Yearning, Longing and The Remaking of Camden’s Identity: the myths and reality of ‘a country town idyll’.

April 29, 2024 camdenhistorynotes1 Comment

Australian Historical Association 2007 Regional Conference

Engaging Histories

University of New England, Armidale

23-26 September 2007

Yearning, Longing and The Remaking of Camden’s Identity: the myths and reality of ‘a country town idyll’

Abstract

This article discusses the concept of a “country town idyll” in Camden, an idealised version of a country town from an imagined past that uses history to construct imagery based on Camden’s heritage buildings and other material fabrics. The paper delves into the origins of the idyll, examines its development, and investigates its validity in its contemporary context. It shows how its supporters have used history as a community asset to remake Camden’s identity and explore how the ‘country town idyll’ has been used variously as a political weapon, a marketing tool, and a tourist promotion.

Key terms: Country town idyll; Heritage buildings; Community asset; Political weapon; Tourist promotion.

Article

In May this year, the headline on the front page of the Macarthur Chronicle screamed ‘Home Invasion’. The report warned that

The rural landscape surrounding Camden will be engulfed by suburbia when the construction starts on the Oran Park and Turner Rd precincts early next year. More than 30,000 will occupy 11,500 homes in the two precincts, which form part of the South West Growth Centre. By 2030 Camden will be surrounded by new suburbs consisting of up to 181,000 homes as dense as some of Sydney’s most populated areas.[1]

Sydney’s urban expansion into the local area has challenged the community’s identity and threatened to suffocate Camden’s sense of place. In the face of this onslaught, many in Camden yearn for a lost past when Sydney was further away, times were simpler, and life was slower. This nostalgic vision, a type of rural arcadia, which I have called ‘a country town idyll’, holds a significant place in Camden’s history. This paper, unique in its exploration of the ‘country town idyll ‘, aims to delve into this idyll and show how its supporters have used history as a community asset to remake Camden’s identity.

Initially, the paper will define the ‘country town idyll’ and then show that its origins are drawn from the broader traditions within rural studies. The discussion will then examine the idyll’s development and investigate its validity in its contemporary context. This will be done by exploring its values and how it has been adopted by various stakeholders, including local government, businesses, land developers, and community organisations. The paper will also explore how the ‘country town idyll’ has been used variously as a political weapon, a marketing tool, and a tourist promotion. So, what is meant by the term ‘country town idyll’? This question will be answered in the course of our analysis.

What is the country town idyll?

For this paper, the ‘country town idyll’ is an idealised version of a country town from an imagined past that uses history to construct imagery based on Camden’s heritage buildings and other material fabrics. At the heart of the idyll is the view that Camden should retain its iconic imagery of a picturesque country town with the church on the hill, surrounded by a rustic rural landscape made up of the landed estates of the colonial gentry. Its supporters created the idyll to isolate Camden, like an island, in the sea of urbanisation and development that has enveloped the town. The imagery is firmly located in ‘the country’ that Kerrie-Elizabeth Allen maintains, a location of nostalgia where one can experience an idyllic existence. Central to this notion is nostalgia and an escape from the present, where rural life was associated with an uncomplicated, innocent, genuine society in which traditional values persisted and a place where lives were real. Relationships were seen as honest and authentic.[2]

Camden’s St John’s Church and cemetery illustrating the bucolic nature of the town centre and the church on the hill (I Willis, 2021)

These are the values that the supporters of Camden’s ‘country town idyll’ have encouraged and then expressed in the language they used to describe it. They talk about retaining Camden’s ‘country town atmosphere’, ‘Camden’s country charm’, or ‘country town character’. They describe the town as ‘picturesque’ or having ‘charming cottages’. To them, Camden is ‘ a working country town’ or simply ‘my country town’. These elements evoke an emotional attachment to a place that existed in the past when Camden was a small, quiet country town that relied on farming. So, where did the idyll come from?

The origins of the idyll.

The origins of the ‘country town idyll’ are to be found in the rural ethos that is drawn from within the nineteenth-century rural traditions brought from Great Britain, where there was a romantic view of the country that had an ordered, stable, comfortable, organic small community in harmony with the natural surroundings.[3] This rural culture’s elements have been described as ‘countrymindedness’,[4] ‘rural ideology’[5], ‘rural ethos’,[6] ‘ruralism’[7], and a ‘rural idyll’.[8] They have been a preoccupation of many scholars,[9] including contemporary writers like the Australian poet Les Murray.[10] Within this tradition is an Arcadian notion of a romantic view of rural life, where a distinction is drawn between the metropolis and the village, commonly known as the town/country divide. This was the essence of pre-war Camden, a town of around 2000, where rural culture provided the stability of a closed community which was suspicious of outsiders, especially those from the city, with life ordered by social rank, personal contacts and familial links. It was confined by conservatism, patriarchy and an Anglo-centric view of the world. Camden’s ‘rural culture’ reached a watershed during the 1960s, after which social, economic, and political conditions combined to change Camden’s rurality permanently.

The historical development of the country town idyll and its contemporary use by its supporters

The planned post-war urban growth of Greater Sydney set the conditions for the development of the idyll. Sydney planning authorities had earmarked Camden as part of the Greater Sydney Area and the County of Cumberland Plan as early as 1948. The idea was to form a girdle of countryside around Sydney (a rural-urban fringe) and for Camden to be part of it. In 1968, Camden was included as part of Sydney’s outer rural area in the Sydney Region Outline Plan.[11] While Camden may have been part of each of these plans, they had little direct effect on the township or its rural identity, but this was about to change.

The New Cities Structure Plan Campbelltown, Camden, Appin 1973 (SPA NSW Government)

For many, the release of The Three Cities Structure Plan Campbelltown, Camden, Appin in 1973 was a direct assault on Camden’s ‘rural character’. The plan covered Campbelltown, Camden and Wollondilly local government areas, which, according to the plan, were destined to become part of Sydney’s urban sprawl. For one, Liz Kernohan, the structure plan rang alarm bells. She was a scientist who worked at the University of Sydney Farms at Cobbitty, west of Camden.[12] She was a ‘city type’, an outsider, who came to Camden in 1960 and became a strident advocate for retaining Camden’s country town charm, that is, Camden’s country town idyll. The release of the structure plan prompted her to stand for election to Camden Municipal Council. She based her election platform on the retention of Camden’s ‘rural character’, and while she was not the first to take an interest in these values, her election to Camden Council in 1973 helped crystallise the idyll in the minds of many in Camden for the first time.

Kernohan used the values within the idyll as a constant theme throughout her political career, including her election to the New South Wales Parliament in 1991. In her maiden speech to parliament, she stated that her constituents wanted a semi-rural lifestyle and that ‘explosions of suburbia’ did not constitute progress.[13] Kernohan maintained that Camden’s identity and sense of place were built on the town’s historical place and exemplified by Camden Park, the colonial property of John Macarthur and his descendants, and the Camden Museum, managed by the Camden Historical Society. Kernohan used the values within the idyll to create a direct link between Camden’s history and an idealised landscape from the past. She maintained that:

The Camden district [had] the unique history of being the area where the wool and wine industries were developed by the Macarthur family. Camden municipal council [sic] wants to retain the area’s rural heritage and environment and is encouraging developers to enhance the country town image and take cognisance of the history of the area.[14]

Kernohan’s political activity in the early 1970s helped the development of the idyll and contributed to the formation of the Camden Resident Action Group (CRAG). CRAG was one of the first organisations in Camden to advocate the values within the country town idyll publicly, and it received strong support from Kernohan. The members of CRAG felt that Camden’s rural culture was being undermined by urban growth and set out to effectively isolate Camden from Sydney’s urbanisation. The members of CRAG sort historical links through time to strengthen their sense of belonging and participation in space and place. Janice Newton has maintained that these types of progress associations were more nostalgic and defensive and looked to conservation as their ideal, as opposed to progress associations of earlier times that were positive and supported development. [15]

The Camden Museum Library building in central Camden where the Camden Museum is managed by the Camden Historical Society (I Willis 2023)

The Camden Historical Society, which fitted the same mould as CRAG, fostered an interest in local history and memorialised Camden’s pioneering past with several civic monuments in the early 1970s.

Newton quotes British research, showing that these ‘peripheral communities have a consciousness and valuing of difference’, an identity of separateness. The identity of difference is one of the central values within the country town idyll. The local community has long held animosity toward Sydney-based decision-makers dating back to the nineteenth century, and this has been expressed as the town/country divide. Kernohan encapsulated these values when she stated that,

Camden will be happy to be known as that large country town on the outskirts of Sydney with its own suburbs; it does not want to become part of suburban Sydney.[16]

Geographers readily identify this difference as exurbanisation. According to US research, exurbs are ‘places just beyond the suburbs where the country looks like the country’.[17] This is the rural landscape on Sydney’s rural-urban fringe that Camden offers its new arrivals. A rural landscape that promises the new arrivals lots of ‘country town charm’. These city types are looking for greener pastures on the rural-urban fringe where they can escape the city, but interestingly, not the city’s attractions. The values brought to Camden by these new arrivals, including the search for separateness, have altered the community’s subjectivity – the feeling of the community about themselves – and forced a re-evaluation of how the community sees itself, and this is expressed as the country town idyll. Interestingly, the desire by the new arrivals for difference is similar to the values of separateness in gated estates, where residents are trying to isolate themselves from the outside world and the perceived evils of the city.[18] For Camden’s new arrivals, the Camden township is a metaphorical gated estate with the Nepean floodplain as the fence surrounding the estate. They are protected from the evils of the city, such as crime and congestion, by open space in their ‘contemporary country living’—all part of the country town idyll.

Difference and exclusivity within the idyll are supported by Gleeson’s view that areas of new land releases on the fringe of the Sydney Metropolitan Area, like Camden, have become part of an ‘edge city…existing largely in isolation and antipathy to the older cities’. [19] Exclusivity appealed to Camden’s new arrivals who, Kernohan claimed, had come to Camden to ‘escape city conditions’. According to Matt Leighton, the Narellan Chamber of Commerce president, they were ‘refugees’ from the city. [20] Leighton felt they had graduated ‘a step up’ by making their home in Camden. At the same time, others wanted Camden to become the ‘Bowral of Western Sydney’ by ‘attempting to stay out of the fast lane’[21] or maintaining that it should become the ‘Double Bay of the South Western Sector’ of Sydney.[22] Gleeson maintains that the new arrivals were looking to create new ‘urban villages’, which, he claims, is part of a ‘postmodern angst’ where ‘contemporary suburbanisation in Australia is shaped by the mounting anxiety and insecurity among Australia’s urban middle class’. He argues that all this has been fuelled by the ‘neo-liberal restructuring’ of the last 20 years and the ‘new political emphasis on self-provision’. Gleeson claims that this creates ‘aspirational communities’ on the city’s fringe with a high degree of ‘cultural homogeneity’. [23] In other words, Gleeson would maintain that Camden’s new arrivals were looking for a safe and secure environment with predictable lifestyle outcomes in an Anglophile community where their lifetime investment in housing was protected from the city’s threats. This fitted Kernohan’s Camden and the country town idyll she advocated.

Kernohan was a strong supporter of the idyll until she died in 2004, and her success was due, in part at least, to her recognition of the processes associated with the development of the idyll, which has contributed to the changes in Camden’s identity and sense of place. Kernohan encapsulated this process in the language of Camden’s conservative rural tradition and successfully used it in her political platform. She harnessed Camden’s rurality, or what was left of it, and pragmatically voiced the underlying aspirations of Camden’s old and new residents for some sense of stability in the face of constant demographic change in an ideal past. She did this very effectively in 1994 when she opposed a land release by Industrial Equity. Industrial Equity planned a land release at South Camden, at Cawdor, of 4900 lots. There were protests, and a public meeting was held in July, attracting over 300 people.[24] Kernohan campaigned to keep the area ‘pristine’ and had the number of lots reduced to 777, of between 0.4 and 1.0 hectares, and the provision of public housing stopped. The threat from public housing tenants, real or otherwise, would, it was maintained, would undermine the values of privately owned properties on the estate. Industrial Equity’s development was rejected and remains undeveloped. [25] Yet, eight years later, in 2002, Stockland successfully promoted a land release adjacent to this area called Bridgewater. The Bridgewater development is typical of the development found in ‘exurbia’ or Gleeson’s ‘edge city’ that has fostered the country town idyll in Camden.

Over the last five years, the developers of the Bridgewater land release have used the idyll to sell their allotments to locals and city types. It has been advertised as a ‘contemporary rural lifestyle’ and stridently maintained in its press releases that it was not ‘suburbia’. Stockland claimed the estate was within an hour of the city, where ‘second and third homebuyers are looking to upgrade their lifestyle’ and enjoy extensive parklands.[26] Stockland claimed in its 2006 advertising that its development at South Camden was

An idyllic community bordered by undulating countryside, Bridgewater offers the ultimate country lifestyle a mere 50 minutes from the Sydney CBD.[27]

The promotional literature for the Bridgewater land release used images of blond-haired young children frolicking in an idyllic rural vista in the late afternoon light. The images draw heavily on the nostalgia of a carefree childhood in the country, free from the evils of city life. In other promotional literature, Stockland claimed that their estate was

Set in the charming rural enclave of South Camden on Sydney’s metropolitan fringe. Bridgewater offers you the chance to create a new contemporary country lifestyle. Surrounded by the unique heritage and ambience of 19^th century farm buildings and homesteads, Bridgewater is the epitome of modern country style, providing innovative, contemporary living in a truly historical Australian setting.[28]

The promotional article is supported by panoramic vistas of Camden’s rural countryside.

Formalisation of the idyll

The first formalisation of the idyll occurred in 1999 with the development of Camden Council’s strategic plan. The strategic plan, which captured community sentiment, was drawn up ‘in consultation with the community’[29] and drew heavily on the values of the idyll. It acknowledged the threat of Sydney’s urban sprawl and the desire for separateness by the community using local history. In the introduction to the plan, it states that

Camden has retained many of the traditional qualities of a rural lifestyle and environment and is characterised by historic towns, country villages and new suburban areas. This has been achieved whilst accommodating the fastest urban growth in the Sydney Region. Importantly, it is not a mere extension of the suburban sprawl by Sydney. [30]

It further maintains that

Camden’s unique rural landscapes and vistas have been retained and improved…[and that]…Camden town has retained its country town atmosphere and culture.[31]

The plan claims that the council recognised the community’s aspirations and the idyll’s role in urban planning within the local government area. It maintains that

The council recognised that economic prosperity and quality of life are linked to its rural identity. The attributes of safety, friendliness and close-knit community associated with rural lifestyle also contribute to the amenity of Camden as a place to live and enjoy.[32]

The council acknowledged that ‘the rural nature of Camden attracts newer residents’ and that ‘the rural landscape is an important factor in the lifestyle of the Camden community’.[33]

The idyll received a significant boost in 2004 with the completion of the Camden Draft Heritage Plan. While the plan does not formally acknowledge the country town idyll, it uses history to recognise the special status of Camden. The plan identified several unique qualities of the Camden town area, which supported the idyll. They included: the town’s reputation as one of the few original Cumberland Plain country towns still intact; the town’s early farming and settlement history; the area’s sizeable early colonial landed estates; the town’s association with the Macarthur family; the layout of the town that still reflects its original purpose; the arrangement of the town which took advantage of the views and vistas of St Johns Church on the hill. The report recommended: the adoption of the Camden Township Conservation Area based on the original grid plan for the town, which still exists; the mix of colonial buildings in the town area; the mix of residential, commercial, retail and industrial activity in the town area; the rural properties that still exist on the edge of the town centre; the location of the Nepean River floodplain wrapping around three sides of the town; St Johns Church on the hill; and the historical development of the town that is still evident in the properties and usage of the buildings in central Camden.

St Johns Church Camden around 1900 (Camden Images)

Two aspects of the Draft Heritage Plan[34] warrant special attention as they are critical to understanding the contemporary use of the idyll in Camden, the Nepean River floodplain and the St John’s church. Each has a particular historical, moral, social and psychological significance within the idyll. The supporters of the idyll have used both the Nepean floodplain and St John’s Church and the history associated with them as a political weapon, tourist promotion and part of the construction of heritage iconography. The floodplain is the site of several activities that reinforce Camden’s rural past. They include: the Camden Town Farm, an old dairy farm; Bicentennial Park, an old dairy farm; Camden Showground; the old milk factory of the Macarthurs on the northern approach to the town; and the Camden saleyards, which still operate.

An aerial view of Camden in 1940 with St John’s Church on the ridge above the town centre dominating the surrounding area looking towards Camden Park House in the far distance (Camden Images)

Firstly, the moral imperative of the church on the hill that is St. Johns underpins the values of the idyll and the development of the romantic notions surrounding the town and its past. The church was built on the town’s highest point in 1840 and provides an essential psychological and spiritual focus for the community by dominating the town’s skyline. St Johns is a sacred site associated with the pioneering heritage of the town during the colonial period and the role of the Macarthur family. The Macarthur family ruled over Camden for over 150 years, and the church was central to Macarthur’s moral view of the world and how that should be played out in the town.[35] The town was their metaphysical castle, and they were the squires, especially between 1890 and 1943, when power rested with two Macarthur women, Elizabeth and Sibella Macarthur Onslow. The social authority of these women was absolute. They ensured that the village of Camden reflected their view of the world as much as possible. Nothing escaped their scrutiny or influence, and St Johns was central to their view of the world in Camden. Elizabeth Macarthur Onslow encouraged the maintenance of the proprietaries of life, moral order, and good works, as well as memorialising her family by donating a clock and bells to St John’s Church in 1897.[36] She also memorialised the memory of her late husband by providing a public park named after her husband (Onslow Park), now the Camden Showground. This is one of the sites in Camden that celebrates the idyll each year at the Camden Show. A prominent member of the show committee, Dick Inglis, who was past president,1962-1974, a member of the firm William Inglis and Sons, auctioneers, stock and station and bloodstock agents, and a member of a prominent Camden colonial family, recently claimed that he was proud that the Camden Show was ‘still a country show’ and he hoped that it stayed that way.[37]

This is an aerial view of the Camden town centre, showing the Nepean River in the distance. It clearly shows how the Nepean River floodplain surrounds the township, with a sweeping bend of the river acting as a moat around the town. (Inglis 2019)

Secondly, the geography of the Nepean River floodplain creates a sense of openness around the town or ruralness that engenders a ‘country’ mindset of those who live or would like to live in the local area. The landscape creates a physical and psychological separation from the city. The rural landscape symbolised traditional values embraced by the local community and used in local tourist promotions and by the developers of the new land releases to voice the difference between the local and the metropolitan. This imagery uses nostalgia to connect with Camden’s earlier days when the town was a small rural community and promotes Camden’s ruralness as a positive difference for newcomers to the area. The inundation of the floodplain by the waters of the Nepean River provides a physical and psychological barrier to Sydney’s urbanisation. The floodplain around Camden has been seen as a buffer zone against the onslaught of the city. A moat surrounds the metaphorical castle, that is, the country town. The floodplain provides the moat around the castle.

The Nepean River floodplain and the St John’s Church were invoked within the idyll to defeat a proposal to build a multi-storey carpark in central Camden in 2006. The supporters of the carpark, principally the Camden Chamber of Commerce, wanted additional car parking places in central Camden as early as 1995 because they felt that their financial viability was threatened by competition from Narellan Town Centre, a shopping mall. They thought that a multi-storey carpark would solve their problems. The council considered three possible sites. Two sites were between St John’s church on the hill in central Camden and Camden’s main street (Argyle Street), the third on the floodplain. Camden Council approved a site near St John’s Church in early 2006. The project was eventually defeated because it was felt that any development on the elevated southern sites compromised the vista of St John’s Church from the Nepean River floodplain. The church was located on the hill behind the proposed John Street sites. This vista was part of Camden’s iconic imagery, an important part of the town’s cultural landscape and identity from colonial times.[38] The carpark supporters, the Camden Chamber of Commerce, did not contest this position but felt that the final design of the carpark did not compromise these values; needless to say, Camden Residents Action Group, the historical society and a council-commissioned heritage architect disagreed. The heritage architects felt the proposal compromised the integrity of the ‘most intact country town on the Cumberland Plain’.[39]

The cover of Ian Willis’s Pictorial History Camden & District invokes the town’s history in an important local publication telling the Camden story. (Kingsclear, 2015)

Tourist promotions of Camden have drawn on the historic nature of central Camden, including St Johns church, the vistas of the floodplain and the values of the idyll. This has occurred in brochures, promotions, and a recent webpage, which is part of heritage tourism and allows visitors to experience places and activities that authentically represent the stories and people of the past and present.[40] The website states that,

Camden’s heritage precinct is dominated by the church on the hill, St John’s Church (1840) and the adjacent rectory (1859). Across the road is Macarthur Park (1905), arguably one of the best Victorian-style urban parks in the country. In the neighbouring streets, there are a number of charming Federation and Californian bungalows.[41]

The webpage continues in a similar vein

The picturesque rural landscapes that surround Camden were once part of the large estates of the landed gentry and their grand houses. A number of these privately owned houses are still dotted throughout the local area. Some examples are Camden Park (1835), Brownlow Hill (1828), Denbigh (1822), Oran Park (c1850), Camelot (1888), Studley Park (c1870s), Wivenhoe (c1837) and Kirkham Stables (1816). The rural vistas are enhanced by the Nepean River floodplain that surrounds the town and provides the visitor with a sense of the town’s farming heritage. [42]

Camden Council, in partnership with Camden Historical Society, produced a brochure for a walking tour of Camden and under the heading ‘Camden Town, A Place in History’ states that,

The historic township of Camden, on the southwestern outskirts of Sydney, is the cultural heart of a region that enjoys a unique place in our nation’s history…This rich rural heritage is evidenced around the town in the presence of livestock sale yards, vineyards, equestrian park and dairy facilities, giving Camden a unique ‘working country town’ atmosphere and flavour.[43]

Over the years, St John’s Church has been used on cups, saucers, mugs, and other ephemera.

The same imagery within the idyll is used to promote local businesses. One stockfeed supplier claims to be ‘Keeping Camden Country’.[44] Another business has released a DVD with a slide show and a backing track that uses the values of the idyll in the lyrics of a song written by a local Camden singer/songwriter. The song is called Still My Country Home and is the backing track for a DVD called Camden, Still My Country Home. It has been developed to promote a local business and has all the characteristics of the country town idyll.

Is the idyll still relevant?

Despite the apparent strength of the idyll in Camden, cracks are starting to appear. For example, using the idyll as a political weapon has disappeared, at least in the recent state election in March 2007. Both local candidates from the major political parties, Chris Patterson, Liberal, and Geoff Corrigan, ALP, one the present mayor and one a former mayor of Camden, dropped references to the retention of Camden’s country town atmosphere. Unlike earlier election campaigns involving Liz Kernohan, those values were central to her campaigns for state parliament. This change may be partly reflected by changes to the boundaries of the state seat of Camden and the inclusion of new suburbs in the northern part of the local government area that result from Sydney’s urban growth. In addition, Stockland removed references to ‘contemporary country living’ from promotional literature early in 2007, and the latest land release at East Camden, Elderslie, called Vantage Point, does not mention the idyll.

Yet a recent development application, in May 2007, by McDonalds for a new restaurant in South Camden has seen the idyll used as a potent political weapon yet again and involving the values of the country town. Protesters evoked the values of the idyll against a proposed McDonald’s restaurant in South Camden. The flood of objections from the community centred around concerns that were evocative of the evils of the city coming to invade the country town and revolved around crime, litter, traffic congestion and boorish behaviour. One resident complained that he had witnessed drunkenness, throwing bottles, boorish behaviour and burnouts in the carpark by McDonald’s customers at an outlet in Narellan. He further claimed that all incidents went unchecked by McDonald’s staff, security or police.[45] Helen Stockheim, a resident, claimed that she moved to the area because she liked the ‘country town atmosphere’ and the area was ‘McDonalds free’.[46] The Camden Advertiser ran an editorial titled ‘Let’s treasure our beautiful area’.[47] The giant conglomerate McDonald’s is the ‘outsider’ and brings the evils of the city in the form of globalisation, cultural integration and market domination to Camden. They directly challenge the community’s identity and the values represented by the idyll, such as honesty, simplicity, and authenticity of family-run businesses. The global corporation represents everything that the country town idyll is not.

The future relevance of the idyll to the Camden community is still an open question. The encroachment of Sydney’s urban sprawl is reshaping Camden’s identity in ways which are not yet clearly discernible. Yet many want the rural vistas and the historic buildings that create the separateness of Camden from Sydney’s urbanisation. They are the ones who are trying to hold on to the values of the small town in the form of the country town idyll.

[1] Macarthur Chronicle (Camden Edition) 15 May 2007, p.1.

[2] Kerrie-Elizabeth Allen, ‘The Social Space(s) of Rural Women’, Rural Society, v.12, no.1, 2002, pp31-32.

[3]. Waller, Town, City and Nation, p. 213. This division was based on nostalgia and romance and is still evident in popular contemporary British magazines like Country Origins, This England and The Best of British.

[4].Countrymindedness was ‘Physiocratic, populist and decentralist’. Rural pursuits were seen as ‘virtuous, ennobling and co-operative; they bring out the best in people’, while ‘city life is competitive and nasty, as well as parasitical’. The city was seen as immoral and parasitic, while the country was decent, honest and industrious. Aitkin, ‘Countrymindedness’, pp. 35-36.

[5].Poiner, The Good Old Rule, pp. 30-52; Alston, Women on the Land, pp. 142-147.

[6].Teather, ‘Mandate of the Country Women’s Association’, p. 85.

[7].Neutze, ‘City, Country, Town’, p. 15.

[8].Ward & Smith, The Vanishing Village, p. 7; Davidoff, World’s Between, pp. 46-50; Kerrie-Elizabeth Allen, ‘The Social Space(s) of Rural Women’, Rural Society, v.12, no.1, 2002

[9]. The town/country divide is based on the relationships between people, and Tonnies’s gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft is often considered ‘the classic statement in this tradition ‘Tonnies’s work described gemeinschaft relations as social relations based on ‘blood ties and geographical proximity’, while Gesellschaft relations is a contractual relationship found in the city. Other social philosophers who have seen a rural-urban dichotomy include Weber, Simmel, Durkheim, Marx and Engels, and Park. Ward & Smith, The Vanishing Village, pp. 1-12.

[10] Murray’s Boeotia and Athens (city and the bush).Helen Lambert, ‘A Draft Preamble: Les Murray and the Politics of Poetry’. APINetwork.Online. < http://www.api-network.com/main/index.php?apply=scholars&webpage=default&flexedit=&flex_password=&menu_label=&menuID=homely&menubox=&scholar=58> Accessed 14 May 2007.

[11] Bunker Raymond and Darren Holloway, ‘More than fringe benefits: the values, policies, issues and expectations embedded in Sydney’s rural-urban fringe’, Australian Planner, Vol. 39, No. 2, 2002, p. 68

[12] In 1936, The University of Sydney purchased a dairy farm at Badgery’s Creek and, in 1954, Corstorphine and May Farms at Cobbitty. In 1962, more farms were donated at Bringelly L Copeland (ed), 1910-1985 Celebrating 75 Years of Agriculture at the University of Sydney, Sydney: University of Sydney, 1985, p.46.

[13] NSWLAPD, 16 October 1991, pp.2293

[14] NSWLAPD, 16 October 1991, pp.2293-2294

[15] Janice Newton, ’Rejecting Suburban Identity on the Fringes of Melbourne’, The Australian Journal of Anthropology, 1999, 10:3, pp. 322-329

[16] NSWLAPD, 16 October 1991, pp.2293-2294

[17] Tom Foreman, ‘Exurb growth challenges US cities’, CNN.com http://www.cnn.com/2005/us/03/27/urban.sprawl/ . Online. [Accessed 25 May 2007]

[18] Jane Cadzow, ‘Do Fence Me In’, Good Weekend, 5 May 2007, pp33-38.

[19] Brendan Gleeson, ‘What’s Driving Suburban Australia?’, in Griffith Review, special edition ‘Dreams of Land’, Summer 2003-2004.pp. 57-65.

[20] Macarthur Advertiser 16 August 1995; Camden News 22 August 1973.

[21] Macarthur Advertiser 16 August 1995.

[22] The Crier 18 March 1981.

[23] Brendan Gleeson, ‘What’s Driving Suburban Australia?’, in Griffith Review, special edition ‘Dreams of Land’, Summer 2003-2004.pp. 57-65.

[24].The meeting took place at the Camden Valley Inn on 16 July 1994. Camden Crier 17 August 1994.

[25] Camden and Wollondilly Times 14 September 1994; ‘Mini City Proposal Stopped’, Pamphlet, August 1994, Kernohan File, Camden Historical Society Archives.

[26] Macarthur Advertiser 11 September 2002.

[27] Stockland, Upgrade Your Lifestyle, (Stockland Sales and Information Centre, 2006, Advertising Brochure)

[28] Stockland, ‘Bridgewater, Contemporary Country Living’, Aspect NSW, Spring/Summer 2005, pp. 36-37. (Advertising Literature).

[29] Camden Council, Statement of Affairs, Camden: The Council of Camden, 2007, p.3.

[30] Camden Council, Camden 2025, A Strategic Plan For Camden, (Camden: Camden Council 1999).p. 2. Online. http://www.camden.nsw.gov.au (Accessed 14 December 2006)

[31] Camden Council, Camden 2025, A Strategic Plan For Camden, (Camden: Camden Council 1999).p. 2. Online. http://www.camden.nsw.gov.au (Accessed 14 December 2006)

[32] Camden Council, Camden 2025, A Strategic Plan For Camden, (Camden: Camden Council 1999).p. 18. Online. http://www.camden.nsw.gov.au (Accessed 14 December 2006)

[33] Camden Council, Camden 2025, A Strategic Plan For Camden, (Camden: Camden Council 1999).p. 18. Online. http://www.camden.nsw.gov.au (Accessed 14 December 2006)

[34] Camden Council adopted the Camden Draft Heritage Report in December 2006.

[35] Atkinson, Camden; Willis, ‘The Gentry and the Village’;

[36] RE Nixon & PC Hayward (eds), The Anglican Church of St John the Evangelist Camden, New South Wales, Camden: Anglican Parish of Camden, 1999, pp. 8-21.

[37] District Reporter, 24 August 2007, p. 4.

[38] For example, this vista is on the front cover of Paul Power’s A Century of Change, One Hundred Years of Local Government in Camden (Camden: Macarthur Independent Promotions, 1989).

[39] Camden Advertiser 28 June 2006, p. 1.

[40] National Trust for Historic Preservation, ‘Heritage Tourism’. http://www.nationaltrust.org/heritage_tourism/index.html Online. [Accessed 4 April 2007]

[41]Ian Willis, ‘Camden, the best-preserved country town on the Cumberland Plain’, Heritage Tourism <http://www.heritagetourism.com.au/discover/camden.html> Online. Accessed 23 May 2007.

[42]Ian Willis, ‘Camden, the best-preserved country town on the Cumberland Plain’, Heritage Tourism <http://www.heritagetourism.com.au/discover/camden.html> Online. Accessed 23 May 2007.

[43] Camden Council, Heritage Walking Tour of Camden Town, (Camden: Camden Council, 2001)

[44] Advertisement: ‘Regal Stockfeeds’, District Reporter 24 August 2007, p. 6.

[45] ‘Traffic with that ?’, Camden Advertiser, 27 June 2007, Online. http://www.camdenadvertiser.com.au/2007/06/traffic_with_that.php [Accessed 27 June 2007]

[46] ‘Ready for a bun fight’, District Reporter 1 June 2007, p. 3.

[47] Camden Advertiser 27 June 2007, p. 4.

20th century · Agriculture history · Argyle Street · Camden · Camden Story · Collective Memory · Colonial Camden · Community building · Community identity · Cultural Heritage · Heritage · History · Local History · Local Studies · Memory · Peri-urban region · Pioneers · Place making · Placemaking · Sense of place · Settler Society · Stories · Storytelling · Urban development · Urban growth · Urban history · Urban Planning · urban sprawl · Urbanism

Camden, the making and re-making of familiar places

April 27, 2024April 28, 2024 camdenhistorynotes

WEA-RAHS Seminar Series

Understanding Places

History House, 135 Macquarie Street, Sydney

28 October 2009

Camden, the making and re-making of familiar places

Abstract

This presentation examines Sydney’s urban expansion into the local area (in Elderslie, Oran Park, South Camden), which threatens to destroy what is left of Camden’s notion of being a country town. Fact or fiction? Many in the local community desire to retain Camden’s image as a country town. Is this just a dream, or is there some reality to this idea? Many local people talk about retaining Camden’s ‘country town atmosphere’ or ‘keeping Camden country’. The town is described as ‘picturesque’ and having ‘charming cottages’. To others, Camden is a ‘working country town’ or ‘my country town’. These values and ideas are connected to the reality of trying to keep what is left of Camden as a country town. Tourist brochures use these ideas to picture idyllic rural scenes. Land developers have scenes of families frolicking in the meadows with their children. These values and ideas are based on nostalgia. They look back to the early days of Camden, when daily life in the town was uncomplicated, innocent, and genuine, with traditional rural values. When people talked to their neighbours and stopped for a chat in the street, they were based on nostalgia. Nostalgia and yearning for a lost past have been re-created in a ‘country town idyll’ in Camden, NSW today.

Slide Presentation

Agriculture · Agriculture history · Attachment to place · Book · Camden Story · Chinese Market Gardeners · Community · Country town · Cultural Heritage · Farming · Horticulture · Local History · Local Studies · Lost Camden · Memory · Place making · Sense of place · Social History · Storytelling · Uncategorized

Who were the Camden Chinese market gardeners, a new book reveals the story

April 13, 2024 camdenhistorynotes

Book Review

A History of Camden Chinese Market Gardeners 1899-1993, edited by Ian Willis & Julie Wrigley

A story from the shadows of history

The first Chinese market gardener arrived in the Camden district in 1899 when George Lee started the first attempt at intensive horticulture. He established a successful local market garden on the Nepean River floodplain at Elderslie, just north of the Camden township. (pp. 18, 47-50)

The last Camden Chinese market garden closed in 1993, marking the end of an era. Biu Wong, the final torchbearer of this rich tradition, purchased the Hop Chong Company garden business in 1968. His decision to close the business marked the end of a chapter in Camden’s history. (pp. 79-82)

Ian and Julie Wrigley have edited a collection of these stories in A History of Camden Chinese Market Gardeners 1899-1993. The book is more of a story of resilience in the face of hardship for Camden’s Chinese diaspora than simply a narrative about local farming history.

Willis and Wrigley have brought the story of the Camden Chinese out of the shadows of history, where the act of forgetting has relegated the Chinese market gardeners to a note in history. This is not unique to Camden and has happened in country towns all over Australia.

Sophie Loy-Wilson, a renowned author of Chinese-Australian history, has stated that Julie Wrigley has ‘collated years of research’ to tell the story of the Camden Chinese and ‘takes the reader from the outskirts of Sydney to rural China, to Hong Kong and back again’.

Chinese market gardeners have been an integral part of Australia’s nation-building story since the late 19th century. Sophie Loy-Wilson recalls

Suburban Sydney, where I live, is pockmarked by old farms – we call them market gardens – but they were farms, vegetable farms, and they are old, they date back to the 1860s, and they bear the marks of many people, many cultures.
A History of Camden Chinese Market Gardeners 1899-1993. p 13

The Camden Chinese farmed on six principal sites along the Nepean River floodplain just outside the Camden town centre. They rented land from local European landowners because they could not purchase their own landholdings.

Land was as important to the Chinese’s identity as it was for Europeans. At the end of the 19th century, the Chinese fitted the settler colonial project without challenging its primary objectives and, like Europeans, had little interaction with the local Indigenous community.

Despite facing numerous challenges, including the White Australia Policy, regular floods on the Nepean River floodplain, and local ostracism by the Camden community, the Camden Chinese demonstrated their resilience and determination, proving the viability of intensive horticulture on the Nepean River floodplain for the first time.

Hard work, innovative entrepreneurship, and the profit motive drove these men-only farming co-operatives, which were organised into highly structured work teams. Their monk-like existence was made harder by rudimentary shelters without luxuries and their families at home in China.

The Camden Chinese used their agency as history-makers, innovators, and risk-takers, developing flexible coping strategies using their technological skills to ensure the success of their farming activities. In 1910, the Camden News stated:

It is very interesting to watch those enterprising and skilful agriculturalists who are working the vegetable gardens near the Camden Bridge. They seem to be thoroughly conversant with the composition of the soil and whatever deficiency there was, they spared no expense in making it good…
(Camden News, 1 December 1910)

The Chinese were always outsiders in the eyes of a closed European community in Camden. They were excluded from community events and celebrations, yet during the First and Second World Wars, the Chinese were generous donors to wartime patriotic funds and charities. These outsiders attempted to be insiders. (pp. 42, 67)

The relationship between the Camden community and the Chinese was transactional and market-driven. It was based on selling vegetables to local families, hiring local Europeans to transport their produce to the Sydney markets (pp. 27, 67), occasionally hiring local Europeans as pickers and other business arrangements. (p. 40)

Recovery of stories

Local historian RE ‘Dick’ Nixon was the first to document the history of the Camden Chinese market gardeners. In his memoirs in 1976, he wrote about the Chinese and their farming practices. Dick’s lived experience of the Chinese market gardeners was through his father, Leslie Nixon, who was a local carrier who carted the Chinese produce to the Sydney markets. (pp. 25, 39)

The resurrection of the Chinese market gardener’s stories continued with the small collection of objects at the Camden Museum after it opened in 1970. Relics of the Chinese presence were handed over to the museum as they were found in the forgotten corners of local farms once occupied by the Chinese. Recent work by Julie Wrigley has added a considerable amount of material to the Camden Chinese story and is incorporated in this book. (pp. 33-38, 83-87)

Camden Chinese Market Gardeners fits into a growing genre of books detailing the Chinese diaspora in Australia, including The China-Australia Migration Corridor (2023), a collection of articles from an ARC project on the transnational dimension of the migration between China and Australia. Launched at the Darling Square Library in February 2024 by Dr Sophie Loy-Wilson, who contributed the Introduction to Camden Chinese Market Gardeners and launched the book at Camden on April 6.

Sketch by Douglas Annand, ‘Chinaman’s Garden, Camden, NSW’ in Douglas Annand: *Drawings and Paintings in Australia* (Ure Smith, 1944)

A History of Camden Chinese Market Gardeners 1899-1993 is a groundbreaking publication by the Camden Historical Society, which manages the Camden Museum. It is the first time the history of the Chinese market gardeners has been published as a book.

Unfortunately, the descendants of the Camden Chinese market gardeners have not taken the opportunity to let the voices of their forebears speak to the world and tell their own stories in their own words. It has been left up to the primary gatekeepers of the Camden story at the Camden Historical Society to open the door and let the voices from the past speak to the present generation. Hopefully, there are many more stories to follow.

This publication is recommended for anyone interested in local studies, the Chinese diaspora, the history of horticulture in Australia, the White Australia Policy, or the immigration story, and has made a valuable contribution to understanding the lesser-known aspects of Australian history. It is available for sale from the Camden Museum.

Active citizenship · Belonging · Camden · Camden Council · Camden Council Library · Camden Historical Society · Camden Museum · Camden Story · Community · Community Engagement · Community organisations · Community work · Local History · Local Studies · Partnership

Community Partnerships: Are they all that they are cracked up to be?

April 10, 2024 camdenhistorynotes

2009 Museums Australia National Conference, Work in Progress. Newcastle, 17 – 20 May 2009.

Day 3 Wednesday 20 May 2009, Session 14.3 Community Partnerships – Help or Hindrance? Concert Hall, Newcastle Town Hall, 11.00am-12.15pm.

Conference Paper

In 2007, Peter Scrivener[1] wrote a report for Hawkesbury City Council on community partnerships, and in it, he presented a summary of a partnership between the Camden Historical Society and Camden Council. In brief, it stated:

These two parties are proud of the amicable relationship they have nurtured over many years, during which time the museum has gained considerable support as an acknowledged ‘model’ local museum demonstrating exemplary practice. Currently [that is in 2007], the council-owned building is being renovated to share foyer space with the adjacent council library… They have never had a formal arrangement but recently have signed a one-page Memorandum of Understanding… [the memorandum] simply outlines the spirit and intended community outcomes that can flow from greater linkages and integration between the two parties. (Scrivener, 2007)

This partnership is the subject of this paper.

At a local level, community partnerships are one form of collaboration between voluntary organisations and councils that can bring measurable benefits to participating stakeholders. They encourage a sustainable solution to the achievement of goals at a time when there are increasing demands on a limited set of resources while at the same time maintaining that despite their advantages, community partnerships are not a silver bullet. They can be compared to a living organism which needs constant attention and nurturing and, if neglected, will wither and die.

My interest in community partnerships was initiated by research on the three local historical societies in our area and the role of their local museums in their communities (Willis, 2007b). In that work, which is the subject of a forthcoming paper (Willis, 2009), I maintain that these organisations occupy a privileged place in their community through storytelling and contribute to the development of community identity and place-making. They have received the official endorsement of their local councils and in some cases, have entered partnerships with them.

Scholarly work on community partnerships between local councils and historical societies is virtually invisible, although there has been some useful work done by Peter Scrivener (Scrivener, 2007), and others (Sandell, 2004). These limited efforts have shown that these type of community partnerships have mixed results.[2] This field of endeavour deserves the attention of researchers and hopefully this paper will shine some light on a dark corner.

The setting for this case study is the Camden Local Government Area (LGA), which is on the rural-urban interface on south-western fringe of Sydney. The LGA is the fastest growing in New South Wales with a population of 52,000 in 2008 and an annual growth rate that has been in excess of 15 per cent per year. The Camden LGA has a strong community sector with over 250 voluntary organisations (Willis, 2007a: 18).

The two stakeholders in this community partnership are the Camden Historical Society which was founded in 1957 and has 160 members. Its main aim has been the promotion of local history through public education and memorialisation, which includes managing a local museum. The second member of the partnership is Camden Council and its Library Service. The library has two branches, Camden and Narellan, a borrowing collection of 70,000 items and 17 full-time equivalent staff. It should be noted that the Camden Family History Society is also part of this arrangement but is not the subject of this paper. The author also needs to declare his interest in this subject as an insider through his membership of the Camden Historical Society.

This paper will examine the Camden partnership using Jupp’s four simple processes that he felt were essential for a successful partnership. They are: ‘developing clear objectives; ensuring that each partner benefits individually as well as helping to achieve a common goal; building in evaluation; and finally, developing understanding and trust between partners’ (Jupp, 2000, p. 8). The last factor will be treated first.

Understanding and Trust

The basis of the current partnership agreement between the council and the historical society is to be found in the trust and understanding that has developed over the last 52 years between these two organisations.

Since the foundation of the historical society (1957) the council has come to support and endorse the story of Camden as it has been told by the society. From the beginning the society has presented a conservative view of local history based around the pioneer legend and the town’s material progress. This view of the world was strengthened in 1970 when the society opened a small pioneer museum with the assistance of the Camden Rotary Club. The council supported the venture by providing space for the museum for rent-free use. It did this without a formal agreement being put in place. This was followed in short order by society members erecting three public monuments to Camden pioneers located outside the council chambers in 1977, 1978 and 1979. The council then supported the expansion of the museum in 1980, and again in 1999, again without any formal agreement with the historical society.

By promoting an officially sanctioned view of Camden’s social history the historical society has achieved a privileged position in the community and become the custodian of the Camden story. In recent years the representation of the Camden story in the museum has broadened, as Australian history has in the remainder of the country, to include Aborigines, women, rural labourers and other aspects of country town life. The museum has also become a site where, according to Robyn Till (Till, 2004), the local community has derived a sense of belonging from storytelling and where a continuity of generations in the one locality, according to Sonya Salamon (Salamon, 2007:3), have contributed to the essence of a strong community identity and sense of place.

Clear Objectives

The next stage in the development of the partnership agreement occurred in 2002 when Camden Council issued a draft strategic plan for the future of Camden library service, called Vibrant Places, People Spaces. [3] The aim of the plan was twofold: firstly, the creation of a new community space around the existing library and museum building; and secondly, the formalisation of the existing arrangements between the council and the society to facilitate the building project.

The plan envisaged a new integrated complex as a multi-purpose centre which could function as ‘a unified educational, recreational, cultural and tourist complex’.[4] The library was to be a public space that could strengthen community cohesiveness by becoming a ‘community hub’ and ‘communal meeting place’. According to Sonya Salamon, this type of space could act as an arena where the residents could develop a sense of community that bonded them to the place (Salamon, 2007: 13). The library would, according to the council, provide an opportunity for local residents to ‘embrace Camden’s culture and sense of community’ and contribute to place-making (Camden Council, 2002: 3).

The new complex was based on the re-adaptive use of two historic buildings: the Camden School of Arts building (1866), which was later the Camden Town Hall then council offices; and secondly the Camden Temperance Hall (1867), which functioned as the Camden Fire Station between 1916-1993. By the end of 2007 the $2.3 million re-development had resulted in a single building with a common street entry after the former laneway between the buildings had been covered with a glass roof to create a galleria. The view of the council’s general manager of the completed complex was that it provided ‘the community with a stronger sense of belonging and place’ and ‘a place based and people focused facility’.[5]

In the end the co-location has had a number of advantages for both stakeholders. For the library, according to Kathryn Baget the library services manager, it has meant that it has had one stop convenience, better building maintenance and security, and a sharing of infrastructure with the historical society; a type of convergence, a notion that has received attention in recent times including this conference (Stapleton, 2009).[6] As far as the historical society was concerned it gained a street entrance on John Street, enhanced security, a new lift to the first floor and improved fire safety.

The second part of the strategic planning process was the development of a formal agreement, which was achieved through a memorandum of understanding (MoU). This would be the first time that there had been a formalised relationship between the historical society and the council, and according to the Australian Government is the recommended way to go for community partnerships (DEST, 2004). The purpose of the MoU, according to the council, was to facilitate the building project and to ‘promote a stronger working partnership between the Library Service and the Historical Society’ (Camden Council, 2006:124).

The MoU was worked up through a number of stages from 2004 and was eventually passed by council in November 2006 (Camden Council, 2006:112). The document is a single page, free of legalese and clearly sets out the objectives of the partnership. The agreement is flexible and open-ended. The council maintains that the MoU is ‘underpinned by a spirit of co-operation’ (Camden Council, 2006: 124) and has reflected the relationship of trust and understanding that has developed over the years between the historical society and the council. The MoU specifically excludes property matters, such as insurance and maintenance, which are addressed through other agreements.

Within the partnership arrangement the formal lines of communication between the library and the historical society are kept open through quarterly partnership meetings chaired by the library’s local studies librarian, who also circulates the agenda and minutes. The partnership is reviewed each November with the aim of identifying ‘joint programs, projects and funding opportunities for the coming year’ (Camden Council, 2006: 112). The formal meeting setting provides the appropriate planning and ongoing communication that Kathryn Baget claims are needed in all partnerships.[7]

The formal linkages within the partnership are supported by leadership from ‘community champions’ like John Wrigley and Peter Hayward from the historical society, and Kathryn Baget from the library, who have been central to the success of the partnership. They have been involved in the partnership process from the release of the strategic plan in 2002. Their enthusiasm and perseverance has facilitated the progress of the partnership. They have acted as community organisers in a host of areas including meeting facilitation, negotiation and networking, and communicating the vision of the partnership to the wider community, as other people have done elsewhere in Australia (Johns, Kilpatrick and Whelan, 2007: 53-54). John Wrigley maintains that the success of the partnership can only ‘work with the positive and willing participation of both partners’. He has stated that he has been ‘willing to do anything to ensure the successful continuing operation and improvement of the partnership’.[8] Such enthusiasm has been the basis of the current partnership, and has been fundamental to the development of trust and understanding between council and the historical society for over 50 years.

Just as important to the partnership has been the informal linkages between the organisations. For example, some Camden library staff are members of the society and volunteer their time at the museum on weekends. There is also casual interaction between society officers and library staff, both within and outside of the library setting. These informal linkages reflect the strong interpersonal and familial networks which still exist in Camden from earlier decades and help strengthen the formation of social capital.

Common Goals and Benefits

The common goals of all stakeholders in the partnership were outlined by the Camden mayor in March 2007 at the opening of the completed building complex. He stated that the partnership was about ‘participation, association and joint interest’ and that it captured ‘the history, culture and relevance of the community’.[9]

The implementation of these aspirations, as detailed in the MoU, are best characterised by the various joint projects that are undertaken between the library service and the historical society. According to Kathryn Baget, the joint projects have brought a ‘new perspective, new ideas and possibly additional resources’.[10] They are part of the story telling process of the historical society and help build a sense of ownership amongst those who participate in this process.

The most important of these projects is HistoryPix and involves the digitising of the historical society’s photographic collection.[11] Photographs are part of the story telling experience by providing the participants to the story with a window on the past. They are a visual aid and can act as a memory prompt when telling a story. They also capture a moment in time, a glimpse of the past, and are a good resource for tracking changes in the local history landscape.

The aim of HistoryPix has been to provide greater public access to the historical society’s image collection, which is one of the society’s most valuable assets. The project is facilitated by Peter Mylrea, the society’s archivist, who has processed over 2500 photographs so far. The society provides the photographs and the photograph captions, the images are digitised by Searchtech (a private company which provides image library software, publishing and scanning services), the council provides the IT and online support, and the library staff handle the sale of photographs and set the charges. According to Doug Barrett, the secretary of the society, the partnership relieves the society of the need to provide a volunteer to deal with enquiries for and supply of copies of photographs to the community and other interested parties.[12] In essence, the council funds the project, and the society provides the photographs and voluntary labour.

‘HistoryPix’ has proved to be a valuable public asset and is used by members of the public, local and Sydney media, local businesses and community organisations. Online access to the images is provided through both the websites of the historical society, the library and PictureAustralia. In the last three months of 2008, there were 23,600 hits and 23,700 searches, while in the seven months from April 2008 and January 2009, there were 43,000 hits and 55,000 searches.

More recent joint projects which have been developed within the partnership include, firstly, the Dictionary of Sydney Project. This is a local history project which involves writing short histories of different localities in the LGA for the Dictionary of Sydney project. These histories have also been placed on the historical society’s website. Secondly, there is the Camden Area Families Project, which is an oral history project which encourages local people to tell their stories, provide their photographs and develop a family tree. It was launched in late 2007 by Camden’s deputy mayor. The society has supported the project through its Research and Writing Group and recently hosted an oral history training workshop for the community at the museum. Other linkages include workshops and seminars (history week and heritage week) and links between the library catalogue and the historical society library.

Evaluation

The partnership is formally assessed at the end of each year as part of the MoU process as mentioned earlier. Even the preparation of this paper is part of the evaluation process, and has provided an opportunity for some of the partnership stakeholders to reflect on the process associated with its development and success (they are mentioned in the notes at the end of the paper).

More generally, though, the partnership has been an opportunity for the historical society to consolidate the position of the museum by formalising its occupation of a council-owned building for the first time. This will then provide a strong base for any further development that the society may want to pursue into the future.

The library has better met the guidelines for floor space in a modern library building in the LGA. It is better able to offer modern services in a heritage precinct. It has, according to Kathryn Baget, allowed the library to ‘attract a new audience, create unique programs and services for our community’.[13]

There are also considerable benefits for Camden Council. Firstly, it has relieved council of the considerable cost of providing a community museum managed by professional curatorial staff. Secondly, the time and resources that volunteers bring to the museum represents a form of voluntary taxation that benefits the whole community. Further, the presence of the society and its archives, according to Wrigley, ‘provide a ready source of historical information and advice to council as a virtual unpaid ‘heritage branch’ of council’. In addition, the museum acts as a ‘secure repository for anything important which council wishes to retain of an historical nature’.[14]

The partnership is not without its challenges. Firstly, there is the non-alignment of opening hours between the museum and the library. The library is shut Saturday afternoon and all day Sunday, while the museum is closed between Monday and Wednesday. Secondly, there is the inherent tension between two organisations, one using full-time paid staff, the other using unpaid volunteers. [15] Thirdly, there is the potential political tension if the council and the historical society differ over policy matters related to local history and heritage, and fourthly, the need to ensure a smooth generational change in the administration and implementation of the MoU into the future.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I will make some observations about the partnership.

The partnership has brought together the library service and the historical society, whose parallel aims of strengthening community identity and place-making have strengthened community development. This has been achieved by creating a new community space in the Camden LGA where community identity and a sense of place are increasingly being challenged by higher levels of urbanisation.

The success of the partnership has rested on the willingness of all the participants to achieve a common goal and for those involved to ensure that the partnership succeeds. Wrigley has observed that ‘so far we have been very fortunate with the enthusiasm and commitment of the people involved from both partners’.[16]

The community partnership has met all expectations made from it so far and given the continuation of the goodwill from all involved should continue to do so into the future.

Finally, the paper has shown that given the right conditions, community partnerships can be ‘what they are cracked up to be’.

Acknowledgements

The author would like to acknowledge the input of John Wrigley, Julie Wrigley, Kathryn Baget, Peter Mylrea, Jo Oliver, and Doug Barrett and their comments on this paper.

References

Camden Council, 2002, Draft Vibrant Places, People Spaces, A vision for Camden Council Library Service 2010. Camden: Camden Council.

Camden Council, 2006, Minutes of the Ordinary Council Meeting held on 13 November 2006, Camden: Camden Council, pp. 6, 112-113. Online at http://www.camden.nsw.gov.au/files/2006_minutes/ord_131106.pdf accessed 4 February 2009.

Department of Education, Science and Training, 2004, A Community Partnerships Resource: Supporting Young People Through Their Life, Learning and Work Transitions, Canberra: Australian Government. Online at http://www.dest.gov.au/sectors/career_development/publications_resources/ <http://www.dest.gov.au/NR/rdonlyres/F5328E2A-3806-498D-ADE9-A740F404FCF4/2593/community_partnerships_resources.pdf> . Accessed on 27 February 2009.

Johns, Susan, Sue Kilpatrick and Jessica Whelan, 2007, ‘Our Health in Our Hands: Building Effective Community Partnerships for Rural Health Service Provision’, Rural Society, Vol. 17, No. 1, August, pp. 50-65.

Jupp, Ben, Working Together, Creating a Better Environment for Cross-Sector Partnerships, London; Demos. Online at http://www.demos.co.uk/publications/workingtogether Accessed 2 March 2009.

Salamon, Sonya, 2007, Newcomers to Old Towns, Suburbanization of the Heartland, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Sandell, Claire, ‘Local History Collections for the Future: Meaningful Partnerships Between Public Libraries and Community Heritage Groups’, Conference paper, Museum Australia Conference, Melbourne, 16-21 May 2004. Online at http://www.museumsaustralia.org.au/site/page313.php Accessed 4 March 2009.

Scrivener, Peter, 2007, Assessment Report on a Proposed Deed of Agreement between Hawkesbury City Council, Hawkesbury Historical Society and the Friends of Hawkesbury Art Collection and Regional Art Gallery, Windsor: Hawkesbury City Council.

Stapleton, Maisy, 2009, M&G NSW Convergence Study, Sydney: Museum and Galleries NSW.

Till, Robyn, 2004, ‘Propagate or perish: Partnerships, Community Value and Sustainability’, Conference paper, Museum Australia Conference, Melbourne, 16-21 May 2004. Online at http://www.museumsaustralia.org.au/site/page313.php Accessed 4 March 2009.

Willis, Ian, 2007a, ‘Democracy in Action in Local Government: Camden, NSW’, Australian Quarterly, Vol. 79, Issue 2, March-April, pp.17-21.

Willis, Ian, 2007b,’ Fifty years of local history, the Camden Historical Society, 1957-2007, Address at the 50^th Anniversary Meeting of the Camden Historical Society, 12 July, Camden’. Camden History, September, Vol 2 No 1, pp. 96-117.

Willis, Ian, 2009, ‘Stories and Things, The Role of the Local Historical Society, Campbelltown, Camden and The Oaks’, Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society. (forthcoming)

Endnotes

[1] Peter Scrivener, 1999-2000 Parramatta Heritage Centre, 2002-2004 Museums and Galleries NSW, 2004 member of Australian National Committee of International Council of Museums (ICOM Australia), 2006-2008 Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory.

[2] Scrivener gives details of (a) successful partnerships: Wagga Wagga Historical Society; Camden Historical Society; Combined Tweed River Historical Societies; Gilgandra Historical Society; (b) unsuccessful partnerships: Liverpool Regional Museum; Centennial Bakery Museum (Hurstville); Cowra Historical Museum; Peppin Heritage Centre (Denniliquin).

[3] Correspondence, K Baget, Camden Council Library Service to Camden Historical Society, December 2002.

[4] Correspondence, P. Hayward, Camden Historical Society, Camden. 15 February 2005.

[5] General Manager Notes, Schedule, Camden Library Re-opening, 2 March 2007.

[6] Kathryn Baget, Library Partnerships, Discussion Paper, 19 February 2009

[7] Kathryn Baget, Library Partnerships, Discussion Paper, 19 February 2009.

[8] John Wrigley, Camden Library Service – Camden Historical Society Partnership, Discussion Paper, January 2009.

[9] Mayoral Notes, Schedule, Camden Library Re-opening, 2 March 2007.

[10] Kathryn Baget, Library Partnerships, Discussion Paper, 19 February 2009.

[11] ‘A proposal to put photographs of Camden history on to a computerized system’, Draft document, Camden Historical Society, 24 June 2003. The name HistoryPix was a joint suggestion of the library staff and the society.

[12] Interview, Doug Barrett, Camden Historical Society, Camden, 18 February 2009.

[13] Kathryn Baget, Library Partnerships, Discussion Paper, 19 February 2009.

[14] John Wrigley, Camden Library Service – Camden Historical Society Partnership, Discussion Paper, January 2009.

[15] Interview, Doug Barrett, Camden Historical Society, Camden, 18 February 2009.

[16] John Wrigley, Camden Library Service – Camden Historical Society Partnership, Discussion Paper, January 2009.

Agave · Camden · Camden Park House and Garden · Camden Story · Cawdor · Cawdor Road · Collective Memory · Colonial Camden · Colonial frontier · Cowpastures · Family history · Folklore · Frontier violence · Ghosts · Legends · Memory · Mysteries · Newspapers · Pioneers · Place making · Sense of place · Stories · Storytelling

Agave on Cawdor Road, a part of local folklore

April 1, 2024April 1, 2024 camdenhistorynotes

Cawdor Road agave

On the verge of the Cawdor Road, just south of the Camden town centre, is a clump of agave that has been growing there for decades. The plants have created much conjecture and is a local mystery. It is a bit hard to tell tall tales from true.

Agave plants growing the Cawdor Road verge just south of the Camden Town centre (I Willis 2024)

The stories about the agave are a type of local folklore.

Folklore develops over decades, and stories are passed down through the generations of local families. These stories add colour and movement to our local history. One source states that folklore is a

body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as tales, myths, legends,[a]proverbs, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folklore

It is a bit hard to separate fact from fiction around the Cawdor Road agave.

Agave plants

Agaves are a succulent and xerophytic species that form a large rosette of strong, fleshy leaves. They are native to Mexico and the southern part of the USA and have been distributed worldwide as an ornamental.

Agaves are slow-growing and are sometimes called the century plant. They reproduce from seeds or suckers that develop at the bottom of some species. The leaves have sharp spines and are fibrous. The root system is a series of rhizomes.

Agave plant growing on the verge of Cawdor Road (I Willis 2024)

One source states that agave has various uses in Central and South America, including handicrafts, food and drink preparations, ethnomedicine, and stock feed.

The 1994 Camden Significant Trees and Vegetated Landscape Study by Landarc Landscape Architects states that the Century Plant (Agave americana) was a common plant in early colonial gardens across the Cowpastures. Agave was used in the early gardens as a ‘dramatic accent plant at the entrance’ to colonial properties and gives the example of Cawdor Road agave. (Landarc Landscape Architects, Camden Significant Trees and Vegetated Landscape Study. Camden Municipal Council, Camden 1993)

The stories about the agave date back to early 1800s and the colonial frontier and the violence that took place across parts of the Cowpastures. The stories are intergenerational.

Murder and mayhem on the colonial frontier

Vic Boardman’s granddaughter Helen said, ‘Stories about the agave were verbally passed down from Pa Vic to my mum to me as a child.’

‘From my understanding, it was the site of the murder of a shepherd early on in our local history’, said Helen.

This is confirmed by a story that appeared in the Australian Town and Country Journal in 1909. A Camden resident, Thomas Herbert, recalled

Mr. Macarthur’s merino sheen arrived in I the colony about 1816, and were stationed at my father’s place at Narellan, where he had the management of them before they were taken to Camden Park, where they were removed about 1818. . The shepherd and his wiife were murdered by the blacks at a slaughter house, about 1½ mile from Camden Park, and buried there.
(Australian Town and Country Journal, 11 August 1909)

Article from the Camden-Wollondilly Times 8 July 1998 (Camden Museum archives)

The Camden-Wollondilly Times in 1998 published a similar story. The newspaper reported that the agave was the site of a shepherd’s hut, who worked on the Macarthur’s Camden Park. The newspaper article repeated the claim that the agave marked the site of the hut at which the shepherds were killed in a conflict with local indigenous people in 1816. (Vanessa Mace, ‘Prickly Story Indeed’. Camden-Wollondilly Times, 8 July 1998)

The newspaper report went on to state that the agave marked the site of a later farm cottage where the Norris family lived on Camden Park Estate. (Vanessa Mace, ‘Prickly Story Indeed’. Camden-Wollondilly Times, 8 July 1998)

There was speculation in the article that the agave could be some of the oldest plants introduced by Europeans to the Cowpastures in their colonial gardens. (Vanessa Mace, ‘Prickly Story Indeed’. Camden-Wollondilly Times, 8 July 1998)

Helen says that in Sue Williams book Elizabeth & Elizabeth mentions the attack of a stockkeeper and his wife occurring in August 1815.

Fenced off

Apparently, the Cawdor Road agave clump was much larger in the past than it is currently.

Helen said, ‘They used to have a fence around them to protect them, but this was removed some time ago. ‘

Currently the agave plants are not fenced and have no heritage protection.

The truth

We may never know the real truth about the Cawdor Road agave.

The 1998 newspaper story was generated by the attempted removal of the agave by a local resident who was trying to remove a large brown snake which resided in the clump. Their actions prompted a swift community response to protect the Cawdor Road agave.

Whatever the truth of the matter it makes for lively reading. The truth may never be known. The Cawdor Road agave still produces controversy and the stories are still being passed on to the next generation.

Agave plants growing on the Cawdor Road verge (I Willis 2024)

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Camden modern, the mid-century Camden cottage

January 21, 2024January 21, 2024 camdenhistorynotes

Mid-century modernism

Across the Camden district, many houses were built between the Second World War and the early 1970s.

The period is usually called mid-century modern, mid-century modernist or just mid-century.

A mid-century brick ranch-style cottage in River Road Elderslie (I Willis 2024)

In Australia, the postwar period was a period with a housing shortage. The Homes to Love website states

While the 1950s was a time of great productivity and a time that saw a boom in the building industry, the war years had taken their toll resulting in a shortage of building materials, skills and equipment. This resulted in many people building smaller, more basic homes, often taking on the work themselves. (Homes to Love)
https://www.homestolove.com.au/1950s-houses-australia-21734

Rachel Griffiths writes in the Architectural Digest that

Influenced by the optimism of the post-World War II boom and by the exploration of a range of materials, including steel, concrete, and newly available insulated glass.
Architectural Digest

Scholars attribute the design style to American architects like Frank Lloyd Wright and designers like Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and LeCorbusier.

The term was coined in 1983 by Cara Greenberg for the title of her book Mid-Century Modern: Furniture of the 1950s (Random House)

Mid-century housing styles

Until 1952, timber houses were restricted to 111.48 m² (12 squares) and brick houses to 116.13 m². Lending institutions were very conservative, only advancing about 50% of the property value. (Lumby, p32)

Mid-century modernism influenced houses in the post-war suburbs of Australia’s large cities. Architects of the mid-century period include Harry Seidler, Hugh Buhrich (Sydney), David Chancellor and William Patrick, Robin Boyd, Sevitt & Petitt (Melbourne), Roy Grounds (Canberra), Robin Spencer (Brisbane) and others.

Mid-century brick cottage with low-pitch roof in Luker Street Elderslie (I Willis 2024)

Features of the mid-century modern houses

The Australian Homes to Love website states

Open-plan living was really embraced during the 1950s to encourage easy flow of people and conversation. Homes were often well-oriented and featured expansive windows, low-pitched gable roofs with corrugated iron or steel decking, vertical weatherboards, light coloured brick or cement sheet exterior walls. Minimalist design was embraced for its clean sleek lines and pastel, Scandinavian, and modern colour schemes utilised.
https://www.homestolove.com.au/1950s-houses-australia-21734

Mid-century modern is a period in the mid-20^th century in which design that was characterised by

Sleek, cool, clean, sophisticated, functional, colourful, mod, and curvy—those are apt words to describe the mid-century modern design. This term encompasses the trends that influenced architecture and interior design in prosperous, post-war America.(Dengarden)
https://dengarden.com/interior-design/A-Pocket-Guide-to-Mid-Century-Modern-Style

Mid-century brick flats in Purcell Street Elderslie (I Willis 2024)

The mid-century Camden cottage

There are several recognisable residential housing styles in the Camden area across this period. These range from postwar fibro cottages of the 1940s (Edward Street) to the triple-fronted brick veneer cottages (Camden South) of the 1970s, and those in-between like 1950-1960s ranch style houses (Hennings House, Elderslie)

Many houses were a type of simple and low-cost housing to cope with material shortages and demand from buyers,especially in the post-war years.

What does the mid-century Camden cottage represent?

The mid-century Camden cottage represents a number of changes in the Camden ocal area.

The most important influence in this period was the growth of the town and district from the economic boom generated by the Burragorang coalfields. Mining production increased progressively across this period and created many jobs.

Former Camden mayor Bruce Ferguson made the point at a conference in the Hunter Valley in 1977 that in 1949, a share farming family made around £1/15/- a week, while a miner was making £10 per week, a multiple of six times. (Ferguson)

In 1960, there were 150 mine workers in the Camden and Elderslie area. (Sankey, p29) By 1971, this had increased by 1800 people were employed in the mines, washeries, and the maintenance and administration of coal. (Sankey, p18) In contrast, dairy farmers fell from 109 in 1950 to 90 in 1974. (Sankey, p6A)

Camden’s population grew from 3934 in 1947 to 6377 in 1961, 8661 in 1966, and 11,155 in 1971. (Sankey, p10) A new high school opened in Camden in 1956.

Former Camden High School John Street Camden was established in 1956 (Peter Mylrea/Camden Images 2004)

The mining boom contributed to the end of the Camden the country town based on agricultural services. This challenged community identity and sense of place and contributed to the creation of Camden’s ‘country town idyll’ as Sydney’s urban fringe approached the town and heralded the end of modernism in the local area.

There was a shift from the designation of country town to the metropolitan urban fringe when the 1976-1977 NSW Local Government Grants Commission changed the classification of the Camden LGA from ‘non-metropolitan’ to ‘metropolitan’. (Sankey, p40)

The end of the mid-century period in the Camden area is is book-ended by the release of the 1973 New Cities of Campbelltown, Camden, Appin Structure Plan by the State Planning Authority of New South Wales.

Examples of the mid-century Camden cottage

Hennings House, 64-66 Macarthur Road, Elderslie.

The Hennings House, built in 1960 on Macarthur Road, was part of the subdivision of the Bruchhauser vineyards of the Elderslie area. It was an excellent example of a house chosen by a local businessman from a pattern book supplied by a local builder. The house was ranch-style, of which there are a number in the Elderslie area with open-plan rooms to the interior. The house was demolished in 2011.

The Hennings House, built in 1960, was located at 64-66 Macarthur Road Elderslie. It was demolished in 2011. (I Willis, 2011)

110 Lodges Road, Elderslie.

This house is a similar design to the Hennings House and has been approved for demolition.

A mid-century timber ranch-style cottage at 110 Lodges Road Elderslie has been approved for demolition. (CRE 2022)

Triple and double-fronted cottage

There are many examples of these styles of homes in the local area, particularly south of the town centre, Elderslie and Narellan.

A mid-century triple-fronted brick cottage in Harrington Street Elderslie (I Willis, 2024)

Jacqui Thompson writes on Domain that triple-fronted houses were

are simple buildings that feature a double or triple staggered façade, with a bedroom at the front that steps back to a lounge room and/or the front door. Brick veneer replaced double brick construction, and mass-produced building materials such as glass and cement tiles were embraced. There are wrought iron railings and fencing painted white and wire mesh screens on doors. There can be interconnecting rooms, lower ceilings, and cheaper materials, e.g., melamine benchtops, linoleum and rubber floors and mass-produced sheet materials on walls.
https://www.domain.com.au/advice/post-war-double-and-triple-fronted-homes-in-australia/

Low-pitched roof style

There are a number of mid-century cottages in the Elderslie and Camden area with low-pitched roof styles. They are a mixture of brick and timber construction. In Elderslie, they were built for the coal mining company executives and were more expensive than other stripped-back designs. This design was influenced by West Coast USA styles of the mid-century period.

A mid-century cottage with a low-pitched roof on Sunset Ave. There are a number of cottages of this style in the Elderslie area. (I Willis 2024)

Cottage with gable

There are cottages that have a gable design.

A mid-century gabled cottage in River Road Elderslie (I Willis 2024)

Camden Fibro Cottage

The fibro cottage was seen as a modern and affordable housing style. There are many examples in the local area south of the Camden town centre, Elderslie and Narellan, that were built in the postwar years.

Mid-century fibro cottages in Purcell Street Elderslie (I Willis 2024)

References

Robyn Sankey, Camden and the Coal Industry. MA(Hons) Thesis, University of Sydney, 1984.

Bruce Ferguson, ‘The Coal Mining Industry in Camden’. Paper presented at Coal and A Country Town Seminar, Singleton, 1977 published in proceedings, JE Collins (ed), Singleton Shire Council.

Roy Lumby, ‘Modern Movement Architecture In NSW’, in The Modern Movement In New South Wales A Thematic Study And Survey Of Places. HeriCon Consulting (eds), NSW and the Office of Environment and Heritage, Sydney, 2013.

Jacqui Thompson, ‘Post-war double and triple fronted homes in Australia’. Domain, 15 June 2025. Online @ https://www.domain.com.au/advice/post-war-double-and-triple-fronted-homes-in-australia/

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An embroidered silk postcard for Millie at Christmas 1916

December 29, 2023April 24, 2024 camdenhistorynotes

A postcard from Frederick for sister Millie

During the First World War, local soldier Frederick Kelloway sent his sister, Millie, an embroidered silk postcard to celebrate Christmas and New Year at home in 1916.

The front of the embroidered silk postcard that Frederick Kelloway sent his sister Millie in 1916. (KCordina 2023)

Millie’s great-granddaughter Kellee writes on Facebook that

Frederick was overseas serving his country in WWI. Sadly, by the time Millie received the Christmas wishes, Frederick had died in battle on 29th November 1916.
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100086479871666

In the early 20^th century, postcards were a cheap and easy way for people to keep in touch with each other, and this especially applied in the First World War.

History of postcards

The postcard was an integral part of the global postal system.

The Philatelic Team at Australia Post states that the first postcard appeared in Austria.

The world’s first postcard is recognised as being issued 150 years ago, by Austria in 1869. This was a simple, blank, light-brown card (8.5cm x 12cm), with an area for a message, the address and an officially imprinted stamp on the other side, which was half the cost of a normal letter.

An economics professor from Vienna had written an article in the newspaper suggesting that there must be a simpler, cheaper and more practical way to send a short message than a letter, and the Austrian postal authority answered his call.
https://australiapostcollectables.com.au/articles/150-years-of-the-postcard

The first Australian postcard was issued by postal authorities in New South Wales in 1875. Postcards had been approved by postal authorities in Great Britain in 1870 and the United States in 1873.

Australia Post states that the first postcards were Post Office monopolies and that private postcard makers had to submit blank cards to postal authorities to have a stamp image printed on the card.

Unstamped pictorial postcards from private makers were not allowed to be sold in Australia until 1895 when they were approved for use in Victoria. An adhesive stamp was placed on the card, and it had to ‘measure not less than l inch x 3 inches nor more than 5 ¼ x 3 ¼ inches’.

The first pictorial postcard was introduced in Tasmania in 1894 and by the New South Wales Post Office in 1898. It had scenes on the back and space for a short message. At the time, Post Office regulations stated that only the address could be on the front of the postcard.

Postage rates were 1d within Australia and 1½d overseas with a New South Wales stamp. The postcard trade boomed in Australia, especially between 1900 and 1910, after which the letter rate dropped to 1d in 1911.

Postcards were a much easier way to contact someone than writing a letter, and they became souvenirs. Postcard collecting became popular.

Frederick Kelloway’s embroidered silk postcard

Frederick Kelloway’s card is an embroidered silk postcard that was part of a thriving trade in France during the First World War.

The Australian War Memorial has a collection of over 1000 woven, printed and embroidered silk postcards. The themes covered include

Australian Themes, woven and printed silk postcards, general greetings, greetings to relatives, silk postcards embroidered Wife / Darling or Mother, Sister, birthday greetings, Christmas and New Year, units and camps, flags, France and Belgium.
https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/RC00688

The first embroidered silk postcards were made for the Paris Exposition in 1900, and their manufacture peaked during the First World War.

By 1915, France had a thriving cottage industry of outworkers, and around 10 million postcards were made by 1919.

The embroidery was done by French women, often at home, on a strip of silk mesh with around 25 to a strip. These were then sent to factories for cutting and mounting on postcards.

The Imperial War Museum states:

The embroidered postcards were very popular with British soldiers who often sent them home. They were sold in thin paper envelopes but were seldom sent through the post in them. They were too fragile and, more particularly, they represented quite an investment – they were not cheap souvenirs. Usually, they were mailed with letters.
https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/embroidered-silk-postcards

Frederick Kelloway’s embroidered silk postcard does not have a stamp or address on the reverse of the card and would probably have been sent with a letter.

The back of the embroidered silk postcard that Frederick sent his sister Millie in 1916. There is no postage stamp or address on the postcard. Pointing to its cost and value to Frederick. The back of the card reads: ‘To my dear sister, From Fred. Wishing you a merry Xmas & a happy New Year.’ The mark at the bottom of the postcard is ‘Fabrication Francaise’, which means Made in France. On the bottom right-hand corner is the mark Modèle Déposé, which means Registered Design in French. (KCordina, 2023)

Frederick’s postcard to Millie has pansies and a four-leaf clover. The Australian War Memorial states that these have a particular meaning.

Typical images used were the swallow, the pansy (which was a very popular image in silk cards. Its popular meaning at the time was ‘you occupy my thoughts’), roses (love) and forget me nots (meaning true love, memories). Horseshoes and four-leaf clovers were also popular as symbols of good luck and remembrance.
https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C2829356

The Australia Post Philatelic Team state

Pretty pastel-coloured flowers featured prominently – a stark contrast to the harsh conditions faced on the Western Front, as did butterflies, birthday or sentimental greetings and the flags of allied countries.
https://australiapostcollectables.com.au/articles/150-years-of-the-postcard

This embroidered silk postcard has a large pink rose with a smaller pink rosebud in the design’s bottom right-hand corner. (AWM, 2023)

The Australian soldiers were away from home and often thought of their families, including those from Camden NSW.

Killed in action in 1916

Tragically, Frederick Kelloway was killed in action in 1916 and never made it back home to Camden.

These are the First World War Memorial Gates at Macarthur Park. This image is from a glass plate negative taken by Roy Dowle in 1920. Frederick Kelloway’s name is listed on the gates along with other Camden soldiers and nurses from the First World War. (Camden Images)

Updated 24 April 2024. Originally posted on 29 December 2023 as ‘An embroidered silk postcard for Millie at Christmas 1916’.

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Public art, Camden Civic Centre

December 22, 2023December 23, 2023 camdenhistorynotes

Camden Art Prize winners

In the garden at the front of the Camden Civic Centre, there are two sculptures many people have forgotten about. The artists won prizes at the annual Camden Art Prize held at the Camden Civic Centre.

The Camden Art Prize is an important local festival which has been running since 1974. The inaugural prize was initiated under the direction of Camden Municipal Art Festival Committee Chairman, Mayor Bruce Ferguson. The acquisitive award was established with the aim of creating the Camden Municipal Art Collection. (Catalogue, 44th Camden Art Prize 2019)

‘Crossroads’ by Diego Latella (1977)

Diego Latella is a painter, sculptor, teacher and printmaker who studied in Sydney, New York and Italy. He arrived in Australia from Italy in 1955 and held his first solo exhibition in 1973. He has won several awards in Australia and overseas for his art, including the Camden Art Prize in 1977 for his sculpture ‘Crossroads’. (https://www.aasd.com.au/artist/15269-diego-latella/)

The sculpture ‘Crossroad’ by Diego Latella won the 1977 Camden Art Prize. The artwork is installed in the front garden at the Camden Civic Centre (I Willis, 2023)

‘Space’ by Irene Carroll (1994)

Irene Carroll is a painter, sculptor, photographer and printmaker from Farmborough Heights on the NSW South Coast, and works in a variety of mediums, including mediums wood, metal, concrete, bronze, mosaics, and silk. Born in Holland, she studied in Australia.

Carroll states in her biography:

My work evolves from the materials available and the space and time I am in. It pays homage to the struggle to find identity. I develop and explore, creating unity, harmony and balance in the materials I work with. I rarely plan, working instinctively allowing the materials to guide the final result.
https://sculptorssociety.com/sculptors/irene-carroll/

Carroll’s work ‘Space’ won the 20th Camden Art Prize in 1994.

The sculpture ‘Space’ by Irene Carroll won the 1994 Camden Art Prize. The artwork is installed in the front garden at the Camden Civic Centre (I Willis, 2023)

Updated 23 December 2023. Originally posted on 22 December 2023.

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Camden Teamsters Memorial, when the horse was king on the Yerranderie Road

December 21, 2023December 29, 2023 camdenhistorynotes

Tribute to mining and industrial heritage

If you wander along the John Street heritage precinct, you will come across a quaint monument with a large wagon wheel reminding you of when the horse was king on the Yerranderie Road.

The Camden Teamster’s Memorial is on John Street, Camden. The memorial is between Macaria, a Victorian gentleman’s townhouse, and Tiffins Cottage, an early Victorian cottage. (I Willis 2023)

Before, motorised transport teams of between 13 and 16 horses pulled wagons along the Yerranderie Road that were no more than a goat track in places, up and down steep inclines, through bushfires, floods and droughts.

The Teamsters Memorial, an item of public art, is a tribute to the memory of these horses, the men who worked with them, and the district’s industrial and mining heritage.

*Australian Town & Country Journal* 30 August 1911

What was a teamster?

These hard-bitten characters could handle a team of up to 16 horses pulling a wagon loaded with up to 15 tons of ore.

Wikipedia defines a teamster as someone who drives a team, usually of oxen, horses, or mules, pulling a wagon in Australia, sometimes called a bullocky. In 1912, the term carrier was used to describe the teamster.

These men, and they were only men, were skilled horsemen with a tough, dangerous job. Teamsters were out in all weather, working dawn to dusk, and some died on the job.

Photograph from *The Australasian Journa*l (Melbourne) published 1 October 1932.

The Camden teamsters carried ore from the Yerranderie Myall gold & silver fields to the Camden railhead between 1900 and 1925.

At its height, Yerranderie had a population of around 3000 people, with 16 mines extracting silver and lesser amounts of gold and lead. Between 1900 and 1926, over £2 million of silver was extracted from the Yerranderie fields.

Royalty on the Yerranderie Road

In the early days of mining operations, the teamsters were at the height of their reign. They were the royalty of the district and commanded their authority over the mine owners at Yerranderie. Without their services to cart ore from Yerranderie to the Camden railhead, mining operations at Yerranderie stopped.

The teamster would load his wagon at Yerranderie, unload at the top of the Bluff (at Nattai) and go back for another load. On his return to the Bluff, he would reload the remainder and head to the Camden railhead. This process would take about five days.

One of the information boards on the side of the memorial (I Willis 2023)

The horse teams

The horse teams would be between 13 and 16 horses carting a flat-top wagon with a load of 13 to 16 tons of ore.

In 1908, there were 54 horse teams on the Yerranderie Road carting to the Camden railhead.

Bennetts of St Marys NSW built a common flat-top wagon type used by the teamsters.

The going rate for carting ore was £2/ton. (1908) The rate varied little across the years the Yerranderie fields were operational.

The high cost of cartage meant that only the highest grade ore could be sent for refining at Sulphide Corporation at Cockle Creek on Lake Macquarie via the Camden railhead.

Lower-grade ore remained at the Yerranderie mines as waste. Partial treatment of the ore was tried with varying success.

There was a serious attempt by the mine owners to bypass the stranglehold of the teamsters from 1906. The mine owners tried to have the state government build a light tramway to the top of the Bluff and, at one stage, from Thirlmere to Yerranderie (1910). The NSW Government was never really interested in any of these proposals.

In 1904, the idea of using camels to cart ore was floated. The idea did not last long.

The authority of the teamsters started to wane in the pre-war years, and there were moves to unionise and fix cartage rates by the Australian Carrier’s Union (1913)

Others plying the Yerranderie Road

The Yerranderie teamsters were not the only ones plying the Yerranderie Road.

There was a daily mail coach that ran between Camden and Yerranderie. The passenger fare was 12/6 one-way from Yerranderie to Camden (1908), which had come down from a height of 30 shillings.

Bullock teams occasionally appeared on the Yerranderie Road, carting cedar logs extracted from the Kowmung area of the Blue Mountains (1911).

Bullock team on the Yerranderie Road coming up The Bluff carrying bales of wool (Facebook)

A local ecology

The teamsters and the horse teams supported a local ecology of farmers growing hay, blacksmiths at The Oaks and Camden, breeding horses, wheelwrights, wagon makers, and many others.

The memorial

The memorial has a rear wagon wheel, a front axle and two hubs. These are mounted on a steel frame set in a concrete base. The wheels are timber construction with a steel rim. There are three metal information boards.

Construction was completed by Eric Henderson of Ungarie, formerly a teamster who worked for Cook & Co.

The memorial was opened in 1977 by 95-year-old Mrs Jean McCubbin, the widow of a former teamster.

The opening of the Teamster’s Memorial in 1977. (Camden News 24 April 1977)

The memorial plaque commemorating the opening in 1977 (I Willis 2023)

The memorial was restored in 1995 and 2003.

Wheelwright Neil Johnston working on the wagon wheel from the memorial in the 2003 restoration project. (CHS)

The mythology of the horse team

The memorial is a wonderful, evocative reminder of times in the district when the horse was king.

A Bennett wagon is on display at the blacksmith shop at the Wollondilly Heritage Centre.

There is a certain degree of mythology around the teamster, best exemplified by The Australian Teamsters Hall of Fame in Queensland.

Driving teams are still practised today, and there are driving competitions at Barellan, horse teams at the Royal Easter Show, on ABCTV, and occasionally at Belgenny Farm.

A teamster and horse team on the ascent out of Burragorang Valley on the Yerranderie Road. The horse team is pulling a loaded flat-top wagon with silver ore. At the rear of the horse team is a passenger coach. (early 20th century, WHC&M)

Updated 29 December 2023. Originally posted on 21 December 2023 as ‘Camden Teamsters Memorial, when the horse was king on the Yerranderie Road’.

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Camden Material and Colour Guide, a heritage building guide

December 15, 2023 camdenhistorynotes1 Comment

Camden Material and Colour Guide

In 2023, Camden Council published the Camden Material and Colour Guide.

The guide was the initiative of the Camden Council Heritage Advisory Committee.

The aim of the guide

The Material and Colour Guide aims to provide a handy guide for owners of heritage buildings with practical tips on working with specific materials and colour schemes traditionally used in the local area. (CC, Press release, 21 August 2023)

Specifically, the guide advises heritage property owners on colours and materials for specific residential housing styles, particularly in the Camden Heritage Conservation Area. (CC, Press release, 21 August 2023)

The guide is welcome

It is pleasing to see the council publish the guide after I first raised this issue in 2017 when I wrote a blog post that Camden needed a residential style guide.

On the launch of the guide, I wrote complementing the council on their initiative, stating:

The guide provides valuable information that is reliable and relevant to specific architectural periods and domestic housing styles. I commend the council on its interest in assisting local property owners in retaining and enhancing the town and LGA’s historic fabric and built heritage. The guide assists in building community identity and the area’s sense of place. Both assist the local tourist industry and job creation.
(Letter to Mayor, 29 June 2023)

Camden Mayor Ashleigh Cagney said,

‘I know from conversations with homeowners that when someone owns a heritage building in the Camden area, they are incredibly passionate about preserving its character.’

‘I hope the Camden Material and Colour Guide makes it a little bit simpler for those people to be able to identify what kinds of works would best suit their properties, allowing them to retain their charm.’
(CC, Press release, 21 August 2023)

Kerime Danis, Director at City Plan Heritage, ICOMOS Advisory Committee, and Past President of Australia ICOMOS, posted that she was ‘proud to share’ the guide on Linkedin. Her post attracted Likes from various heritage and industry professionals across Australia, including architects, planners, archaeologists, project managers, historians, heritage conservationists and academics.

Camden Council commissioned City Plan Heritage to prepare the guide.

Camden Material and Colour Guide

The guide is a full-colour 42-page A4 landscape easily downloaded pdf file.

The guide is divided into different housing styles, and within each style, there is a style description and colour schemes for building exterior, interior and landscaping.

In addition, there are paint tips, a colour matrix and a material guide for brick, render, floor and paving, metal, roofing, stone and timber, and windows.

There is specific advice for property owners in the Argyle and John Streets heritage precincts.

There is also an illustrated guide to architectural terms.

Each page has clear, concise explanatory text supported by colour plates drawn from the local area.

Camden housing styles

The guide has identified eight Camden housing styles:

Victorian Filigree c.1840-1890
Federation Queen Anne c.1890-1915
Federation Weatherboard c.1890-1915
Federation Arts and Crafts c.1890-1915
Federation Bungalow c.1890-1915
California Bungalow c.1915-1940
Interwar Art Deco c.1915-1940
Interwar Weatherboard c.1915-1940

Any future revision to the guide Camden Council should consider including,

Mid-Century Moderne 1940-1960.
Late Twentieth Century c. 1960 – c. 2000
Twenty–First Century c. 2000 – present.

I have written

The housing style of a particular location in the Camden or Narellan area gives the place a definite character and charm. It makes a place special and gives it a sense of its identity (Inter-war period along Menangle Road). The housing style will give the place its special qualities. The houses reflect the times in which they were built.

The housing style may be complemented by a garden and landscaping that reflects the tastes and lifestyles of the occupants of the building. Even gardens go through fashion trends (English-style gardens or native gardens).
https://camdenhistorynotes.com/2017/02/11/camden-needs-a-residential-heritage-style-guide/

Residential housing styles partly determine community identity and a sense of place.

The Camden Cottage

I have written about a generic Camden housing style on this blog a number of times. I have called the style the Camden Cottage.

The housing style incorporates blog posts on the Federation Weatherboard Cottage, the Edwardian Cottage and the Camden Fibro Cottage.

These residential housing styles add to the Camden story and the layers of history within the narrative.

Other heritage guides

Camden Council is not alone in providing this type of advice. Toowoomba Regional Council provides similar advice, as do a number of heritage authorities across the country, including New South Wales and Victoria.

The Guide and the Camden Heritage Conservation Area

The council has done a good job commissioning the Camden Material and Colour Guide.

Local property owners within the Camden Heritage Conservation Area should do themselves a favour and use it to their advantage.

The Camden Heritage Conservation Area is responsible for many tourist day-trippers who visit the Camden Town Centre.

Cultural and heritage tourism, of which architectural styles are part, generates many jobs within the Camden LGA.

The Camden Material and Colour Guide contributes to the conservation and preservation of tangible built heritage and intangible heritage within the Camden town area.

Australian Historical Association 2007 Regional Conference

Engaging Histories

University of New England, Armidale

23-26 September 2007

Yearning, Longing and The Remaking of Camden’s Identity: the myths and reality of ‘a country town idyll’

Abstract

Article

What is the country town idyll?

The origins of the idyll.

The historical development of the country town idyll and its contemporary use by its supporters

Formalisation of the idyll

Is the idyll still relevant?

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WEA-RAHS Seminar Series

Understanding Places

History House, 135 Macquarie Street, Sydney

28 October 2009

Camden, the making and re-making of familiar places

Abstract

Slide Presentation

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Book Review

A History of Camden Chinese Market Gardeners 1899-1993, edited by Ian Willis & Julie Wrigley

A story from the shadows of history

Recovery of stories

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2009 Museums Australia National Conference, Work in Progress. Newcastle, 17 – 20 May 2009.

Day 3 Wednesday 20 May 2009, Session 14.3 Community Partnerships – Help or Hindrance? Concert Hall, Newcastle Town Hall, 11.00am-12.15pm.

Conference Paper

Understanding and Trust

Clear Objectives

Common Goals and Benefits

Evaluation

Conclusion

Acknowledgements

References

Endnotes

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Cawdor Road agave

Agave plants

Murder and mayhem on the colonial frontier

Fenced off

The truth

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Mid-century modernism

Mid-century housing styles

Features of the mid-century modern houses

The mid-century Camden cottage

What does the mid-century Camden cottage represent?

Examples of the mid-century Camden cottage

References

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A postcard from Frederick for sister Millie

History of postcards

Frederick Kelloway’s embroidered silk postcard

Killed in action in 1916

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Camden Art Prize winners

‘Crossroads’ by Diego Latella (1977)

‘Space’ by Irene Carroll (1994)

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Tribute to mining and industrial heritage

What was a teamster?

Royalty on the Yerranderie Road

The horse teams

Others plying the Yerranderie Road

A local ecology

The memorial

The mythology of the horse team

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Camden Material and Colour Guide