Narellan ‘Gayline’ Drive-In Movie Theatre

June 20, 2021 camdenhistorynotes2 Comments

The Drive-In Movie Theatre in the Camden District

A notable part of Camden’s modernism that has disappeared is the Drive-In movie theatre. The Narellan Gayline Drive-in Movie Theatre was one of the famous attractions in the local area between the 1960s and 1980s, located on Morshead Road, Narellan (now Narellan Vale).

Along with rock ‘n roll, transistor radios, the bikini, the mini-skirt, it marked the baby boomers’ lifestyle. Always popular with teenagers and young families. The Drive-In movie theatre was a defining moment in the Camden District for a 20th-century culture based around the icons of the period: cars and movies.

Drive-in Movie Theatres

Robert Freestone writes that the Drive-In theatre arrived in New South Wales in 1956, and by the 1970s, there were 14 drive-ins in the Sydney area, including the Gayline. The Drive-In was a ‘signifier of modernity with its twin imperatives of consumption and comfort in the motor car’s private space.

The Drive-In reflected the US’s growing influence in the 1950s, the force of suburbanisation and the democracy of car ownership. The first Drive-In theatre in Australia was the Burwood Drive-In in Melbourne in 1954. The first Sydney Drive-In was the MGM Chullora Twin Drive-In which opened in 1956 by Premier Cahill. In the 1970s, there were more than 300 drive-ins across Australia.

In New South Wales, Drive-Ins came under the control of the Theatres and Public Halls Act 1908-1946 and were heavily regulated compared to Victoria under the Theatres and Films Commission. Freestone argues states New South Wales planning restrictions Drive-Ins could not be closer than 4 miles to each other, they had to be accessed by a side-road, away from airports, and positioned so as not to distract passing traffic.

During its heyday, the Drive-In was very popular. It was very democratic, where an FJ Holden could be parked next to a Mercedes Benz. The Drive-In was a relaxed, laid back way to see the movies. The whole family went to the movies, including the kids. Parents could have a night off and not have to clean up, dress up or hire a baby-sitter. Families took blankets, quilts, and pillows, and when the kids faded out, they slept on the car’s back seat. A young mother could walk around with her new baby without disturbing other patrons.

Narellan Gayline Drive-In with caravan next to the projection room. Ted Frazer would stop overnight in the caravan c1970s. (T Frazer)

The Narellan Gayline Drive-In Movie Theatre

The Operators

Ted Frazer, the owner/operator of the Gayline Drive-In, was a picture showman. The Frazers had cinemas on the South Coast, at Scarborough and Lake Illawarra. At Scarborough, they operated the Gala Movie Theatre. It was established in 1950 and had sessions on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday nights and Saturday matinee. The family ran movies in the local progress hall at Lake Illawarra.

Terry Frazer said,’ ‘We were the only family-operated Drive-In. Greater Union or Hoyts ran all the others in the Sydney area’.

Terry Frazer considered that the business was successful over the years that it operated at Narellan. He said, ‘It was a family business, and my son did some projection work. The kids worked in the shop, as did our wives.

The high point of the Drive-In’s success was in the early 1970s. Terry’s brother Kevin Frazer and his wife Lorraine Frazer were in the business from the early 1970s. He says:

As a family business, we had separate jobs, and you did not interfere with others.

The Gayline showed a mixture of movies. When patrons rolled in, they put the hook-on-window-speaker and occasionally drove off with it still attached after the movie finished.

Some Drive-Ins closed down in the 1970s, yet the Gayline survived. When daylight saving was introduced moved to later starts. Like other Drive-Ins, during the 1980s, it dished up a diet of soft porn and horror movies to compete with videos and colour TV. In 1975 colour TV had an effect, but a more significant impact was the introduction of video in 1983-84. It contributed to killing off the Drive-Ins. Terry thinks that apart from videos Random Breath Testing, which became law in NSW in 1985, also had an effect.

Terry Frazer said

Things went in cycles. The writing was on the wall in the early 80s. We knew it was pointless to keep going full-time, and we only operated part-time, on Friday and Saturday nights. We had family working in the shop. We eventually closed in 1990. Land developers were making offers to Dad for the site. Dad built a house in 1971. It was a cream brick Cosmopolitan home in Gayline Ave, and it is still there.

Signage from the Gayline Drive-In Movie Theatre at Narellan (I Willis)

The foundation

Ted Frazer located the Drive-In at Narellan because it was to be within the ‘Three Cities Growth Area’ (1973) of the 1968 Sydney Region Outline Plan (1968), and the land was a reasonable price.

The opening night was in November 1967, and the first movie was Lt Robin Crusoe USN [Walt Disney, 1966, Technicolor, starring Dick Van Dyke, Nancy Kwan]

Size

Terry Frazer recalls

We could fit in 575 cars. The surface was asphalt, and we were always patching it. It was part of the maintenance of the site. We had to have a licence for motion pictures.

Screen

The screen, according to Terry Frazer, was made from zinc anneal sheeting. Mr Frazer recalls

Rivetted together on a rear timber frame. All mounted on a steel frame made by a local engineering company. A crane hoisted it up. On either end, there were cables and shackles, with a platform with safety rails that you manually wind up with a handle up the front of the screen. You would use it to clean the screen or repaint it white. I painted the screen with a roller.

NTS speakers still mount the junction boxes Narellan Gayline Drive-in (I Willis)

Sound

The speakers had a volume control and a small speaker. The family brought in Radio Cinema Sound in the mid to late 1970s. The customers had a choice of old-style speaker or radio as not all cars had radios. Terry Frazer would go around all the speakers on Fridays and check for sound quality. There were redback spiders under the concrete blocks that had the speaker post. Terry recalls:

Before the end of the show, he would remind patrons to put the speakers back on the post before leaving. Some would still drive off with them attached. The Drive-In had a PA system through the speaker system.

Sessions

Mr Frazer stated

Sessions started at 7.30 pm, except in daylight saving when it was 8.30pm. In busy periods we had double sessions – 7.30pm and midnight. Always two features. I always had the lighter movie on first and the feature on the second half. In the 1980s, we still had a double feature.

Narellan Gayline Drive-In Movie Theatre on Narellan Road was behind the screen. It was a two lane road from Narellan to Campbelltown. There are poultry farms in the background. c1970s (T Frazer)

Terry Frazer recalls:

For the midnight session there could be a queue down Morshead Road out onto Narellan Road waiting to get in. It was a horror movie session from 12.00am to 3.00am. On some popular Saturday nights, we may not be able to get all the cars in. At one stage in the 1970s, we considered having two sessions 7.00pm and 10.00pm. We would advertise sessions in the Sydney papers under the Greater Union adverts every night of the week. We would run adverts in the local papers each week.

Movies and Slides

The feature films could be a long movie, for example, Sound of Music, Great Escape. They had an intermission cut into the movie.

Terry Frazer remembers:

We changed the movie programme on Thursdays. We dealt with MGM, Paramount, 20^th Century-Fox and Columbia. They were all around the city. You would go to each one to pick up the [film] print. Some of these amalgamated later on. Paramount and Fox were off Goulburn and Elizabeth Streets, Columbia at Rozelle. My father, Ted Frazer, would go in early to book the programme, and I would drop off the old programme.
You would hope it was a good print, otherwise, I would have to repair the film by doing joins. I used a brush and cement, and later we went to tape. You would make a perfect joint. You would join up the trailers and a short feature. You would hook them into the front of the spool to make less changeovers.
If a movie went well, it would run for 2-3 weeks if the print was not booked out anywhere else. There were usually a lot of prints, so if a movie went well, you could keep a print for another week.
For the big movies, the city cinemas got first release. We could get lessor movies as first release and run with other features.

Terry Frazer observed that

as an independent [screen] we got a reasonable go at it. For the lessor movies, we paid a certain figure. Top movies were worked on a percentage basis, 50:50, 60:40 [of takings]. Some companies would check the number of cars at the Drive-In by sending representatives out. One independent movie producer, Ably Mangles, came out to check the number of cars. He was on a percentage basis.
Independent movies were popular. Glass slides were provided by David Koffel, the advertising agency, as a finished product.

Projection

Terry Frazer was the projectionist and recalled:.

The slide projector was a carbon arc slide projector. The movie projector was an English Kalee 35 mm projector. It had a carbon arc feed mirror for its light source. It had a manual feed. You had to thread up each spool which would last 20 minutes. There were two movie projectors and one slide projector. You would load one up, ready for the next one to start. While the movie was running, you would go out to the rewind room and manually rewind the spool for the next night’s screening.

Promotion for Narellan Gayline Drive-In Movie Theatre in the 1970s (The Crier)

Advertising

Terry Frazer remembers:

We had glass slides showing advertising during intermission and before the show. We would run 70 glass slides showing adverts for local businesses. Local business would buy advertising. The local representative of the advertising agency would go around local businesses. The advertising agency was David Koffel. There was good money from advertising to local businesses. Later the advertising agency changed to Val Morgan.

The Experience

The experience of the Drive-In is the strongest memory for regular moviegoers. People rarely talk about the movie they saw but can remember with great detail the whole experience of the Drive-In.

Memories flood back for baby-boomers of the rainy night when they tried to watch the movie with the windscreen wipers going. Or the car windscreen was fogging up. Or the winter’s night when the fog rolled in from Narellan Creek. Or the relaxed ambience of a balmy moonlit summer’s night.

The smell of the food, the sound of the cars, the queues to get in, the walk for hotdogs and drinks. The night out with the girlfriend and the passionate night’s entertainment. Orr the night out as a youngster with the family dressed as you were in pyjamas and slippers.

The Gayline Drive-In was not only attractive to young families; it offered local teenagers freedom from the restrictions of home. Many local teenagers had access to cars and found the Drive-In an ideal place for a date and some canoodling and smooching. It was quite a coupe to get Dad’s car and show off to your mates or the girlfriend. The Drive-In was a place to see and be seen. It was a big deal.

One of the favourite lurks of teenagers was to fill the boot of the car with people so they did not have to pay. Once inside, they were let out. If you drove a station wagon, you reversed the car into the spot and lay in the back of the wagon, wrapped up in a blanket. Others would bring their deck-chairs, put them in the back of the ute, enjoy a drink and a smoke, and watch the movie.

The Shop

The Drive-In movies offered an experience, whether at the snack bar which sold banana fritters, hot dogs, battered savs, Chiko Rolls, popcorn, chips, choc-tops, ice-creams, Jaffas, Minties and Hoadley’s Violet Crumble. The Narellan Gayline Drive-In had a large screen, a projector booth, a children’s playground, and a large parking area.

Terry Frazer recalls:

Mum controlled the shop and kitchen. In the early 1970s, she had 7-8 working in the shop. Later on, there was only one permanent girl. In the 1970s, the restaurant had 8-10 tables. Mum would cook T-Bone steak with salad and other dishes. Originally Mum made steak and fish dinners for a few years. Then she went to hot dogs, hamburgers, toasted sandwiches, banana fritters and ice-cream, which was very popular fish and chips.
Steak sandwiches were popular, Chiko rolls later on. They were quick and easy. Mum would pre-prepare the hot dogs and hamburgers. She would make what she needed based on how many came in the gate. At the break, everyone (patrons) would rush down to the shop and queue up 6-7 deep and wanted quick service.
We had snacks, chocolates, and popcorn. The only ice-creams were choc-tops because the margins were bigger. Drinks were cordial and water in paper cups. There were good margins. We were the last to change over to canned soft drinks. Most Drive-Ins did the same.
Customers could sit in the outside area and watch the movie from the building. A handful of patrons would walk in. Usually, local kids sit in front of the shop and watch the movie- all undercover.
The shop did fabulous business until the US takeaways arrived. McDonalds and KFC [arrived in the mid to late 1970s in Campbelltown and] changed things. Customers would bring these takeaways or bring their own eats.

Mrs Alma Rootes

One of the regular workers in the shop and kitchen was Alma Rootes. She was a kitchen hand and shop assistant from 1967-1975 until she became pregnant with her fourth child.

Mrs Rootes recalls:

I worked in the kitchen and served at the counter. We did fish and chips, hamburgers, banana fritters and Pluto pups (a battered sav) and other things such as lollies. People would come into the shop before the movie was screened to buy fish and chips. Fish and chips went really well. They would have their dinner. We would pre-prepared food for sale before the interval. It wasn’t easy; there would always be a rush at interval. I would work on hot food.
We made hundreds and hundreds of ice-creams. They had a chocolate coating. You would scoop out the ice-cream out of a drum-type container. You would put a small scoop in the bottom of the cone and a bigger one on the top and dip in the warm chocolate. The chocolate was in a stainless steel bowl. Mrs Frazer always wanted to give value for money [referring to the two scoops]. We would do this before interval. The banana fritters were battered bananas, deep-fried and sprinkled with icing sugar.
On Friday and Saturday nights, Mr Frazer would help on the counter in the shop with the lollies. There would be 2-3 working in the kitchen. On quiet nights Mrs Frazer would run things on her own. There was another lady. Her name was Lyn, I think. Kevin would come out and work in the shop if there was a rush. Sometimes the movie would start, and we would not be finished serving. The customers could see out of the shop to the screen. After the show, we would clean up.

Mrs Alma Roots was presented with a retirement gift from Frazer family. Alma worked at the Narellan Gayline Drive-In for many years (I Willis, 2008)

The shop had a glass front facing the screen with two doors for entry to the sales area. There was a counter at one end were lollies and ice-creams, in the middle was hot food. There was a door behind the counter to the kitchen. The kitchen had counters down either wall, with a deep fry at one end.
I have lived at Bringelly for around 50 years. I originally came from Lakemba. I was paid the wages of the day. I enjoyed my time there. It was a good place to work. Driving home was not good. Sometimes there would be huge fogs. Alan (husband) would take the kids, and they would sometimes drive me home.
I thought I had better go when I got pregnant. Alan [Alma’s husband] said that Mrs Frazer was concerned she would slip in the kitchen or have an accident as Alma was so heavy (pregnant). Mrs Frazer was concerned about her insurance position. The Frazers gave me a silver teapot when I left in 1975 [photo].

Patrons

Terry Frazer remembers:

Some of the patrons would like to have a drink. Terry recalls a group of blokes in the late 1960s who came in a top table truck. They parked the truck and got out their folding chairs, and had an 18-gallon keg. I think they finished the keg. It was hard to tell.
You would get guys on motorbikes. We had all sorts of patrons, stories that you could not print. We had a bucks party one night.
In the early 1970s, there were panel vans that were carpeted and done up. The young fellows would reverse into position and open the doors to watch the movie.
The Drive-In was a good night’s family entertainment. It was a full night’s entertainment for families. There was a kid’s playground. Mum and Dad could watch the movie. The regulars were young families who could not afford baby sitters. They would pile the kids in the car in their pyjamas and come to the Drive-In.

Terry Frazer recalls:

that they would always say, the Drive-In was one business that added to the population growth of the area. There was a lot of making out [and pashing] amongst the young couples who were regulars.

Patrons could get out of their cars and go for a walk. People wandered around.

Different uses

Frazer stated:

At Easter, there were church meetings. They constructed a huge stand in front of the screen. It went on for 3-4 years in the early 1970s [a trend copied from the USA]. It was a Drive-In church. The Frazers could not recall which church group.
There were car shows in the 1970s.
An independent movie was made at the Drive-In. They set up the rails and so they could move along to set a scene. Some scenes in the movie were shot at Thirlmere. A local, Lyle Leonard, had his car in it. They shot a number of scenes at the Drive-In. I cannot remember the name of the movie.

Inclement Weather

Frazer remembers:

In wet weather, we waited until it was really wet and would tell the patrons to come to the shop, and we would give them a pass for the following night.
We could get completely fogged out. The light beam could not penetrate the fog. We would close up and give a pass for the following night. It was worst in April and May.
People would come from a long way for a certain movie in really bad weather you would give them a refund.

Lyn Frazer recalled that if it was drizzling, patrons would rub half an onion onto the windscreen, and you could see.

Narellan township

Narellan township in 1967 [when we set up] only had 6 shops. There was always a takeaway next door to the current cheesecake shop [on Camden Valley Way]. There was only a very small shopping centre.

The End

The Gayline Drive-In eventually closed down, like many in the Sydney area, when residential development at Narellan Vale started to grow, and the land was more valuable as real estate.

Unfortunately, lifestyles have changed, and people prefer the comfort of suburban movie theatres at Campbelltown and shortly at Narellan. However, the tradition of outdoor movies and all their attractions for young families and teenagers are not dead in our area.

Outdoor movies have made a come back in the local area as they have in other parts of Sydney. There have been movies under the stars at venues like Mt Annan Botanic Gardens and Macarthur Park.

A story about the Narellan Gayline Drive-In that appeared in *The Crier* 20 May 1987 (The Crier, 20 May 1987)

Sources

Terry Frazer, Interview, Camden, 2008.

Alma Rootes, Interview, Bringelly, 2010.

Reference

Robert Freestone, ‘The Rise and Fall of the Sydney Drive-In’, in Paul Hogben and Judith O’Callaghan, Leisure Space, The Transformation of Sydney 1945-1970, UNSW Press, Sydney, 2014.

Read about the Blacktown Skyline Drive-In – the last drive-in in the Sydney area and here

Read about the history of the Yatala Drive-In in Queensland

Read about drive-ins 2007_SMH_They’ve long been history; now drive-ins are historical

Read about the Lunar Drive-In in Victoria

Facebook Comments: Camden History Notes

Warwick Storey I remember going to that Drive-In with Hilarie. It was only 500m up the road for her place. (12 January 2016)

Richard Barnes Watched ghost busters there with my dad..(11 January 2016)

Dianne Vitali Watched many a movie over the years!! B (11 January 2016)

Ian Icey Campbell Use to. Go there in my Escort Panel van, lol. (11 January 2016)

Lauren Robinson I live on this Drive-In! (11 January 2016)

Nell Raine Bruce Such fun times we had there. Before we could drive we would walk and sit on the veranda of the cafeteria and watch the movie. The good old days, wish it was still there. (Facebook, 22 June 2015)

Eric Treuer I remember going there thinking that the drive-in was for gays. I was very young at the time. Lol (Facebook, 22 June 2015)

Gail Coppola Had great times there. Listening to the movies and the cows lol (Facebook, 22 June 2015)

Jan Carbis Went there many times….great memories (Facebook, 22 June 2015)

Barbara Brook Swainston I remember it well! (Facebook, 22 June 2015)

Adam Rorke My lawyers have advised me to say nothing….. (22 June 2015)

Chris Addison What is it now houses kids used to love going there (22 June 2015)

Justin Cryer I remember going out to here with the whole family hahaha wow (22 June 2015)

Graham Mackie Saw smokie and the bandit there as a kid (22 June 2015)

Jan Carbis Went there many times….great memories (22 June 2015)

Robert Rudd Movie news that’s for sure gots lots of oh doesn’t matter (22 June 2015)

Dianne Bunbury We had one in Horsham when I was growing up in – 1960s era. (22 June 2015)

Robert Waddell Watched Convoy with a few other families, as us kids played on the swings.ET was the last movie I saw there, it was great because families used to enjoy spending time together back then, El Caballo Blanco, Bullens Animal World, Paradise Gardens all family activities all closed now because of these so-called social networks, play stations, Xboxes, etc the family unit has broken down and it’s a very big shame.Have a BBQ with your neighbours take your kids on picnics enjoy the family time it’s over too quickly people life is too short by far!!. (23 June 2015)

Kay Gale Great nite out was had many years ago wow (23 June 2015)

Graham Mackie Saw smokie and the bandit there as a kid (23 June 2015)

Jacque Eyles The midnight horror nights! Loved it (23 June 2015)

Vicki Henkelman The Hillman Minx and pineapple fritters life were good !! I also had a speaker in the shed for years oops! (23 June 2015)

Meg Taylor Soooo many memories (23 June 2015)

Kim Girard Luved it great times (23 June 2015)

Kerry Perry Bring back the good times movie, chick, and food (24 June 2015)

Julie Cleary We would back the panel van in and watch in comfort… So fun! (24 June 2015)

Mick Faber Great memories at the Drive-In. 12 of us snuck in one night in the back of a mates milk van. More of a party than a movie night. (24 June 2015)

Kathleen Dickinson Holy geez I think I even remember where that used to be! Lol (23 June 2015

Mandy Ellis-Fletcher Those were the days… Camden / Narellan changed so much..(23 June 2015)

23 June 2015

Matthew Gissane We went down through Camden for a Sunday drive last … er … Sunday, and anyhow, we followed the Old Razorback Road up to Mt Hercules. A fabulous vista from up there. Didn’t see the Gayline though. 23 June at 22:39

Greg Black wasn’t aware of the Gayline,… I do like Camden and the surrounding areas, nice countryside (in the ’60s used to go there with m & d to watch the parachutin’…) 23 June at 23:39

Greg Black Some of the patrons would like to have a drink. Terry recalls a group of blokes in the late 1960s who came in a tabletop truck. They parked the truck and got out their folding chairs and had an 18-gallon keg. I think they finished the keg. It was hard to tell. 23 June at 23:46

Gary Mcdonald You don’t see them any more 23 June at 14:18

Sonya Buck Remember seeing American Werewolf in London here Julie Rolph 23 June at 15:58

Leanne Hall Remember getting in the boot to save money oh those were the days 23 June at 09:13

Barbara Haddock Gann Lots of memories!! 23 June at 19:20

Ian Walton How many of you went there in the boot of a car, dusk till dawn R rated 23 June at 20:08

Sharon Dal Broi How many fitted in your boot Ian Walton 23 June at 20:09

Ian Walton maybe 2 but I never did that HAHA 23 June at 20:11

Sharon Dal Broi Only 2 23 June at 20:11

Ian Walton It was only a small car 23 June at 20:26

Keven Wilkins I remember that guy “movie news”(shit I’m old)lol 1 · 23 June at 22:02

Narelle Willcox We went to the skyline 23 June at 11:36

Graham Reeves went there nearly every weekend, got thrown out a few times as well 23 June at 05:01

Sonia Ellery 22 June at 20:37 This was a great Drive-In!

Vicky Wallbank omg that was a long time ago but I still remember it ..and used to visit there 1 · 22 June at 21:24

Kris Cummins Look them beautiful paddocks turned to shit 1 · 22 June at 20:06

Adrian Mainey Went there as a kid biff that’s a classic 1 · 22 June at 20:36

Nick Flatman Golden memories Spent a number of trips in the boot 22 June at 20:50

Craig Biffin & back of a ute or wagon 1 · 22 June at 20:52

Nicolle Wilby Haha Nick I did too under blankets and stuff! 22 June at 21:40

Anthony Ayrz I remember it well,,,,, thought it was called Skyline….. full of houses now,,,,, can still pick put exactly where it was…. I was about 7 when my parents took us there a few times….. remember going to the Bankstown one with my parent’s friends in the boot…. and we got away with it!!!! 22 June at 21:28

Stephen Burke I did go there a few times. I did forget the name 23 June at 07:08

Anthony Cousins Good old days 1 · 22 June at 15:54

William John RussellThat was where I grew up as part of the old man’s original property 1 · 22 June at 20:15

Chris TownsendI remember it well. Drive-In great. Council sucked . ( Over the name ) 22 June at 22:53

William John RussellThe reason it was named Gayline is that the owners lost their young daughter named Gay 1 · 23 June at 07:34

Eric Treuer I remember going there with my then-girlfriend and stopped in shock when I saw the name of the Drive-in. Lol.
I wish it was still there.

Bill Russell Reason it was called gayline is that they lost their daughter at an early age
Her name was Gay

Toni Lyall Baume We had a mattress in the back of the station wagon with the kids in their jammies

Kim Down We used to go almost every week with the family, then when we were old enough to get cars, we’d go with our mates

Susan Vale I remember watching one of the Star Wars films there. I think it was a return of the Jedi.

Robert Andersson Went there a hell of a lot. It was named after the owner’s daughter that passed away

Bronwyn Herden They were the days …saw many movies there 😦

Jody AndKathleen McLean We used to go was a great spot

Matthew Frost Lisa Frost everything good was before our time.

Rebecca Funnell Jill Funnell

Sandy Devlin I saw The Rocky Horror Picture Show when I was 10yo 😲

Alison Russell That brings back memories I used to live behind the Drive-In it looks like the photo is taken from our old house which sadly has just been sold and will be knocked down but what fun we had there as kids and all the sneaky ways we had to get into the Drive-In

15 September 2017 at 07:37

Colleen Dunk Moroney Often went in in the boot so we didn’t have to pay 😲😇 the guy in the white overalls was Neville, used to tap on your window and say “movie news”, giving away movie newspapers. always scared the crap out of me lol. I loved the Drive-In.

Lauren Novella I remember sneaking in the boot just to save a few bucks!!!!! Lol. Who even watched the movies….. It was more like a mobile party…😆

Sharon Land Memories remember Alison Russell when we had to go to the outdoor loo and if an R rated movie was on we were supervised outside my mum and dad lol

Andrew Carter-Locke We used to get in the boot of my cousins XY falcon. Back in the day you always got a backup film before the feature. I remember “Posse”, being better than “Jaws”.

Wayne McNamara Many mems….watching people drive off ….still connected….and the guy in the white overalls at the entrance…

Scott Bradwell Cherie Bradwell pretty much every Sat night back in the day 🙂

Shane Sutcliffe I can just remember it as a 9-year-old before it closed

Wayne Brennan Wow this sent some flashbacks off lol

Steve Gammage Remember it well, what u think Kerrie Gammage

Lynne Lahiff Yes I can remember going to Narellan Drive-In with my children and I loved it every time!

John MacAllister I remember seeing Mary Poppins there back in the day MA Ran! Good times

Peter Thomas A fantastic place. Deck chairs, a bucket of KFC & a cold esky on a hot summer night.

Karenne Eccles Went there often in the 70s …. thanks for the memories Gayline x

Lesley Cafarella this is where I met my husband Marc Cafarella 48 years ago …. nice memories…

Liz Jeffs Went all the time

Sharon Beacham Fernance one of the places you liked to go 😀

Mike Attwood Brings back so many memories

Karen Attwood Remember my big brother Mike Attwood took me and my sister, Nicky, to see The Sound of Music

Dave Lutas Movie news!!!

Christine McDermott Melinda Jolly – Remember it well !!

Like Love Haha Wow Sad Angry

Vicki McGregor So many memories at the Gayline.

Greg Mallitt Was a great place

Nelly Strike So many memories, the house in Tobruk road was the best party house too, hey Joseph Harty, Liane Gorrie, Deborah Brown, Nick Romalis, Nick Donato, Dave Lutas, Joanne Bower, Lauren Novella, Moira Harty, Genene Roche, Laurie Brien

Jane Walgers James

Graham Mackie Nat Kershaw

Cathie Patterson John Jones remember this

John Jones Sure do

Facebook 20 June 2021

Janelle Whittaker

It was great being able to go there

Denise Charlton

We always went to that drive in with the kids, love it.great memories.We always had the Banana Fritters. Yummo

Kerrie Gammage

Great fun there

Dean Winship

The houses were worth more than the movies

Maria Gray

Good old days

Steve Gammage

Great times

Janet Mcgilvray

Nothing but over crowded. Badly designed awful dog box housing estates there now grey and more grey yuck

Anne Watkins

When I was a kid, you could see the screen, looking over the paddocks, from the top of Doncaster Ave, Narellan. Just paddocks, what a memory.

Chris Terry

Great times

Kim Girard

Loved going to the drive in

Kathy Anne Hunt

Great days they did the best Banana Fritters

Chris Terry

Kathy Anne Hunt omg I was so sick on them once

Kathy Anne Hunt

Chris Terry really

Updated 20 June 2021, 26 March 2021. Originally posted 22 June 2015.

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Reflections of a travelling scholar

September 30, 2019April 20, 2020 camdenhistorynotes1 Comment

A journey to Poland

I recently had the privilege of being a visiting scholar at the University of Warsaw at the 2^nd Biennial International Conference on Redefining Australia and New Zealand: Changes, Innovations, Reversals. The aim of the conference was ‘to promote the culture of Australia and New Zealand in Europe’.

The conference

The RANZ conference covered several themes related to national identities ranging across cultural, feminine, environmental, transnational and linguistic perspectives with a particular emphasis on memory, trauma and the image. Many of the papers would not have been out of place at the annual Australian Historical Association Conference.

The ‘Australian western’ and its display in the film was an interesting theme that appeared in several papers. There was a strong interest in Pacific Islander, Maori and Aboriginal literature, art and performance across a range of presentations.

I presented my paper ‘An Australian country girl goes to London’ about the travels of Shirley Dunk in 1954, followed by a lively discussion with some conference delegates. My presentation raised several questions about this type of counter-migration story and what were these young women were seeking in their lives through their journeys. Were they searching for a greater truth about the forces that drove their ancestors to Australia?

Poland University of Warsaw Signage2 2019 lowres — University of Warsaw signage (I Willis)

One issue, not unrelated to migration, that emerged at the conference was intergenerational and transgenerational trauma. One paper suggested that this has become an issue for descendants of Polish immigrants to Australia of the post-war period. There was an examination Magda Szubanski’s Reckoning, her story of self-discovery haunted by the demons of her father’s espionage activities in wartime Poland.

Polish migrants came to Australia after the Second World War seeking a utopia in a new land and sometimes it failed to materialise. Their own dark clouds created ghosts that have haunted later generations of their family. One delegate suggested to me that this was also an issue from some families in Poland.

Intergenerational and transgenerational trauma raises concerns around how current generations confront and deal with the history of trauma within their own family. Research suggests that the answers to these questions are more complex than one might expect and that there are wider implications for others. For example, amongst Australian Indigenous populations and the descendants of Australian diggers and how they deal with the long shadow of the Anzac legend.

A less than flattering critique of the Australia migration story emerged at the conference in the form of a special issue of Anglica. The journal editor argues that Australia’s image as a successful model of multiculturalism has been destroyed by increasing intolerance and nationalism. A rather ‘disturbing and ugly face’ of Australia has emerged in a ‘semi-mythical multicultural paradise’.

Dark history and the power of the past

Poland’s deep past and dark history manifested itself in unexpected ways during my visit. The overwhelming presence of the Second World War, particularly in Warsaw, was a new experience for me. It brought into sharp focus the contested nature of my subjectivity and the need for objectivity in this personal reflection. It is a conundrum that has exercised my mind here, as it has done for many other historians on other occasions.

Poland Warsaw memorial 50 Executions 1943 lowres — Memorial on Nowy Swiat in the restaurant precinct of Warsaw. The English caption states in part: Here on December 3, 1943, the Germans killed 50 Poles in a street execution by firing squad. The victims were local residents captured at random in street roundups. Executions were announced through loudspeakers and posters put in the streets in an attempt to increase the sense of fear. (I Willis, 2019)

Poland NowySwiat EatingPrecinct 2019 lowres — The Nowy Swiat restaurant precinct Warsaw in the same area as the memorial to the 1943 street executions. (I Willis, 2019)

The Second World War lays over Poland like a blanket and its presence is everywhere. The city of Warsaw is like a field of monuments and the city’s dark history is ever-present in the view of the visitor. The past haunts the present in ways that are hard to understand without walking the city streets. Yet paradoxically the city’s dark history is invisible in the mind of many tourists as they walk around the reconstructed old city.

The rebuilt city is a metaphor for the resilience of the Polish people and their ability to be able to redefine themselves in the face of adversity. Polish cultural identity that has been shaped by the war is fundamental to the construction of place in Warsaw, Krakow and elsewhere.

Poland 1944 Uprising memorial 2019 lowres — Memorial to the 1944 Warsaw Uprising on Krakowskie Przedmiescie Warsaw in 2019 (I Willis)

I should note that one conference delegate requested that I ‘be kind to the city’ in my reflections of Warsaw. I would suggest that the city needs to be kinder to itself.

For those in the English-speaking world, there are numerous silences in the stories of wartime Poland and its reconstruction. Some of these silences are the result of the hegemony around the ownership of the wartime narrative. The shape and conduct of 20^th century German and Russian colonialism are not widely understood in Australia. There is a similar lack of understanding surrounding the role of European modernism and particularly Russian constructivism in the reconstruction of Polish cities.

The horrors of the past haunt the present

The consequences of 20th-century German colonialism are plain for all to see at Auschwitz and Birkenau with their industrial-scale slaughter. For this Australian, the ghosts of these Polish wartime memorials reminded me of the convict ruins at Norfolk Island and other sites.

Yet paradoxically the sacredness of Auschwitz and Birkenau are smothered by industrial-scale tourism that typifies many European tourist attractions. There is a feel of a theme park with the lengthy queues, crowded displays, and constant shoving. The memorial is loved to death.

Poland Auschwitz Camp 2019 Crowds — Auschwitz Concentration Camp guided tours with the crowds of tourists in September 2019 (I Willis)

Like travellers of old new experiences are one of the benefits of my journey to Poland. There are parallels with the story of young Australian women who travelled to London including new perspectives, new experiences, and new challenges. Like these young Australian women it has hopefully resulted in: greater empathy; greater understanding; and greater ability to cope with life’s challenges.

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The Camden story, an evolving project

July 15, 2019February 21, 2020 camdenhistorynotes1 Comment

The Camden story

The Camden story is an ongoing project that aims to tell the untold stories of the Camden, Cowpastures and Macarthur districts. There is the telling, the learning and the showing of the story.

The project is constantly evolving and changing direction. It is centred around the construction of place and the meaning of landscape. These are culturally derived concepts from both Indigenous and European experiences.

Camden Aerial 1940 CIPP — An aerial view of Camden township in 1940 taken by a plane that took off at Camden airfield. St John’s Church is at the centre of the image (Camden Images)

There are the natural ecologies that make up the environment as well as atmospheric and geological elements. The natural elements are just as important as the cultural.

Complexities of the Camden story

The Camden story has its own complexities. There is no one single dominant narrative. There are many voices in the story and each has a right to be heard.

There are many threads to the Camden story and when woven together make a coherent story with many voices. The weave of the cloth represents the warp and weft of the daily lives of the actors on the stage. Together they create a vibrant design that can capture the imagination of many and inspire others.

There are many actors in the constantly evolving narrative, each with their own agenda. The story is played on a stage that is located on Sydney’s rural-urban fringe, a dynamic movable frontier on the city’s edge. It is a constantly changing and evolving cultural landscape.

There are many layers to the Camden story each with its own particularities. As each layer is peeled back it reveals memories and meanings from the past that influence the present. Those who are interested can dive into the many layers and help unravel the entangled threads of the web and give some clarity to their meaning within the story.

The Camden story is a journey that is constantly evolving with many signposts along the way. There are a lot of fellow travellers who have their own stories. There are many pathways and laneways to go down, each with its own meaning and memories to the travellers who come along for the journey.

The Camden story has its own road map of sorts with signposts and markers of significant places along the journey for those who want to look. There are many opportunities for those who want embark on this journey and uncover many of the undiscovered mysteries of the Camden story.

It is in the interests of those who want to tell the story that they walk the ground in which the story is embedded. The landscape speaks to those who want to listen. The experience is enriching and fulfilling and shapes the telling of the story.

Some parts of the Camden story

The Camden story has many parts and some are listed below:

Camden, the town

This is a short history of the town, which is situated on the floodplain of the Nepean River, on the traditional land of the Dharawal people in an area known as the Cowpastures. The Camden area’s distinctive landscape has moulded the community’s identity and sense of place. From the earliest days of European settlement class and social networks ordered daily life in the village with the local gentry at the top of the social hierarchy.

camden st johns vista from mac pk 1910 postcard camden images — Vista of St Johns Church from Macarthur Park in 1910. Postcard. (Camden Images)

A field of dreams, the Camden district, 1840-1973

The Camden district ran from the Main Southern Railway around the estate village of Menangleinto the gorges of the Burragorang Valley in the west. It was a concept created by the links between peoples’ social, economic and cultural lives across the area. The district became the centre of people’s daily lives for well over a century and the basis of their sense of place and community identity.

Making Camden History, a brief historiography of the local area

This short historiography is one of the few that has been attempted to illustrate the construction of the history of a rural community. It is an attempt to examines the broad range of influences that shaped the writing of the Camden community’s history.

Movie making Camden style

Movie makers have always had an eye on the Camden district’s large country houses, rustic farm buildings, quaint villages and picturesque countryside for film locations. From the 1920s the area has been used by a series of film makers as a setting for their movies. It coincided was an increasing interest in the area’s Englishness from poets, journalists and travel writers.

Smilie Movie Cover — Smilie Gets A Gun Movie Cover

Camden Bibliography a biography of a country town

The Camden bibliography is an attempt to highlight some of the research that addresses the notion of Camden as a country town and the subsequent urbanisation of the local government area. The sources listed in the bibliography cover the geographic area of the Camden district.

The Cowpastures Project

This is a summary of the blog posts from Camden History Notes on the Cowpastures.

The Cowpastures Region 1795-1840

The Cowpastures emerged as a regional concept in the late 18^th century starting with the story of the cattle of the First Fleet that escaped their captivity at the Sydney settlement. The region was a culturally constructed landscape that ebbed and flowed with European activity. It grew around the government reserve established by Governors Hunter and King. It then developed into a generally used locality name centred on the gentry estates in the area.

On-the-Cowpasture-Road-Chrisr-Bunburys — On the Cowpasture Road / Chrisr: Bunbury’s. from Views of Sydney and Surrounding District by Edward Mason, ca. 1821-1823; 1892. State Library of NSW PXC 459

Convicts in the Cowpastures

The story of European settlement in the Cowpastures is intimately connected to the story of the convicts and their masters. This story has not been told and there is little understanding of the role of the convicts in the Cowpastures district before 1840. Who were they? What did they do? Did they stay in the district?

Kirkham, a locality history

Kirkham is a picturesque, semi-rural locality on Sydney’s rural-urban fringe between the historic township of Camden, with its inter-war and colonial heritage and the bustling commercial centre of Narellan. The arrival of the rural-urban fringe at Kirkham in recent decades has created a contested site of tension and constant change, resulting in an ever-evolving landscape. This is an example of a short locality history within the local area published by the Dictionary of Sydney.

Camelot House (formerly known as Kirkham) located in the Kirkham area in the early 1900s (Camden Images)

‘Just like England’, a colonial settler landscape

Early European settlers were the key actors in a place-making exercise that constructed an English-style landscape aesthetic on the colonial stage in the Cowpastures district of New South Wales. The aesthetic became part of the settler colonial project and the settlers’ aim of taking possession of territory involving the construction of a cultural ideal from familiar elements of home in the ‘Old Country’. The new continent, and particulaly the bush, had the elements of the Gothic with its grotesque and the demonic, and the landscape aesthetic was one attempt to counter these forces. Settlers used the aesthetic to assist the creation of a new narrative on an apparenty blank slate and in the process dispossessed and displaced the Indigenous occupants. The new colonial landscape was characterised by English place-names, English farming methods and English settlement patterns, with only cursory acknowledgement of Indigenous occupation.

Townies, ex-urbanites and aesthetics: issues of identity on Sydney’s rural-urban fringe

The rural-urban fringe is a dynamic frontier, an ever expanding zone of transition on the edges of Australia’s major cities and regional centres. This paper examines the proposition that Sydney’s urban growth has pushed the city’s rural-urban fringe into the countryside and unleashed the contested nature of place-making in and around the
country town of Camden. It will be maintained that the dynamic forces that characterise the rural-urban frontier have resulted a collision between the desires and aspirations of ‘locals’ and ‘outsiders’ and prompted a crisis in the identity of place. Community icons
and rituals have become metaphors for the continuity of values and traditions that are embedded in the landscapes of place. The actors have used history and heritage, assisted by geography and aesthetics, to produce a narrative that aims to preserve landscape identity, and has created a cultural myth based on a romantic notion of an idealised
country town drawn from the past, ‘a country town idyll’.

St Johns Church Camden around 1900 (Camden Images)

Westies, Bogans and Yobbos. What’s in a name?

What’s in a name? Quite a lot if you live in the fringe urban communities of Campbelltown, Camden or Picton in the Macarthur district on Sydney’s rural-urban fringe. In the past these communities have been fiercely parochial country towns with clearly identifiable differences based on history, heritage, traditions, mythology, rituals, demographics, local government and a host of other factors. With the encroachment of Sydney’s urban sprawl they have been wrapped up by the tentacles of the metropolitan octopus and faced challenges on a variety of fronts. The questions that this article raises concern Macarthur regionalism. Is it authentic? How representative is it of the former country towns that are now incorporated within it?

Nepean River more than a water view

The Nepean River is one of the most important waterways in the Sydney basin and has particular significance for Sydney’s southwestern rural-urban fringe. The Nepean River catchment extends south and east of the Sydney Basin to take in areas near Robertson and Goulburn. West of Wollongong the tributaries includng Cataract Creek, Avon River, Cordeaux River that flow north-west and then into the deep gorges of Pheasants Nest and Douglas Park. The river opens up into a floodplain and flows past Menangle and crosses the Cowpastures and southern Cumberland Plain past Camden and Cobbitty. The river then flows north through the gorge adjacent to Wallacia and enters Bents Basin before it is joined by the Warragamba River and changes its name to the Hawkesbury River.

Nepean RiverCHS0137 — The Nepean River in the early 1900s just below the Cowpasture Bridge during a dry spell. Postcard. (Camden Images)

The Women’s Voluntary Services, A Study of War and Volunteering in Camden, 1939-1945

Camden is a country town whose history and development has been influenced by war. The town was part of Australia’s homefront war effort, and from the time of the Boer War the most important part of this for Camden was volunteering. The Second World War was no exception, and the most influential voluntary organisation that contributed to the town’s war effort was the Womens Voluntary Services [WVS]. The Camden WVS was part of a strong tradition of Victorian female philanthropy in the town, which attracted, and depended on, middle class women socialised in Victorian notions of service, ideals of dependence, a separatedness of spheres, patriarchy, the status quo, and by the inter-war period, modernity.

The Member for Camden, Dr Elizabeth Kernohan

On 21 October 2004 the former Member for Camden, Dr Elizabeth (Liz) Kernohan, died after suffering a heart attack. She was sixty- five. Thousands of people lined Argyle Street in Camden to see the cortege and pay their last respects, I and compliments flowed from both sides of New South Wales politics. There were over 1850 column centimetres devoted to her death and subsequent funeral in the local press. Kernohan was a popular, larger than life figure in Camden. She held the seat of Camden for the Liberal party for over 11 years in an area that some have claimed is the key to the success of the Howard Government. How was Kernohan able to gain this type of support? This paper will try to address this question, although initially it is useful to give a brief overview of the electorate.

Narellan ‘Gayline’ Drive-In Movie Theatre

A notable part of Camden modernism that has disappeared is the drive-in movie theatre. The Narellan Gayline Drive-in Movie Theatre was one of the notable attractions in the local area between the 1960s and 1980s located on Morshead Road, Narellan (now Narellan Vale). Along with rock ‘n roll, transistor radios, the bikini, the mini-skirt, it marked the lifestyle of the baby boomers. Always popular with teenagers and young families. The drive-in movie theatre was a defining moment in the district for a 20^th century culture that was based around the icons of the period: cars and movies.

El Caballo Blanco, A Forgotten Past

Catherine Fields once boasted a national tourist facility which attracted thousands of visitors a year to the local area, the El Caballo Blanco entertainment complex. The El Caballo Blanco complex opened in April 1979 at Catherine Fields. The main attraction was a theatrical horse show presented with Andalusian horses, which was held daily in the large 800-seat indoor arena.

CWA Camouflage Netting Volunteers

The Camden Country Women’s Association made camouflage nets during the Second World War and was the largest netting centre in the area. The Camden CWA camouflage netting centre was assisted by sub-branches at Campbelltown and Narellan, which were established after the joint CWA-WVS meeting in December 1941.

The Camden Branch Railway Line

One of the most popular memories of the Camden area by locals and visitors alike is the Camden branch line and its famous locomotive Pansy. It has a truly dedicated and enthusiastic bunch of supporters who positively drool about it and overlook its foibles. Old timers tell and retell stories to anyone who wants to listen, all laced with a pinch of exaggeration and the romantic. A part of local nostalgia. The Camden branch line was operated by the New South Wales Railways from 1882 to its closure in 1963.

Pansy Camden train crossing Hume Hwy L Manny Camden Images — Pansy Camden train crossing Hume Hwy at Narellan in the early 20th century (L Manny Camden Images)

New horizons open up for the new community of Oran Park and the finishing line for the former Oran Park Raceway

Oran Park Raceway was doomed in 2008 to be part of history when it was covered with houses in a new suburb with the same name. It was also the name of a former pastoral property that was part of the story of the settler society within the Cowpastures. The locality is the site of hope and loss for both locals and new arrivals. The Oran Park Motor Racing Circuit was located in the south-western and western part of the original Oran Park pastoral estate. The main grand prix circuit was 2.6 km long with a mixture of slow, technical and fast sweeping corners as well as changes in elevation around the track.

The local ‘rag’, the future of local newspapers

This post was prompted by an item in the Oran Park Gazette, an A4 newsletter newspaper. Gazette journalist Lisa Finn-Powell asked: What is the future of the community newspaper? The local ‘rag’ in our suburb is a free tabloid newspaper thrown onto our front driveway each week. Actually there are two of them, the Camden Narellan Advertiser and the Macarthur Chronicle. Where I live some of these newspapers stay on the neighbour’s driveway for weeks and disintegrate into a mess. Other neighbours just put them in the bin. So not everyone is a fan of the local ‘rag’ in the age of Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook.

32 Squadron RAAF, Camden Airfield, 1942-1944

The members of 32 Squadron arrived in Camden Airfield in September 1942 after seven months of hazardous operational duties supporting Allied Forces in New Guinea and the surrounding area, including New Britain. The squadron had been ‘hastily formed in the field’ in February 1942 with personnel drawn from other units. The squadron’s operational duties at Camden Airfield included reconnaissance and sea patrols off the east coast of Australia.

The army in camp at Narellan in WW2

Once the army moved into Narellan Military Camp it commenced operation and became part of the wartime scene during WW2. Men were seen marching all over the district, there were mock raids and the men practiced firing small arms. The camp is an important part of the story of Narellan during war as thousands of men, and some women, moved through the camp on their way to somewhere in the theatre that was the Second World War.

Narellan Army Camp 1940s CIPP — Aerial View Narellan Military Camp c.1941 (Camden Images CHS)

Modernism and consumerism, supermarkets come to Camden

Supermarkets are one of the ultimate expressions of modernism. The township of Camden was not isolated from these global forces of consumerism that originated in the USA. The Camden community was bombarded daily with American cultural influences in the form of movies, motor cars, drive-in, motels, TV, and radio. Now consumerism was expressed by the appearance of self-service retailing and the development of the supermarket.

Camden Cafes and Milk Bars

The local milk bar is a largely unrecognized part of Camden modernism where the latest trends in American food culture made their way into the small country town by Australian-Greek immigrants. The design, equipment and fit-out of local cafes and milk bars was at the cutting edge of Interwar fashion. The cafes were a touch of the exotic with their Art Deco style interiors, where fantasy met food without the social barriers of daily life of the Interwar period. Camden milk bars rarely just sold milk shakes unlike their counterparts in the city. To make a living and ensure that their businesses paid their way the cafes and milk bars also sold fruit and vegetables, meals, sandwiches, lollies, sweets and chocolates.

Interwar Camden

The interwar period in Camden was a time of economic development and material progress. The prosperity of the period was driven by the local dairy industry and the emerging coal industry. During the interwar period one of the most important economic arteries of the town was the Hume Highway (until 1928 the Great South Road). For a country town of its size the town had modern facilities and was up-to-date with the latest technology. The interwar years were a period of transition and increasingly the motor car replaced the horse in town, and on the farm the horse was replaced by the tractor, all of which supported the growing number of garages in the town.

Camden AH&I Hall 1997 JKooyman Camden Images — Camden AH&I Hall brick frontage was added in 1936 to celebrate the Jubilee Show and designed by Sydney architect A Bolot (1997 Photographer JKooyman, Camden Images)

Aesthetics · Art · Attachment to place · Cafes · Camden · Camden Council · Community identity · Cultural Heritage · Entertainment · Festivals · Heritage · History · Leisure · Local History · Music · Place making · Restaurant · Sense of place · Tourism

Live and Local music festival hits the right notes

June 25, 2018June 25, 2018 camdenhistorynotes

Camden’s main street was transformed into a ‘Live and Local Beat Street’, or so said the publicity for the festival. And it was.

Camden Live & Local 2018 Signage programmes

The publicity flyer promised Live and Local was a ‘unique experience’ and explored ‘new places and spaces’. And it delivered in spades.

An experience

The 2018 Live and Local Camden music festival is in its second year. The crowds were up and so were the number of gigs.

Camden Live & Local 2018 Maddi Lyn Elm Tree Cafe — Maddi Lyn an up and coming young artist from the Macarthur area. Here performing in the courtyard outside the Elm Tree Cafe. A budding country singer she is aiming for Nashville. You can catch Maddi Lyn at venues in and around the Macarthur area. (I Willis, 2018_

There were over 50 musos across 15 venues. This was up from 2017 with 27 artists across 14 venues.

The amount of raw talent was frightening and a little overwhelming. There must be something in the local water around the Camden area.

Camden Live & Local 2018 White Melodies Squeeze&Grind Cafe — Two talented musicians make up White Melodies duo based in the Macarthur area. They are singer song-writers Kellie Marie and Chloe. They have been finalists in country music competitions at Tamworth and the ACT. They play an easy listening repertoire of upbeat classics. (I Willis, 2018)

The crowds enjoyed the music on offer from professional and emerging artists. It is great to see local support for live gigs.

Eclectic Venues

This year the festival grew to include Friday night across a range of venues. This was a good introduction to the festival.

Camden Live & Local 2018 Murray Bishop Quartet Michelles Cafe — This jazz ensemble led by talented local musician, band leader and impresario Murray Bishop on horns. The Murray Bishop Quartet play a range of jazz styles and are found across the Sydney area and are based in the Macarthur region. (I Willis, 2018)

There were also the Saturday afternoon gigs similar to 2017 between 2 and 6 with a full program of artists.

Camden Live & Local 2018 Saxing About Saritas Emporium — Saxing About talented muso Will Habbal is playing outside Saritas Emporium in Argyle Street. This cool dude has a keen fan following on his Facebook page. This hip reed player pumps out ‘smooth jazz’ on tenor sax with a 5/5 rating. Check him out ladies. (I Willis, 2018)

The music festival used a range of eclectic local venues from cafes, fashion outlets, galleries, local hotels, restaurants, a shoe shop, professional premises and a local arcade.

A new venue in an old space

The festival succeeded in uncovering a music local venue in an unlikely venue. It is a space with the wow factor at the Alan Baker Art Gallery.

Macaria AlanBaker Gallery Alan Baker 2018 — Macaria is a substantial town residence from the mid-Victorian period that was influenced by the Picturesque movement and Gothic styling. It has an awesome interior with beautiful timber floors, high ceilings and great acoustics. (I Willis, 2018)

The acoustics are to be experienced to be believed with a wooden floor, high ceiling and little echo.

Camden Live & Local 2018 Harpist Fishers Ghost Youth Orch Macaria — This young student harpist from the Fishers Ghost Youth Orchestra showed this room at its best. The beautiful aesthetic of the space was complemented by the sweet tones of the harp from this young musician. The audience listened intently to the performance and then gathered around for an impromptu tutorial from the student’s mother on the specifications of the harp at the end of the performance. (I Willis, 2018)

What a venue with lots of atmosphere.

Camden Live & Local 2018 Signage Macaria Entry — The signage at the front of Macaria and the Alan Baker Art Gallery in John Street Camden. This was the best discovery of the 2018 Live and Local music festival in Camden. A great acoustic music space in a colonial gem of a building in Camden’s historic heritage precinct. (I Willis, 2018)

This is a natural music venue for a small intimate acoustic gig.

Camden Live & Local 2018 Isabel Estephan Macaria — Set amongst the roses and flowers Isabel Estephan shone in her live performance. A singer songwriter 18 years of age who has been writing her own compositions for the last 5 years. She has music in the blood according to her website and her songs are inspired by things she feels deeply about that define the world we live in. (I Willis, 2018)

Help for lots of tastes

All the venues had lots of Local and Live helpers to smooth over any hiccups and guide and help out lost fans. They made sure that all gigs went smoothly.

Camden Live & Local 2018 Organiser Cheryl CC — One of the chief organisers of the Camden Live and Local. This photographer grabbed a shot of Cheryl on the run between gigs as she made her way through Michelles’ Cafe. She was all go-go-go to ensure the venues ran smoothly and there were no hiccups. (I Willis, 2018)

There was music for all tastes from classical to blues, country, jazz as well as a rockabilly. Some good old rock and roll with a funky twist was popular with young fans.

Camden Live & Local 2018 The Shang Upstairs at Fred's — Upstairs at Freds on the new outside area completed the atmospherics for the music festival. The Shang kept a horde of young folk entertained as the sun set over the 2018 Camden Live and Local music festival. We await the 2019 event with anticipation. (I Willis, 2018)

A gig guide can be found here.

Camden Live & Local 2018 Signage Gig guide Elm Tree Cafe — Gig guide in the window of the Elm Tree Cafe. (I Willis, 2018)

A developing arts precinct

It is great to see how Live and Local contributes to the creation of an arts precinct in Camden for a day and a half. All this live music is good for the local economy, job creation and helps build local tourism.

Importance of live music

Live music is central to the Live and Local music festival and acknowledges how live performance is an important part of our culture. Performances are authentic and artists provide a screen-time in 3-D without much assistance from tech-gadgets.

Camden Live & Local 2018 Honey Sippers Camden Arcade — The sweet tones of Trish and the picking on guitar of Mark as the Honey Sippers. This local duo appear regularly throughout the Macarthur region and have an enthusiastic rusted-on fan base who follow them around the area. The Honey Sippers perform blues, rock, folk and country and they ‘love to play music that engages and tells a story’. (I Willis, 2018)

Performers at Live and Local provided a form of engagement of the imagination which is sadly lacking with recordings or tech-devices. Live performances at Live and Local are fresh. It is not canned music.

There was an awesome array of talent on display for all to see – warts and all. Performers were in the moment and provided a physical and emotional experience with their audiences.

Live performance is a shared experience between performer and audience. There is an immediacy that provides an element of surprise and risk, perhaps even the unexpected.

Place making and storytelling

All Live and Local artists are part of the creative industries. They create stories which are expressed in song and music. Musicians, poets, raconteurs, performers and writers are all storytellers. All cultures have story tellers.

Camden Live & Local 2018 Rhia Camden Hotel — Rhia performing at the Camden Hotel on Friday night for 2018 Camden Live and Local. She performed her own composition ‘Camden’ and the audience enthusiastically demanded an encore at the end of her bracket. To which there were woops and cheers. Rhia’s composition tells a story about her home town and how she feels about it. (I Willis, 2018)

Storytelling as song allows the musicians to connect with their audience. Their stories are captivating, and full of emotion and meaning. These stories are one element in the process of place making and construction of community identity.

Stories as songwriting can connect people with memories of the past in the present. Music can tell the stories of place and the history of a community. Music can create a connection with the landscape and create an attachment to place.

Songs are one form of storytelling that can take a successful part of marketing and branding for a locality and community. In this way they help the local economy and local businesses.

Camden Live & Local 2018 Hickson Circuit Michelles Cafe — This young trio of musicians are called Hickson Circuit and performed at Michelle’s Cafe in Argyle Street. They had a loyal fan club that include friends and family who encouraged them on their performance. (I Willis, 2018)

Support for music festival

The Live and Local project is a partnership between the Live Music Office and Camden Council. Funding was provided by Create NSW as part of the Western Sydney Live and Local Strategic initiative.

Camden mayor Lara Symkowiak stated

I encourage you to take the time and visit each venue to hear the diversity of the music and let our talented local artists entertain you for hours.

The director of the NSW government Live Music Office John Wardle stated that it

has been truly inspirational and we once again very much look forward to a day that will be a highlight of the broader cultural program in Western Sydney.

Camden Live & Local 2018 Neilly Rich Camden Hotel — The Camden Hotel hosted NeillyRich on Saturday afternoon. The country duo of Kiwi Matthew McNeilly and Kempsey local Amelia Richards met in Tamworth. The dedicated songwriters are inspired by the likes of Lyall Lovett and Keith Urban. They are focused on ‘storytelling through music in the vein of some of the pioneers of the Australian industry’. They are currently on the road and had arrived from Bega to perform at Live and Local in 2018. (I Willis, 2018)

Musicians succeed in gig economy

Camden’s Live and Local festival demonstrated how musicians are part of the gig economy. All trying to make a living. These issues were explored in a recent article in The Conversation.

Musicians identified that they did meaningful work according article author Alana Blackburn, a lecturer in Music at the University of New England. She maintained that

Their intrinsic success lies not in what others expect of them, but in achieving personal freedom and being true to their beliefs. It’s about meeting personal and professional needs.

More than this a study by the Australia Council for the Arts found that

musicians undertake a wide range of arts-related and non-arts activities.

According to Blackburn

Musicians can survive under these circumstances by developing important overarching and transferable skills.

This type of career is called a ‘portfolio career’ where musicians have lots of jobs. A mix of paid and unpaid, and mostly short term work and projects. Musicians state that the prefer to be in-charge of their own career, despite the financial challenges. They feel that they can control their creative efforts and their music related activities.

Musicians, like other creative arts types, are mostly self-directed and driven by a passion for their artistic work. Musicians often work across industries and are not locked into the music industry. They consider that they are continually learning and are not afraid of failure.

Blackburn maintains that the success of musicians in the gig economy is down to a number of characteristics that they develop: life-long learning, adaptability, flexibility, social networking, entrepreneurial skills, planning, organisation, collaboration, confidence, self-directed, multi-tasking, independence, risk-taking, promotion and others.

Camden Live & Local 2018 Signage

Many of the artists at Camden 2018 Live and Local fitted into this category. Some are in the early career stage while others are more successful. The gig economy is here to stay and provides many challenges. It is not for the fainthearted. Live and Local provided a sound platform for the exposure of these artists in a tough industry.

Camden Live & Local 2018 Staff Macaria — A slightly perplexed Live and Local helper at Macaria making sure everything was flowing smoothly. She very patiently posed for this photograph before rushing off to other duties. All the Live and Local staff did a great job. Well done to all in 2018. (I Willis, 2018)

Learn more on

Facebook and

Camden Narellan Advertiser and

Wollondilly Advertiser.

‘Live and Local Music Festival in Camden town centre’ Camden History Notes (Blogger), 17 June 2017.

Alana Blackburn, ‘The gig economy is nothing new for musicians – here’s what their ‘portfolio careers’ can teach us’. The Conversation, 21 June 2018.

Camden Live & Local 2018 Signage Venue Here

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Local historian takes a fresh look at the Campbelltown story

December 11, 2017 camdenhistorynotesLeave a comment

Review: Pictorial History Campbelltown & District. By Jeff McGill. Sydney: Kingsclear Books, 2017. Pp. iv + 139. Illustrations, index, select bibliography, paper. 978-0-99444456-2-9.

Pictorial History Campbelltown and District sets out to break the stereotypes that have plagued Campbelltown for decades. Local author and photographer Jeff McGill illustrates in his new publication how the city is mulit-dimensional and has many facets to its character.

The book is a fresh look at a community through local eyes and shows the community’s vibrancy, enthusiasm and strength. It illustrates how the community has endured many challenges from the dreamtime to the present.

Campbelltown Pictorial History McGill 2017 Cover

McGill’s use of images peels back the layers of meaning and reveals the heart of the city. Photographs demonstrate the dynamic nature of the community and how it has changed over time.

Historical photographs are a window into the past and provide a form of expression materially different from the written or oral record. Photographs are accessible and immediate to the viewer. They are unfiltered and provide a meaning to the setting of the subject.

Historical photographs show an immense amount of detail and are an archive of meaning about the past. Quite often the viewer feels that they are intruding on a private event or function.

Campbelltown Pictorial History[2] McGill Launch 2017 — Author Jeff McGill signing copies of his book standing next to the publisher Catherine Warne from Kingsclear Books at the Glenalvon launch of Pictorial History Campbelltown & District on Saturday 9 December 2017 (I Willis)

While photographic images capture a moment in time they also have deeper meanings. Just like the writer the photographer is trying to say something in their formatting, structure and composition of the image. What is the message that the photographer is trying to the tell the viewer?

Sometimes the photograph poses a host of other questions. Why is the street not paved? Why is the women’s dress that long? Why are people wearing those funny clothes? Why are there cows in the paddock? Why are their no electricity poles? These are all part of the composition of the photographs in this pictorial history.

Campbelltown Pictorial History[2] McGill 2017 — Campbelltown Railway Station which opened in 1858. What is little understood is the importance of the rail link to people living in the Illawarra until the opening of Wollongong Railway Station in 1887. There was a daily coach service running between the station and Wollongong which still persists today. (CAHS)

Jeff McGill provides a perspective of the lived local experience of Campbelltonian and a journalist’s nose for a good story. McGill has published a number of local histories that show the hand of someone who understands the nuances of small communities.

After growing up in Campbelltown, going to school in the city McGill worked for the large metropolitan dailies. He then returned to Campbelltown so he could write stories about interesting people rather than those based on hard bitten sensationalist attitude to journalism in the big smoke.

It is this attitude that shone when the Macarthur Advertiser, under McGill’s editorship, took out two national awards for the best local newspaper in Australia. He has been praised for being a passionate Campbelltonian and it shows in Pictorial History Campbelltown & District.

The images that McGill has chosen for the book show the same characteristics that are part of successful journalism in the provincial press. Each image tells a story about local characters and identities and capture a snapshot of a time long past. McGill’s deft eye for composition and impact as a photographer is clearly demonstrated in his layout work in the book.

Campbelltown Pictorial History[1] McGill 2017 — A procession in Queen Street in 1910 was organised by the local Waratah and Wallaby Football Club. (CAHS)

The images are drawn from a range of archives – Campbelltown City Library, the Campbelltown & Airds Historical Society, many private collections, individual photographers and the author. Many of these images are not accessible to the general public in any form and this publication breaks ground in this area. The book is complemented by a select bibliography and index.

Some of the images show important events which had repercussions on the national stage like the election of the Whitlam government (p. 123), and the First (pp. 54-61) and Second World Wars (pp. 81-87).

The Pictorial History Campbelltown & District provides a new perspective on the history of Campbelltown from earlier histories. Carol Liston’s Campbelltown The Bicentennial History and William A Bayley’s History of Campbelltown New South Wales are narrative histories of the city and surrounding suburbs. Bayley’s history was published at the time of one of the greatest changes in the history of Campbelltown. In 1973 the state government the announcement of The New Cities of Campbelltown Camden Appin Structure Plan and the establishment of the Macarthur Growth Centre. Liston’s history was published during the nationalist frenzy linked to the Australian Bicentenary Celebrations of 1988.

Campbelltown Pictorial History[3] McGill Launch 2017 — Author and photographer Jeff McGill showing off his latest publication at the Glenalvon launch on Saturday 9 December 2017 (I Willis)

More that just a narrative Pictorial History Campbelltown & District is an entry point to the daily lives of those living in Campbelltown. The images are accompanied by a lively story about the characters and events from Campbelltown’s past.

The city has not always received a good press in the Sydney metropolitan dailies and this publication challenges these stereotypes. This collection of images provides a human side to the local story about real people with real lives who create a vibrant community.

The Campbelltown community has many community organisations that are the basis of the city’s resilience and one of these is the Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society which contributed a number of images to the book. The society also provided the venue for the book launch in the wonderful atmospherics provided by Campbelltown’s historic house Glenalvon.

Campbelltown Pictorial History[1] McGill Launch Hayes 2017 — Past president of the Campbelltown & Airds Historical Society introducing proceedings at the Glenalvon launch of Pictorial History Campbelltown & District on Saturday 9 December 2017 (I Willis)

The gathering was introduced by past president Kay Hayes, followed by publisher Catherine Warne from Kingsclear Books. Catherine outlined the history of her firm over 30 years of publishing. She said that Campbelltown pictorial history was one of the last pieces of the jigsaw of the Sydney area for her firm. She had been trying to complete her coverage of the metropolitan area for many years and this book was the first time that she has had an author take over the design work.

Campbelltown Pictorial History[1] McGill Launch Warne 2017 — Publisher Catherine Warne from Kingsclear Books introducing author Jeff McGill’s Pictorial History Campbelltown & District at the Glenalvon launch on Saturday 9 December 2017 (I Willis)

Jeff McGill then spoke about the gestation of the book, its development and fruition with the support of many people and organisations. Jeff outlined how there were lots of images that were considered for the book and a culling process narrowed down the selection. The chosen were those which told a story or provided the greatest meaning to the Campbelltown story.

McGill made the point that quite a number of the images came from family photograph albums that he had been given access to over many years. This was the first time that they have been published. Jeff would visit local families be given afternoon tea and he would copy the images from the family album.

Campbelltown Pictorial History[1] McGill Launch 2017 — Raconteur, author and photographer Jeff McGill on the launch of his Pictorial History Campbelltown & District at Glenalvon on Saturday 9 December 2017 (I Willis)

Jeff McGill’s Pictorial History Campbelltown & District provides a human side to the local story about real people with real lives who create a vibrant and wonderful community. The city has broken free of many of its stereotypes and ghosts, yet it still continues to face many challenges with a positive outlook to the future.

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A local treat at The Argyle Affair

December 3, 2017November 23, 2018 camdenhistorynotes

The CHN was out and about in the local area as you do on a recent overcast day at the Camden Showground.

The occasion was the The Argyle Affair Christmas Market for 2017. The market attracts visitors far and wide. One pair who spoke to this blogger came from the New South Wales South Coast and were particularly taken with the local music talent.

The grand old showground dusted off its cobwebs and hosted this great community event for all and sundry.

Camden Argyle Affair stalls outside 2017 MWillis — The grand old showground scrubs-up pretty-well with a range of pop-up stalls outside the AH&I Hall at the 2017 The Argyle Affair Christmas Market (MWillis)

The ground came alive with the sound of fresh talent in the music tent, while around 50 pop-up stallholders were scattered on the grass while others took up residence in the AH&I Hall.

Camden Argyle Affair StallinHall 2017 IWillis — The AH&I Hall which was built in the 1890s was decked out for the 2017 The Argyle Affair Christmas Market by a host of creative stallholders displaying their wares and crafts. (IWillis)

The Argyle Affair organisers Peta Borg and Brooke Murphy excelled themselves yet again from their last effort in June which attracted a large crowd of enthusiastic patrons.

Camden Argyle Affair 2017 Brooke&Peta IWillis — The Argyle Affair organisers Brooke Murphy and Peta Borg captured at the 2017 Christmas Market (IWillis)

Brooke Murphy said that her aim was to

‘showcase local talent and giving Mums a platform to show their wares and creations’.

The Argyle Affair sponsors a local charity and this year it was ‘Turning Point’ who are a Camden based-community welfare centre in John Street. Turning Point state on their website:

‘We aim to provide a safe and confidential environment where we can offer assistance, providing welfare services such as emergency food relief, advocacy, document assistance, phone access, and computer availability with free Wi-Fi’.

Market goers were asked for a gold coin admission or hand in an item of food that went to Turning Point.

Camden Argyle Affair 2017 Turning Point IWillis — A Turning Point volunteer and an enthusiastic supporter buying a raffle ticket at the 2017 The Argyle Affair Christmas Market (IWillis)

The Argyle Affair organisers are continuing a strong community tradition of local festivals going back well over a century where local folk came together to support worthy causes of one sort or another.

Camden Community festivals have come in a range of sizes, types and causes from small street stalls, to large events like the Camden Show. Other examples have been the week long celebrations for the 1960s Festival of the Golden Fleece and the annual Rose Festival.

Festivals are an important part of all communities in the city and bush. Festivals are especially important for small rural communities and they are run with a lot of team spirit. Festivals have even become of an interest to university types.

In this centenary period of the First World War it is timely to remember the effort put in by the organisers of these community festivals to fund the war at home. Local women from the Red Cross branches across the area fitted this bill. These women were the subject of a display at the Camden Museum. Their story has been told in book called the Ministering Angels

Red-Cross-Stall-outside-Whitemans-General-Store-c19201-693x221 — The women of the Camden Red Cross at their weekly street stall in Argyle Street Camden in the 1920s outside the Whiteman’s General Store. The women ran the stall for decades and raised thousands of pounds for local and national charities. (Camden Images)

The grandest local festival is the annual Camden Show which has been going for 131 years. It is a celebration of the town’s rural heritage and over 30,000 people cannot be wrong. The annual rural festival even has Miss Camden Showgirl, one of the few still remaining.

Fittingly The Argyle Affair and its display of traditional crafts by local women carries on the rural traditions of the Camden Show festivals and a celebration of local arts and crafts.

Camden Argyle Affair Stall 2017 IWillis — A pop-up stall serving a patron in the outside area of the showground at the 2017 The Argyle Affair Christmas Market (IWillis)

Meanwhile back at The Argyle Affair the weather was kind for a while and then promptly at 2.30pm on the dot the heavens opened up as a rain front moved overhead.

Liked drowned rats outside stallholders packed up while the assembled rushed for the AH&I Hall out of the wet where there were a host of other stalls.

But Camden festival goers are a hardy lot and the show went on.

Camden Argyle Affair wet 2017 IWillis — A water-logged and lonely deserted pop-up performance space after the big wet in the afternoon at the 2017 The Argyle Affair Christmas Market. All performers moved into the hall for the assembled throngs and provided great entertainment in dry. (IWillis)

The Christmas Argyle Affair organisers sponsored a line up of fresh music talent from the local area.

Camden Argyle Affair StephanieSullivan 2017 IWillis — The fresh young talent of the Camden area takes to the stage in the performance space. Here is Stephanie Sullivan entertaining the keen band of supporters made up of family and friends. (IWillis)

The running sheet of musos was as follows:

9:50 – 10:30 Stephanie Sullivan
10:40 – 11:20 The Honey Sippers
11:30 – 12:10 Isaac Lewis
12:20 – 1:00 Alicia Moses
1:10 – 1:50 Grace & Alley
2:00 – 2:50 The Bells
3:00 – 3:40 Lucy Gallant
3:50 – 4:20 Spencer Jones
4:30 – 5:10 Michelle James
5:20 – 6:00 Mollie Collins
6:00 – 8:00 Spencer Jones ft. Bryan Browne

Be adventurous and have a listen to some of this talent using these links. You will surprise your ears.

Camden Argyle Affair 2017 HoneySippers MWillis — The young-at-heart hot talent of the Camden area in the form of the Honey Sippers who performed in the outside tent in the morning at the 2017 The Argyle Affair Christmas Market (MWillis)

Camden had yet again excelled itself and has been the location of a successful festival of music, food and crafts.

In 2018 treat yourself and your friends to a great and memorable experience just like the folk did at the 2017 Argyle Affair Christmas market.

Camden Argyle Affair 2017 AA — Business with a heart is the guiding principle for the organisers of the 2017 The Argyle Affair Christmas Market. In this situation Turning Point are the beneficiaries. (The Argyle Affair)

For the complete listing of 2018 events, and lots of other great stuff, see the In Macarthur lifestyle magazine or the Macarthur tourism website with lots of helpful bits and pieces.

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A lost Camden mid-20th century icon, the White House Farm

September 15, 2017September 29, 2017 camdenhistorynotesLeave a comment

At South Camden there was once a favourite restaurant and venue for local weddings and receptions. It was the White House Farm at 451 Hume Highway South Camden. The restaurant was demolished in the 1990s and replaced by a service station. The site of the White House Farm is the location of many fond memories for family and community celebrations and anniversaries.

Camden White House Farm Chroncle19Feb1986_0001 — White House Farm Restaurant and Reception Centre Camden about to go auction in 1986 (Camden Museum)

Mid-20^th century modernism

The White House Farm is a local example of mid-20^th century modernism influenced by a ranch-style from the West Coast America. It was timber construction, a tile roof and shutters to the windows. Camden had a number of ranch-style houses that was a style of domestic architecture that was popular in Australia in the 1960s. A number have since been demolished, like the White House Farm. The ranch-style architecture is described for its long, close-to-the-ground profile, and wide open layout. The style fused modernist ideas with the wide open spaces of the American west to create an informal and casual approach. One characteristic of many ranch-style buildings were extensive landscape grounds. The unpretentious nature of the style was particularly popular between the 1940s and 1970s. The style lost popularity with a return to more formal and traditional styles of architecture.

Located on the Hume Highway to capture the passing traffic the White House Farm was built in 1966 and run as a restaurant function centre by the owners, Mr and Mrs Henry Hart, until they it sold in 1985 to Alfred and Jennifer Milan. The complex had a large commercial kitchen and could hold two wedding receptions at the same time. It had a seating capacity of 220 in two dining rooms, one of 75 and the other of 130.

Restaurant menu

In 1984 the restaurant advertised ‘Chicken in the Basket’ for $12.50. Patrons could have a ‘whole tender, spring chicken, old fashioned stuffing, baked to perfection. Served in a basket surrounded with special fries, crumbed onion rings and homemade corn and banana fritters’. This delicacy was accompanied by the ability of patrons to select their ‘sweets’ from a self service area. Complimented with tea and coffee of choice. This ‘tradition’ was proudly introduced by Hart family ‘in the 1950s’.

White House Farm Menu 1984_lowres — Flyer for White House Farm Restaurant Camden in 1984 (Camden Museum)

The restaurant traded five-days a week from Tuesday to Saturday, lunches from 12 to 2.30pm, and dinner from 6pm. Sunday was reserved for private functions. There was the attraction of a half-price children’s menu. Bottles of wine averaging between $5-$6. The restaurant menu had a number of delicacies that are not very common these days. Entrees of prawn cocktail, fruit cocktail, and melon with ham, while the main dishes specialised in steaks and included carpet bag steak and steak diane. There were the poultry specials of chicken southern style and chicken in the basket (whole) and salads which included ham and chicken and cheese and pineapple. On Facebook Susan Vale recalls as a child ‘I remember sleeping in the car parked in front while mum and dad enjoyed a rowdy dinner with friends. It was the place for a nice meal’.

Weddings

Weddings were catered for with formal or informal reception rooms from two available menus at the exorbitant price of $13.00 and $14.50 per head. The grounds provided award winning ‘beautiful garden style settings’ and the owners could organise music, photographer and cars for the bride and groom. The motel was a two minute walk away a local motel, the Camden Country Club Motel (now also demolished). The wedding party could bring their own drinks and there was no time limit. In 1990 the Camden press claimed that ‘newlyweds are promised a relaxed and special day’. The garden had a ‘relaxed and friendly atmosphere’ and it was like have a ‘home garden wedding’. For those who wanted something a little different the restaurant owners could organise a Scottish Piper ‘in full regalia’ or a ‘Sweep-a-gram’. The restaurant had their own DJ, master of ceremonies and musicians. The brides and grooms were promised ‘romantic weddings in a colonial home atmosphere’ catering for groups between 30 and 130 guests. One of those brides was Marie Larnach who recalls on Facebook that she had her ‘wedding reception there in 1973’. Similarly Brenda Egan had her wedding there as well.

Camden White House Farm Wedding 1980s_0001 — Wedding at White House Farm Reception Centre Camden in the 1980s (Camden Museum)

The owners lived in a two-bedroom flatette above the main building. The auction notice for February 1986 said that it was ideal as staff quarters. The notice boasted that the White House Farm was a local ‘landmark’. The restaurant was sold with an adjacent two-bedroom cottage.

The White House Farm had lots of parking space on a lot of 6872 m² and was an ideal venue for local weddings and large family functions.

Development proposal

The Shell Company of Australia lodged a development application for a service station on the site in April 1992, which proposed the demolition of the White House Farm restaurant. Shell had been prompted to go ahead with the development on the basis that there would be increased local traffic from the Cawdor Resident Release, which never did proceed. The Camden press noted the development of the site was always a possibility after 1989 when Camden Council changed the zoning of land on the fringes of the township. (Camden Crier, 6 May 1992)

Resident opposition

The Camden press reported that residents had campaigned for three months against the Shell proposal. There was an initial public meeting held near the site at Easter 1992 with 60 residents. This was followed by a public meeting at the Camden Downs Retirement Village in April attended by 115 residents. Deputy Town Planner Graham Pascoe outlined the legal responsibility of council towards the proposal. Mr John Wrigley for the Camden Residents Action Group called for a show of hands for the no position, with resounding support. Alderman Geoff Corrigan supported the residents’ viewpoint and labelled the development proposal ‘architectural vandalism’ and claimed that the service station had ‘no heart or soul’. (Camden Crier, 6 May 1992)

Camden White House Farm Garden3 1990 MacAdv — White House Farm Camden with view from front Garden in 1990 (Camden Museum)

Over 90 objections were sent to Camden Council from local residents along with a petition of over 200 signatures. Individual submissions against the service station proposal centred on

Incompatibility of the development
Loss of residential amenity
Local of landscape quality
Social and economic effect
Noise and traffic impace
the adjoining residential area and adverse impact from proposed trading hours of 6am to 12midnight. (Camden Crier, 5 August 1992)

Council decision

The development proposal was raised at a Camden Council meeting in July 1992. Shell Company of Australia was represented by Mr Graham Rollingson of Martin, Morris and Jones real estate developers and spoke in favour of the development application. Several alderman spoke against the proposal including Aldermen McMahon, Hart, Corrigan and Feld. The residents’ interests were represented by spokesman Phil Kosta. The meeting was conducted by Deputy Mayor Frank Booking in the absence of Mayor Theresa Testoni. The council rejected the proposal on the grounds that the development application was not in the public interest. (Camden Crier, 5 August 1992)

Court decision

In 1993 the Shell Company of Australia won a Land and Environment Court case to allow the construction of a service station on the site, ensuring the demolition of the restaurant and function centre. The local press reported that local residents were appalled with the decision, and Camden Council had initially rejected the proposal after resident objections in July 1992. Shell appealed the decision in the Land and Environment Court in December 1992. Council deputy town planner Graham Pascoe expressed disappointment at the decision. (The Chronicle, 12 January 1993)

White House Farm MacAdvert6June1990 — This promotion for the White House Farm Wedding Reception Centre in Camden was part of a newspaper wedding special in 1990 (Camden Museum)

Today the site of the White House Farm is occupied by a service station.

Comments on Facebook:

Marie Lanarch:

Marie Larnach Had our wedding reception there in 1973.

· 15 September at 09:04

Manage

I only know that my husband and I had our reception at the White House Farm on 15th September, 1973. It was a lovely place, little bridge out the front for photos etc. The meal was lovely. Not sure what else you need, but I hope this helps. Marie (Larnach) (18 Sept 2017)

Charlene Lindsay

Charlene Lindsay My grand parents bought the place in 1965/66. I was around 2 years old. My mum, dad, aunty Angela and uncle Tino run the restaurant between them for over 25+ years. The original building had the living area upstairs. The original kitchen of the restaurant was where the bar area in later years was situated. Before the Sydney/Melbourne freeway was completed greyhound buses used to stop by for lunches. The party room was built by my dad and uncle Tino. The kitchen addition at the rearvof building was built years later with the final extension to the a rea built in the 1970’s. We could have a wedding of 150 odd people in the party room a wedding of 80 or so in the dinning room extension and the restaurant of another 50 odd people going all at once. Seriously busy. Most popular table was ‘lovers corner’. Back in its heyday drivers like Peter Brock Alan Moffitt Colin Bond would dine there after racing at Oran Park. My grand parents also lived in the next to the White House Farm. That house was previously owned by an old lady by name of Mrs May. She used to sell her fruit n veg by the side of road Hume Highway. I miss those days

😊. After my aunty Angela died my grand father didnt have his heart in it anymore – pardon the pun! Later my uncle Tino and his second wife Nelly bought out the rest of the family.

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· 15 September at 19:28

Ian Willis: What was your grandparents last name?

CL: Harry and Sitska Hart they came over from Holland in about 1950. They had identical twin daughters Angela and my mum Charmaine and a son Henri.

Ian Willis: Did your grandparents build the restaurant?

CL: No they built the wedding reception dance floor room and the restaurant addition on north side of the original building also the commercial kitchen and the fish pond.

Katrina Woods I had the privilege of being neighbors of Charlene Lindsayparents Paul & Charmaine – I worked in the local store at Douglas Park & one day Paul asked me if wanted to work at The White House Farm ? In about 1979 ? I took up his offer – had many enjoyable Saturday & Friday nights – worked the weddings in the restaurant also kitchen – i was blessed to have had my engagement & wedding at this venue .
Fred Borg was also working there in my time & he also was our MC at our reception – Thankyou to Paul Charmaine , Tino & Mr Mrs Hart letting me be a part of Camden History

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· 15 September at 22:41

Susan Vale I remember sleeping in the car parked in front while mum and dad enjoyed a rowdy dinner with friends. It was the place for a nice meal.

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· 15 September at 06:44

Sheila Caris Our wedding reception was there on the 8th of February 1975 – must have been one of the hottest days of the year & no air conditioning!

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· Reply · Message · 15 September at 22:23

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Chris Robinson We had our wedding reception here in 1990. Very happy memories. The owners and staff were wonderful.

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· Reply · Message · 15 September at 17:13

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Julie Coulter What a flashback! We were married in the gardens 1982 and the had our wedding reception here!

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· 16 September at 08:56

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Sue Kalmar- Grono Anne Kalmar-Poli
Liz Kalmar-Carroll is this where we were asked to leave cause we were too loud???

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· 15 September at 13:47

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3 Replies

Annie Austin Our wedding in 71 it was the place at that time.Beautiful.

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· 15 September at 17:50

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1 Reply

Jeanne Skinner Hahaha wow flashback alright

😊

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· Reply · Message · 16 September at 09:06

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Ryan Punch Did that burn down or am I thinking of something else?

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· Reply · Message · 14 September at 20:50

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Sean Couley Can’t believe it made way for a petrol station.

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· Reply · Message · 15 September at 21:58

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Tracey Kennedy We had our wedding reception there 23rd March 1985.

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· 15 September at 20:43

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1 Reply

Christie Williams Can’t believe they knocked it down and put servo there

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· 16 September at 08:02

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Phyllis Moloney I had all our work xmas parties there

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· 15 September at 21:04

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Chris Terry Had our wedding reception 1976

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· 15 September at 18:36

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Julie Ralphs Wow, that was another lifetime ago. Had my wedding reception there in May 1988. Charming venue.

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· Reply · Message · 17 hrs

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Megan Murdoch My parents held my Christening there in 1965!!

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· Reply · Message · 15 September at 19:08

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Michelle Maree Where is White House Farm?

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· Reply · Message · 16 September at 13:18

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Sharon Stewart Very interesting history read Char, the good old days are in our hearts

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· Reply · Message · 16 September at 14:47

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Brenda Egan Had my wedding reception at the White Hours Farm

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· Reply · See response · 14 September at 21:25

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Denise Taranto Sandy Evans….was this your venue?

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· Reply · Message · 16 September at 10:29

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Sueanne Gray Yes Cheryl Gray and Malcom

💞

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· Reply · Message · 15 September at 22:37

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Jennifer Hazlewood Another memory for you Alison Donohoe

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· Reply · Message · 15 September at 13:25

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Louise Skinner Yep had our wedding reception there in 1979.

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· 16 September at 09:24

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Kate Solomons Had a great 21st birthday there in 87

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· 15 September at 21:23

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Cindy Cox We had our wedding reception there in 1987

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· 15 September at 21:07

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Jane Mary Darling We stayed there on our wedding night. !

Craige Cole Anna & I had our wedding reception at White House Farm on a windy October evening. It was a fantastic venue and the best party I have ever been to.
Such a pity that the state government got involved in a local decision.

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· 16 September at 05:20

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Grant Herne Guess what I proposed to ann rather nervously on a sat night a long time ago at white house farm

· Reply · Message · 16 September at 07:27

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Greens Motorcade Museum Park Leppington, a lost Sydney icon

January 30, 2017October 30, 2018 camdenhistorynotes2 Comments

One of the icons of the southwestern Sydney fringe that has long disappeared was the car museum and picnic ground know as Greens Motorcade Museum Park at Leppington on the Old Hume Highway.

booklet-greens-motorcade-museum-cover — Cover of booklet produced by Ian Willis A Selection of a Collection, Greens Motorcade Museum (1981) that told the story of cars in the museum collection (I Willis)

The car museum opened in 1974 and had a collection of cars under cover in a museum hall. Museum volunteer Ray Sanderson recalls that the manager was David Short. He

was George Green’s right-hand man of his large collection, not just at the museum but storage sheds about the country. Not far from the museum was an old chook farm shed (commercial size) [that] housed more unrestored vehicles.

On the car museum site there was a re-creation of a early 20th century village with The Oaks Tea Rooms, the old Beecroft Fire Station, a garage complete with hand pumped petrol, and train ride which was a former cane train from Queensland. Rides were also provided by a 1927 Dennis Fire Engine and a 1912 English Star.

The Beecroft Cheltenham History Group states that the fire station was carefully shifted piece by piece from its original site to the museum park. They state:

In 1975 changes in equipment and the expanding number of personnel meant that the oldest fire station building was carefully taken down and reconstructed at Leppington in Green’s Motorcade Museum Park.

greens-motorcade-mus-flyer2-rsanderson — Greens Motorcade Museum Leppington Flyer 1970s (R Sanderson)

The museum collection was owned by woolbroker George Green who lived at Castlecrag in Sydney and was a member of a number car clubs in the Sydney area. George Green was a keen collector of Rolls Royce motor vehicles and foundation member of the Rolls Royce Owners Club of Australia in 1956. He was also a member of Veteran Car Club of Australia (1954) and The Vintage Sports Car Club of Australia (1944), which holds the annual George Green Rally in his honour.

gmm-tearoomfireengine-rsanderson — Greens Motorcade Museum with 1927 Dennis Fire Engine and behind them are The Oaks Tea Room and the old Beecroft Fire Station 1970s (R Sanderson)

George Green owned the museum in partnership with car dealer and collector Frank Illich. The manager of the museum was David Short of Camden from its foundation to its closure in 1982 when George Green died and the collection was auctioned off on site.

On the old Hume Highway the visitor and their family were met by the steam traction engine that was originally used to drive the timber cutting machinery at the Woods Timber Mill at Narooma on the New South Wales South Coast. It was presented to the museum by Mrs Woods.

gmm-traction-engine-rsanderson — Former Narooma Woods Timber Mill steam traction engine which met visitors on the Old Hume Highway on the driveway that went up to the museum front gate (R Sanderson)

There was also a large picnic area which hosted many community events, car club days, children’s Christmas parties, corporate functions, and other events.

booklet-greens-motorcade-museum-bw-p3 — Page from the booklet produced by Ian Willis A Selection of a Collection Greens Motocade showing the interior of the museum hall 1981 (I Willis)

The Vintage Vehicle Car Club of Australia held its foundation family day event at the picnic ground at Greens Motocade Museum on 21 August 1977.

vvcca-greens-motocade-21091977 — First family day outing of the Veteran Vehicle Club of Australia 21 August 1977 (VVCA)

vvca-at-greens-motocade-museum-21081977 — VVCA Family Day at Greens Motorcade Museum showing the extensive picnic grounds at the rear of the museum 21 August 1977 (VVCA)

The museum occasionally supplied its ‘old cars’ for film shoots, commercials and corporate events all over Sydney. At one time the museum management organised shopping centre car displays across Sydney, with a display at Birkenhead Point Shopping Centre after it opened in 1981.

One car in the collection was a Leyland P76 which was an Australian icon.

Another icon in the museum collection was a 1922 Stanley Steamer Car. The Powerhouse Museum states:

In about 1958 the car was purchased by George Green who from the mid 1950s collected some 100 vintage and veteran cars which he displayed at Green’s Motorcade Museum at Leppington, NSW, from 1974. In 1971 Green swapped the Stanley for a 1904 Vauxhall which belonged to Allan F. Higgisson of 22 Banner Street, O’Connor, ACT. Higgisson was keen to work on the Stanley, while Green wanted to restore a veteran car he could enter in the annual London to Brighton car rally. It was an unwritten agreement that should Higgisson tire of restoring the Stanley it would be returned to Green.

The National Museum of Australia’s has a 1913 Delaunay-Belleville Tourer which was part of the Greens Motorcade Museum Collection. Read story of the 1913 Delauney- Belleville Tourer at the National Museum of Australia and here. As well in the NMA Collection Database here

Cafes · Camden · Elderslie · First World War · Heritage · Interwar · Modernism · Sense of place · Uncategorized

Camden modernism

July 24, 2016July 24, 2016 camdenhistorynotes1 Comment

Cooks Garage in Argyle Street Camden the route of the Hume Highway c.1936 (Camden Images)

Camden Modernism

One of the hidden parts of the history of Camden is the influence of modernism. Few in the community know much about it at all. Yet it has an important influence on the town in a variety of ways from domestic and commercial architecture to host of other areas. Modernism is a vague term that describes a philosophical period from the mid-1800s to the mid-20th century

Camden was not isolated from global trends and cultural forces and the trends around modernism are part of this story. The forces of modernism shaped the world were influenced by industrial growth, the growth of cities and the First World War. The Great War and the Russian Revolution challenged ideas from the past and the failure of the status quo. The senseless slaughter of the First World War challenged the moral authority of progress from the Enlightenment.

Many supporters of modernism in Camden and across the world rejected the certainties of the Enlightenment and the dogmas of religious belief. Modernism influenced art, music, architecture, social organisation, daily life and the sciences.

Major events during this period included the development of the railway, the The Great Exhibition of 1851 in London, the building of engineering structures like the Brooklyn Bridge (1883) and the Eiffel Tower (1889), the innovation of the electric telegraph from 1837, the adoption of standard time by British railway companies from 1845 and the invention of photography.

Modern ideas in art also began to appear more frequently in commercials and logos, an early example of which, from 1919, is the famous London Underground logo designed by Edward Johnston. The skyscraper is the archetypal modernist building. There was the emergence of the Bauhaus School and Art Nouveaux. A more sinister reality was emerging on the Continent, in the form of Nazi art and Soviet agit-prop. Only Art Deco, a rather sleek design style aimed at architecture and applied art, expressed any confidence in the future. There was the rise of fascism, the Great Depression and the march towards the Second World War.

The period of modernism includes the Victorian period, the Edwardian period and extends to include the interwar period of the 20^th century. During the Edwardian period Camden was influenced by the dairy revolution, which saw innovations in the dairy industry. While the economic development and material prosperity of the interwar period was driven by the emerging Burragorang Valley coal industry.

Fashion parade illustrating changes in modernism in Camden

Modernism and changes in fashion

Shock horror – women show their legs and wear pants

Changes in fashion through modernity, including in Camden, were representative of changes and continuities in society. The changes were brought by the Industrial Revolution and the technology that it spawned and probably the greatest of these was the railway and in the 20th century, the motor car.

The railways were the greatest revolution of the early modern period and created mass movement of people, regular timetables and triggered the appearance of mass tourism. Steam ships hastened this and Camden folk regularly travelled to the metropolitan centre of the Empire in London.

The growth of industrial society and capitalism brought increased wealth and increased leisure time, entertainment and personal freedom. Mass culture clashed with high culture and the First World War brought the horrors of mechanised warfare.

Many new pastimes were brought by new inventions that included the bicycle, the movies, the motor car, the wireless, the telegraph, the aeroplane and the milk bar. The popularity of the bicycle gave women increased freedom of movement which was represented by the fashions they wore while cycling. There was the need for increased freedom of movement, a new social force had arrived.

Young folk in Camden went to the movies at the Star Empire Theatre and later the Paramount Cinema. They were exposed to the latest fashions in clothing, motor cars and all things American. Icons of early 20th century American culture including the movie stars like Charlie Chaplin and Shirley Temple.

The inter-war period fashions saw women freed from the corset and there was the appearance of cosmetics and rayon, which replaced expensive silk. New industrial processes produced ready-to-wear. There were shorter hemlines and shock horror – women showed their legs and wore pants.

Consumerism was hastened by the Victorians and really gained momentum during the inter-war period. Social norms were challenged and new ideas created by new technologies drove many changes in the daily life of those living in the Camden district.

Camden general stores, like Whitemans and Cliftons, carried goods from all parts of the British Empire for the consumption of the local community. Modernism was a transnational force that embraced the Camden community.

Interwar Modernism in Camden

The interwar years were a period of transition and increasingly the motor car replaced the horse in town, and on the farm the horse was replaced by the tractor, all of which supported the growing number of garages in the town. The interwar landscape was characterised by personalised service, along with home and farm deliveries by both horse and cart and motor cars.

Despite the prosperity of the interwar period the town was still dominated by the colonial gentry and their estates. Apart from their convict labour in the early years, they established a system of class and social relations that ordered daily life in the town from its foundation until after the Second World War. While the townsmen dominated the early period of local government, by Federation the landed gentry had usurped their power and had imposed their political mantra of conservatism on the area. The dominance of the Macarthur’s Camden Park over the local economy during the interwar period was characterised by the construction of the Camden Vale milk processing factory (1926) adjacent to the railway. It was an example of Camden’s industrial modernism. The company developed TB free milk and marketed it through the Camden Vale Milk Bar, a retail outlet on the Hume Highway (1939); complete with a drive-through.

For a country town of its size the town had modern facilities and was up-to-date with the latest technology. The town had two weekly newspapers, Camden News and the Camden Advertiser, there was opening of the telephone exchange (1910), the installation of reticulated gas (1912), electricity (1929), replacement of gas street lighting with electric lights (1932) and a sewerage system (1939), and by 1939 the population has increased to 2394. The town’s prosperity allowed the Presbyterians built a new church (1938), while a number of ‘locals’ built solid brick cottages that reflected their confidence in the town’s future.

Selected examples of interwar architecture

Dairy farming

Camden Vale milk processing factory, 11 Argyle Street, Camden. Built in 1926 by the Camden Vale Milk Co, a subsidiary of Camden Park Estate Pty Ltd.

Camden Vale Milk Depot Argyle Street Camden 1926 Industrial modernism (Camden Images)

Camden Valley Inn, Camden, c.1938 (Camden Images) — Camden Valley Inn, Old Hume Highway, Camden, c.1938 (Camden Images)

Camden Vale Inn, Remembrance Drive (Old Hume Highway), Camden (now Camden Valley Inn). Architect: Cyril Ruwald. Builder: Herb English. A milk bar on the Hume Highway built in 1939 by the Camden Park Estate Pty Ltd to market its Camden Vale milk from TB tested dairy herds on Camden Park. It was ‘designed in the Tudor style, with walls in attractively coloured brickwork suggesting a touch of modernity’. [ Camden Park Estate Pty Ltd, Camden Vale Special Pasteurised Milk Production and Distribution, Camden, Camden Park Estate Pty Ltd, c.1938.]

Motor industry

Cooks Garage, 31-33 Argyle Street, Camden. Built in 1935. Owned by WH Cook. It was built in the Spanish Mission style, and was characterised by terracotta roof tiles, a front loggia, rendering of brickwork and shaped parapets. Since demolished.
Main Southern Garage, 20-28 Argyle Street, Camden. Built in the mid 1930s.
Dunk House, 56-62 Argyle Street, Camden. Built by Harry Willis and Sons, Camden, in 1937. The building was a car showroom, shop complex and professional suites owned by EC Dunk.
Clintons Motor Showroom, 16 Argyle Street, Camden. The car showroom was built in 1947 by Mark Jensen for Clinton Motors, the Holden dealership in Camden. According to the Camden Heritage Inventory it is a rare masonry Art Deco style building with large shopfront windows and wrap around awning.

Retail

102-104 Argyle Street, Camden. Built by Harry Willis and Sons, Camden in 1939. Stuckey Bros, bakers and pastry cooks, occupied premises and fitted it out in 1940. According to the Camden News it was ‘fitted with every modern device’.

Banks

Bank of NSW, 1938, Argyle St, Camden the route of the Hume Highway (I Willis)

Bank of New South Wales (Westpac), 121-123 Argyle Street, Camden. Built by Harry Willis and Sons, Camden in 1936. The two storey building had a residence upstairs and a banking chamber downstairs. According to the Camden Heritage Inventory the building is Georgian Revival style.
Rural Bank, 115-119Argyle Street, Camden. Built by Harry Willis and Sons, Camden in 1937. The two storey building had a residence upstairs with banking chamber downstairs. Art deco style. There is trachyte stonework on the facing of building.

Churches

Presbyterian Church, 42 John Street, Camden. Built in 1938. Architect: George Gray, R.Vale. A brick church, which according to the Camden Heritage Inventory the buildings is Gothic Revival (Gothic Interwar) style.

Hotels

11.Camden Inn (Hotel), 105-107 Argyle Street, Camden. Built by Harry Willis and Sons, Camden in 1933. Tudor style.

Agriculture

Front, AH&I Hall , 191-195 Argyle Street, Camden. The brick front of the building was added to the weatherboard hall in 1936. The original hall was constructed in 1899 by George Furner for JW Macarthur Onslow as a drill hall for the Camden Mounted Rifles.

Cinema

Paramount Theatre, 39 Elizabeth Street, Camden. Built in 1933. It was owned by DJ Kennedy who had interests in other suburban movie cinemas in the Sydney area. It was designed in the Spanish Mission style.

Residential

Elizabeth Street, Camden

Cottage, 25 Elizabeth Street, Camden. Built in the 1930s by Mel Peat.
Flats, 33 Elizabeth Street, Camden. Built in 1930.

Menangle Road, Camden

Cottages, 1-3 Menangle Road, Camden. Built between 1924-1925 by Harry Willis and Sons, Camden. According to the Camden Heritage Inventory a group of Californian Bungalows.
Methodist Parsonage, 24 Menangle Road, Camden. Built in 1935.
Cottage, 26 Menangle Road, Camden. Built by Mel Peat in 1931 for N Freestone.

Murray Street, Camden.

Cottages, 24-28 Murray Street, Camden. Built by Mel Peat in 1937. According to the Camden Heritage Inventory a group of Californian Bungalows.

Hospital

Extension, Camden Hospital, Menangle Road, Camden. Built by Mel Peat in 1939.

Aviation

Bellman Hangers, Camden Airfield, Macquarie Grove Road, Camden. Built in 1941. The Federal Government acquired the airfield from Edward Macarthur Onslow in 1940 for a central flying school under the Empire Air Training Scheme. The hangers were erected by RAAF as temporary accommodation for aircraft. They were designed by NS Bellman in 1936 (UK) as temporary buildings.

Howlett's Cafe and Milk Bar, Camden, 1954 (Camden Images) — Howlett’s Cafe and Milk Bar, Camden, 1954 (Camden Images)

Camden Cafes and Milk Bars

These include Camden Cafe owned by the Sophios Bros, then the Cassimatis Bros in the 1930s. It became the Capital Cafe in 1935. There was the iconic Camden Valley Inn Milk Bar opened with a great fuss in 1939 on Camden Park estate by the Macarthur Onslow family.

Stuckey Bros Building Bakers Argyle Street Camden c1941 (I Willis 2012)

Stuckey Bros Building Camden, Bakers

Camden has an art-deco style inspired building at 102-104 Argyle Street. It is the 1940 Stuckey Bros Pastrycooks and Bakers building, built by Harry Willis and Sons. The bakery was operated by HH & LC Stuckey and a bakery had been on the site from before 1912, when the Stuckeys purchased the business from J Fleming.

The building front is yellow-cream brick called polychrome, meaning a brick with more than one colour. The shop front above street level is finely detailed with curved bricks and bay-style window in the centre of the building. The roof is green tiles.

The building is an interesting and unusual example of a two-storey Interwar retail building. The use of decorative polychrome brickwork is unusual for Camden township. It is an attractive example of a commercial building, and while the street level shopfronts have been altered it has not compromised the intergrity of the remainder of the building.

Originally the shopfront was tiled with curved glass (bow windows) defining the shop entrance. There was a laneway on the western side (facing the shopfront the right-hand side) with access to the rear of the premises, which now has a retail business located on it. Many Camden Argyle Street laneways have been filled in and are now occupied by retail premises. How many can you pick?

The shopfront is the public interface for retail premises and streetscapes. Stuckey Bros original shopfront window glass had metal surrounds and a tiled entry (ingos/outgo or setback) that made it three-dimensional and interesting. A style of shopfront that was common from the Edwardian period. The shopfront awning is still largely as it was in 1940.

According to the Camden News Stuckey Bros was fitted out with every ‘modern device’. The shop opened at 6.30am, and the first shop assistant arrived at 8.00am. The shop closed at 7.00pm and operated 6 days a week. The doughmakers came in at 11.00pm and the bakers used wood-fired ovens, which were fired up over the weekends as it took too long to heat them up when cold.

Stuckey Bros did home deliveries with a horse and cart to Camden, Elderslie, Cobbitty and Brownlow Hill. The mailmen would take bread to The Oaks, Burragorang Valley, Yerranderie, Werombi, and Orangeville. The Stuckeys kept their horses in the Rectory paddock next to St John’s Church.

The Stuckeys were a staunch Methodist family and Beryl Stuckey played the organ at the Methodist Church, while Frank Stuckey was the superintendent of the Sunday School for over 20 years from the 1940s.

The site of the Stuckey Bros shop and bakery had been used as a bakery from 1852 when William McEwan built a premises and in the 1890s Mrs McEwan helped her sons Geordy and Alf run the business.

Read more @ Frank Stuckey, Our Daily Bread, The Story of Stuckey Bros, Bakers and Pastrycooks of Camden NSW, 1912-1960. Camden, F Stuckey, 1987.

Dunk House, Argyle Street, Camden c.1937 (I Willis 2013)

Dunk House, A Modern Car Showroom in Camden.

There is a building at 56-62 Argyle Street, Camden, which is an understated Art Deco style example of the Interwar period. It is Dunk House. Its integrity is still largely intact and it clearly shows the impact of the new found wealth in the town from the Burragorang coalfields.

Dunk House has intact art deco style motifs adjacent to the entry above the display window front. There is black tiling on the shopfront, and a brass surround of the large display window on the former car showroom. The showroom has intact timber flooring and the interior and shopfronts have little changed from the 1930s when the building was erected by its owners. The brass names plates are still attached to the shopfront where the tenant business would put their name plate.

The Dunk House was built by renowned Camden builder Harry Willis & Sons in 1937. The premises was a car showroom, shopping complex and professional suites owned by EC Dunk. Downstairs there were 3 shops, the largest being a car showroom for General Motors cars. Upstairs there were 8 ‘compartments’ or rooms or what we would not call professional suites, each fitted out with modern amenities which included water, wash basin and electric light.

The tenants in 1937 included the downstairs shopfront leased by L Lakin, grocer and Mr Boulous, mercer. Later they included JL Hogg, dentist and in the 1950s dentist Newton Tobrett. At the rear of the property there a series of sheds which operated at auction rooms run by the Dunks.

In 1938 EC Dunk was the Camden agent for General Motors Chevrolet cars.

For more information on Interwar Camden click here

Gayline Drive-In Movie Theatre at Narellan

One of the notable attractions in the local area in the 1950s-1990s was the drive in movie theatre, which was located on Morshead Road, Narellan (now Narellan Vale). Along with rock ‘n roll, transistor radios, the bikini, the mini-skirt, it defined the lifestyle of the baby boomers. It was as popular with teenagers as it was with young families. It was a defining moment for a 20th century culture that was based around the icons of the period: cars and movies.

The drive in at Narellan was owned and operated from 1967-1992 by EJ Frazer and operated as the Gayline Drive in Movie Theatre.

Modernism in 1960s Elderslie NSW

Wrought iron work, Macarthur Road Elderslie NSW 1960s (I Willis 2010)

The lands releases in the Camden suburb of Elderslie in 1960s have produced a number of houses that have expressed mid-20th century modernism. The house designs were taken from the book of project homes of the day and were quite progressive.

Australian architects including Robin Boyd were expressing Australian modernism. These architects were commissioned by housing developers like Lend Lease to design their housing estates. One such development was the Lend Lease Appletree Estate at Glen Waverley in Melbourne. Another Lend Lease land release and group of show homes were at their 1962 Kingsdene Estate in Carlingford,

The Elderslie homes were built by the miners who worked in the Burragorang Valley and they wanted new modern houses. They generated the wealth that funded the urban growth of the Camden suburbs of Elderslie and South Camden.

Elderslie was one of the original land grants to John Oxley in 1816. The area has been dominated by farming, particularly orchards and vineyards.

Elderslie examples of 1960s modernism include houses in Luker Street characterised by low-pitched rooves, open planned but restrained design, with lots of natural light streaming in full length glass panels adjacent to natural timbers and stone. There are also ranch style houses in River Road with open planning and wide frontages to the street, some architect designed.

These houses are all located in and amongst Federations style farming houses of the Edwardian period. The Federation style houses were on large blocks of land that were sub-divided during the 1960s.

The now demolished Henning’s house in Macarthur Road (image) is an example of open planned ranch style. Other modernist designs are the blocks of flats in Purcell Street, with use of decorative wrought iron railings.

Sunset Avenue in Elderslie was a new land release with a mix of 1960s modern low-pitched roof open planned houses interspersed with New South Wales Housing Commission fibro construction homes.

Other land releases of the 1960s were the New South Wales Housing Commission 1960s fibro houses some of which are located in Burrawong Road and Somerset Street.

Example of modern design from the early 1960s at 64 Macarthur Road Elderslie NSW (I Willis 2010)

Ranch-style housing in Elderslie

There are a number of ranch style houses in the Elderslie area along Macarthur Road and River Road in particular. Some are brick, while others are timber construction.
Ranch-style housing is a significant post-Second World War housing style. The housing style has been noted by architect Robert Irving as an Australian domestic architecture style. Parramatta City Council has recognised the housing style of heritage significance.

American History of Ranch-Style Homes
The original house style came from California and the South-west of the USA, where architects in these areas designed the first suburban ranch-style houses in the 1920s and 1930s. They were simple one-storey houses built by ranchers who lived on the prairies and in the Rocky Mountains. The American architects liked the simple form that reflected the casual lifestyle of these farming families. After the Second World War a number of home builders in California offered a streamlined, slimmed-down version. They were built on a concrete slab without a basement with pre-cut sections. The design allowed multi-function spaces, for example, living-dining room and eat-in-kitchen which reduced the number of walls inside the house. The design was one of the first to orient the kitchen/family area towards the backyard rather than facing the street. The design also placed the bedrooms at the front of the house. The marketing of the ranch-style house tapped popular American fascination with the Old West. (Washington Post, 30 December 2006)

Katherine Salant, ‘The Ranch, An Architectural Archetype Forged on the Frontier’, Washington Post, 30 December 2006

Residence, 64 Macarthur Road Elderslie

64 Macarthur Road Elderslie c1960 (IWillis 2010)

Sunset Avenue in Elderslie was a new land release with a mix of 1960s modern low-pitched roof open planned houses interspersed with New South Wales Housing Commission fibro construction homes.

Other land releases of the 1960s were the New South Wales Housing Commission 1960s fibro houses some of which are located in Burrawong Road and Somerset Street.
The integrity of the residence was intact until it was demolished in 2011, including the front fence that was built in 1960 by the Hennings of ‘Chromatex’ bricks. There were a number of mature trees on the site that added to the aesthetic quality of the site.

In 2011 a ranch-style house in Macarthur Road Elderslie was unfortunately demolished to make way for a pre-school. Camden’s ranch-style houses are part of the town’s post-Second World War development and growth.

The Macarthur Road house was one of a number in the Elderslie area and two of these have been demolished. One of the demolished ranch-style houses, Kalinda, was located off Lodges Road Elderslie and owned by the Whiteman family. The Whitemans owned a general store in Camden that operated for nearly a century. The house was a weatherboard cottage and demolished in late 1990s to make way for Sydney’s urban development in the Elderslie area. The house was located high on the ridge with a pleasant outlook facing west over the Narellan Creek floodplain. Visitors approached the house from Lodges Road by driving up to the top of the ridge along a narrow driveway.

Cafes · Camden · Heritage · Interwar · Local History · Narellan

Interwar Camden

May 28, 2016May 29, 2016 camdenhistorynotes5 Comments

Central Camden c1930s (Camden Images) — Central Camden showing the intersection of Argyle St (Hume Highway) and John St. View west along Argyle St, WH Anderson fountain in middle of intersection, c1930s (Camden Images)

The interwar period in Camden was a time of economic development and material progress. The prosperity of the period was driven by the local dairy industry and the emerging coal industry. The population of the town grew by over 35 per cent between the end of the First World War and the beginning of the Second, so that in 1939 the town was the centre of a district that covered 455 square miles (1180 square kilometres) and with a population of over 5000.

Camden was one of the most important commercial and administrative centres between Sydney and Goulburn. The town was the centre of the police district, it had the regional hospital, it was the largest population centre and it was a transport node of a district which spread from Campbelltown to the lower Blue Mountains.

Cooks Garage 1936 — Cooks Garage, Argyle St, Camden the route of the Hume Highway through the town in the 1930s, 1936 (Camden Images)

Hume Highway

During the interwar period one of the most important economic arteries of the town was the Hume Highway (until 1928 the Great South Road). Most understood the value of the rail connection to Camden; most obviously because you heard it, smelt it and saw it. Yet few understand the significance of the Hume. The highway had ran up the town’s main street from colonial times, until 1973 when it was moved to the Camden Bypass, and then subsequently moved in 1980 to the freeway.

The highway and railway were the conduits that brought the international influences of modernism and consumerism to the town, and the goods and services that supported them. These forces influenced the development of the local motor industry , the establishment of the local cinemas and the development of the local airfield. All important economic, social and cultural forces for the time. ‘Locals’ travelled to the city for higher order retail goods, specialist services and entertainment, while the landed gentry escaped to the cosmopolitan centre of the British Empire; London. Conversely the Sydney elite came to experience the new gentlemanly pastime of flying at the Macquarie Grove Airfield.

Camden Valley Inn, Camden, c.1939 (Camden Images) — Camden Vale Inn & Milk Bar, Camden, c.1939 (Camden Images)

Camden Modernism

For a country town of its size the town had modern facilities and was up-to-date with the latest technology. The town had two weekly newspapers, Camden News and the Camden Advertiser, there was opening of the telephone exchange (1910), the installation of reticulated gas (1912), electricity (1929), replacement of gas street lighting with electric lights (1932) and a sewerage system (1939), and by 1939 the population has increased to 2394. The town’s prosperity allowed the Presbyterians built a new church (1938), while a number of ‘locals’ built solid brick cottages that reflected their confidence in the town’s future.

Despite the prosperity of the interwar period the town was still dominated by the colonial gentry and their estates. Apart from their convict labour in the early years, they established a system of class and social relations that ordered daily life in the town from its foundation until after the Second World War. While the townsmen dominated the early period of local government, by Federation the landed gentry had usurped their power and had imposed their political mantra of conservatism on the area. The dominance of the Macarthur’s Camden Park over the local economy during the interwar period was characterised by the construction of the Camden Vale milk processing factory (1926) adjacent to the railway. The company developed TB free milk and marketed it through the Camden Vale Milk Bar, a retail outlet on the Hume Highway (1939); complete with a drive-through.

Morphology of town centre

The layout and shape of interwar Camden has changed little from the 19th century and the town centre has a certain bucolic charm and character that is the basis of the community’s identity and sense of place. The strip shopping and mixed land use support the country feel that has become the basis of the modern ‘country town idyll’.

In recent years Camden has been targeted by the New South Wales government as one of the growth centre for the Sydney metropolitan area. It has become part of Sydney’s exurbanistion on the rural-urban fringe. City types move out of the city looking for places where ‘the country looks like the country’. This has only served to re-enforce the duality of the love/hate relationship the community had with Sydney and the city/country divide that has been part of the rural ideology of the area.

The ‘locals’ for their part have retreated to nostalgia in the form of an Arcadian view of the world through a ‘country town idyll’. The romance of the idyll is based on the iconic imagery of Camden as a picturesque English village, with the church on the hill, surrounded by rural vistas. The idyll has become a defence mechanism against the onslaught from Sydney’s urbanization and the interwar heritage that is part of the town’s iconic landscape.

Macquarie Grove Airfield 1930s Camden (Camden Images)

Selected Examples of Interwar Architecture in Camden

1. Camden Vale milk processing factory, 11 Argyle Street, Camden. Built in 1926 by the Camden Vale Milk Co, a subsidiary of Camden Park Estate Pty Ltd.

2. Camden Vale Inn, Remembrance Drive (Old Hume Highway), Camden (now Camden Valley Inn). Architect: Cyril Ruwald. Builder: Herb English. A milk bar on the Hume Highway built in 1939 by the Camden Park Estate Pty Ltd to market its Camden Vale milk from TB tested dairy herds on Camden Park. It was ‘designed in the Tudor style, with walls in attractively coloured brickwork suggesting a touch of modernity’. [ Camden Park Estate Pty Ltd, Camden Vale Special Pasteurised Milk Production and Distribution, Camden, Camden Park Estate Pty Ltd, c.1939.]

3. Cooks Garage, 31-33 Argyle Street, Camden. Built in 1935. Owned by WH Cook. It was built in the Spanish Mission style, and was characterised by terracotta roof tiles, a front loggia, rendering of brickwork and shaped parapets. Since demolished.

4. Main Southern Garage, 20-28 Argyle Street, Camden. Built in the mid 1930s.

5. Dunk House, 56-62 Argyle Street, Camden. Built by Harry Willis and Sons, Camden, in 1937. The building was a car showroom, shop complex and professional suites owned by EC Dunk.

6. Clintons Motor Showroom, 16 Argyle Street, Camden. The car showroom was built in 1947 by Mark Jensen for Clinton Motors, the Holden dealership in Camden. According to the Camden Heritage Inventory it is a rare masonry Art Deco style building with large shopfront windows and wrap around awning.

7. 102-104 Argyle Street, Camden. Built by Harry Willis and Sons, Camden in 1939. Stuckey Bros, bakers and pastry cooks, occupied premises and fitted it out in 1940. According to the Camden News it was ‘fitted with every modern device’.

8. Bank of New South Wales (Westpac), 121-123 Argyle Street, Camden. Built by Harry Willis and Sons, Camden in 1936. The two storey building had a residence upstairs and a banking chamber downstairs. According to the Camden Heritage Inventory the building is Georgian Revival style.

Camden's Argyle St (Hume Highway) in 1938 with Rural Bank on left looking east (Camden Images) — Camden’s Argyle St (Hume Highway) in 1938 with Bank of New South Wales and Rural Bank on left looking east (Camden Images)

9. Rural Bank, 115-119Argyle Street, Camden. Built by Harry Willis and Sons, Camden in 1937. The two storey building had a residence upstairs with banking chamber downstairs. Art deco style. There is trachyte stonework on the facing of building.
Churches

10. Presbyterian Church, 42 John Street, Camden. Built in 1938. Architect: George Gray, R.Vale. A brick church, which according to the Camden Heritage Inventory the buildings is Gothic Revival (Gothic Interwar) style.
Hotels

11.Camden Inn (Hotel), 105-107 Argyle Street, Camden. Built by Harry Willis and Sons, Camden in 1933. Tudor style.
Agriculture

12. Front, AH&I Hall , 191-195 Argyle Street, Camden. The brick front of the building was added to the weatherboard hall in 1936. The original hall was constructed in 1899 by George Furner for JW Macarthur Onslow as a drill hall for the Camden Mounted Rifles.

13. Paramount Theatre, 39 Elizabeth Street, Camden. Built in 1933. It was owned by DJ Kennedy who had interests in other suburban movie cinemas in the Sydney area. It was designed in the Spanish Mission style.

14. Cottage, 25 Elizabeth Street, Camden. Built in the 1930s by Mel Peat.

15. Flats, 33 Elizabeth Street, Camden. Built in 1930.
Menangle Road, Camden

16. Cottages, 1-3 Menangle Road, Camden. Built between 1924-1925 by Harry Willis and Sons, Camden. According to the Camden Heritage Inventory a group of Californian Bungalows.

17. Methodist Parsonage, 24 Menangle Road, Camden. Built in 1935.

18. Cottage, 26 Menangle Road, Camden. Built by Mel Peat in 1931 for N Freestone.
Murray Street, Camden.

19. Cottages, 24-28 Murray Street, Camden. Built by Mel Peat in 1937. According to the Camden Heritage Inventory a group of Californian Bungalows.

20. Extension, Camden Hospital, Menangle Road, Camden. Built by Mel Peat in 1939.

Bellman Hangar at Camden Airfield 1941 (I Willis)

21. Bellman Hangers, Camden Airfield, Macquarie Grove Road, Camden. Built in 1941. The Federal Government acquired the airfield from Edward Macarthur Onslow in 1940 for a central flying school under the Empire Air Training Scheme. The hangers were erected by RAAF as temporary accommodation for aircraft. They were designed by NS Bellman in 1936 (UK) as temporary buildings.

References

Archives, Camden Historical Society.
Tropman & Tropman, Camden Heritage Inventory, Camden, Camden Council, 2004.

The Drive-In Movie Theatre in the Camden District

Drive-in Movie Theatres

The Narellan Gayline Drive-In Movie Theatre

The Operators

The foundation

Size

Screen

Sound

Sessions

Movies and Slides

Projection

Advertising

The Experience

The Shop

Mrs Alma Rootes

Patrons

Different uses

Inclement Weather

Narellan township

The End

Sources

Reference

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23 June 2015

Facebook 20 June 2021

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A journey to Poland

The conference

Dark history and the power of the past

The horrors of the past haunt the present

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The Camden story

Complexities of the Camden story

Some parts of the Camden story

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An experience

Eclectic Venues

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Help for lots of tastes

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Importance of live music

Place making and storytelling

Support for music festival

Musicians succeed in gig economy

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Review: Pictorial History Campbelltown & District. By Jeff McGill. Sydney: Kingsclear Books, 2017. Pp. iv + 139. Illustrations, index, select bibliography, paper. 978-0-99444456-2-9.

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Mid-20th century modernism

Restaurant menu

Weddings

Development proposal

Resident opposition

Council decision

Court decision

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Mid-20^th century modernism