. Some other remarkable photos are of a shop window display featuring Persil washing powder. Some of these have been dated to 1910.

Mount Hunter Davy Nolans bullock team at Mt Hunter 1920s TOHS
The bullock team of Davy Nolan at Mount Hunter with a load of produce. (Roy Dowle Collection)

A lot of the film negatives show his holidays, with some taken at their holiday home, while others are taken whilst on a trip to the north, and scenes have been identified as Cessnock, Dungog, Taree, Kew & Paterson. There are some photos of Warragamba Dam in the very early stages before any concrete was poured, and a magnificent shot of the winding drums of the overhead cableway.

Several of Roy’s photos have already appeared on the Back Page and in numerous publications on local history because his subjects were local and numerous copies of them have survived in private collections.

The scanned photos can be viewed on a computer or in albums at the Wollondilly Heritage Centre & Museum, which opens on Saturdays, Sundays & public holidays.

Check out old photographs from the Roy Dowle Collection at the Wollondilly Heritage Centre Website Click here.

References

Peter Mylrea 2005, ‘Some Photographers of Camden’. Camden History, vol 1, no 10, September.

Updated 12 June 2023. Originally posted on 19 August 2020 as ‘Old Photographs’