Category: Cowpastures Bicentennial

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Celebrate Camden 93, a spring festival

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30th anniversary

This year, 2023, is the 30th anniversary of the Celebrate Camden 93 spring festival organised by the Camden Chamber of Commerce.

Camden has held successful spring festivals for many years, but few remember this one.

Camden’s spring festivals have adopted a variety of names over the years.

In 1993, the event sponsor, the Camden Chamber of Commerce, branded the festival as Celebrate Camden 93, to be held on September 18-19.

Chamber vice-president Vicki Sutherland was the brainchild of the 1993 event and was backed by the Camden Main Street Committee and Camden Council.

According to the Camden Chamber of Commerce, the festival aimed to promote Camden as a viable tourist and shopping destination. (Macarthur Advertiser, 22 September 1993)

Event organiser Vicki Sutherland said, ‘The town had to stand up and be counted before it became obsolete. The recession and the fact that most Sydneysiders think Camden was out bush have contributed to business shrivelling away.’

‘We’re a great area to visit for the weekend and we’re a great area to go and shop,’ she says. (Sunday Telegraph, 6 June 1993)

Chamber president Mart Rampe said, ‘I am confident the festival would ‘portray the real feeling of Camden and turn into annual event’.

Event organisers hoped that it matched Campbelltown’s annual Fisher’s Ghost Festival.

Celebrate Camden 93 street parade at the corner of John & Argyle Streets (V Sutherland, 1993)

The organising committee printed t-shirts, decorated the main street, and organised publicity in local newspapers and 2WS to broadcast the event. (Macarthur Advertiser 9 June 1993)

Event publicity came in various modes. Organisers successfully got a double-page spread in the Sydney Sunday press in June with the header PUTTING A TOWN BACK ON THE MAP. (Sunday Telegraph, 6 June 1993)

Suzanne Houwelling, writing in the Sunday Telegraph, went hyperbolic and maintained that ‘Camden is about to become the village that roared. And it’s prepared to go to extraordinary lengths to achieve that’. (Sunday Telegraph, 6 June 1993)

Speculation of cancellation

There was trouble for the event looming in August with a lack of sponsorship. Some were concerned that the festival would be cancelled. (Macarthur Advertiser, 16 August 1993)

When these concerns were aired in the local press, sponsors picked up, and Camden Mayor Frank Brooking declared the festival would go ahead.

Organiser Vicki Sutherland said, ‘It was a shame some of the local businesses had not seen the value of marketing through Celebrate Camden’. (Macarthur Advertiser, 16 August 1993)

There were to be various events on the main street over the two-day festival, including a street parade on Saturday morning at 9am. Followed by festivities continuously over the next 36 hours, with more than 50 events scheduled. (Macarthur Advertiser, 22 September 1993)

The most popular events were a midnight wedding ceremony, a fireworks display, a hot rod and Pontiac display, a family BBQ and jazz bands. (Macarthur Advertiser, 22 September 1993)

Great success

So, how did things go?

Event organiser, Vicki Sutherland claimed in the local press that the event was an ‘astronomical success’ with over ‘100,000 flocking’ to the event. (Macarthur Advertiser, 22 September 1993)

‘We are hopeful that it’ll set the foundations for many more in the future’, she said.

‘It’s early days yet, but the feedback I’ve been getting from businesses so far is great’. (Macarthur Advertiser, 22 September 1993)

Street parade for the Celebrate Camden 93 celebrations (V Sutherland, 1993)

Former Chamber president Wanda Sharpe said, ‘It was a great success with a great atmosphere but a few bugs to iron out’.

The bugs apparently were ‘the presence of a few hoons and under-age drinkers on the streets on Saturday night’. (Macarthur Advertiser, 22 September 1993)

Celebrate Camden 94

In 1994, Chamber of Commerce president Mart Rampe said that Celebrate Camden 94 was to proceed on the weekend of 17-18 September.

‘A number of changes have been made, the main one being that all activities will cease at midnight and recommence again at 9am Sunday’. (The Camden Crier, 31 August 1994)

Artwork for publicity for Celebrate Camden 94 (V Sutherland, 1994)

Celebrate Camden 94 was planned to have street stalls, community events, a craft exhibition, a broadcast of community radio, and a street parade on Saturday at 1pm. (The Camden Crier, 24 August 1994)

Sponsorship problems

Sponsorship for Celebrate Camden 94 proved to be a problem.

Mr Rampe said, ‘I am quite disappointed at the response from some of the businesses in Camden. Whilst our financial support looks like equalling that of last year, it disturbs me that much of the support is coming predominantly from the same people that contributed last year. The support that the event is receiving is coming from less than 10% of the business community which I consider to be far too low. It also means that there are a number of businesses out there who are prepared to ‘freeload’ on the efforts of others. This is an attitude I find difficult to comprehend’. (The Camden Crier, 31 August 1994)

Planning proceeded.

The local Camden press had an eight-page lift-out in the Macarthur Advertiser and a four-page lift-out in The Camden Crier. (Macarthur Advertiser, 14 September 1994; The Camden Crier, 14 September 1994)

The Advertiser centre-page spread listed 38 events across the weekend, including the street parade on Saturday afternoon led by an elephant called ‘Betty’ from Bullen’s Animal World at Wallacia. Over 45 sponsors were mentioned in the lift-out. (Macarthur Advertiser, 14 September 1994)

Success or failure?

Event organiser Vicki Sutherland wrote in her report on Celebrate Camden 94 that the ‘event has been hailed as a success by many and a failure by a few’. She reported that the crowd showed ‘an enormous drop in attendance by our locals’ and had a ‘poor response from many local business houses’. Sponsorship was supported by 96 local businesses that comprised 36% of the budget. The biggest expense was advertising, which took up 45% of the budget. She maintained that the street parade was ‘the biggest attraction’, there were 52 street stalls and the John Street stage ‘was once again a great centre of entertainment’. Unlike 1993, there were few problems in the Camden Town Centre after midnight, and vandalism was down on the previous year. Sutherland ended the report with a question: ‘Will there be a Celebrate Camden 1995’. (Vicki Sutherland, Co-ordinators Report 1994, Celebrate Camden Committee)

The question was answered in 1995 when the Celebrate Camden Festival faded out and was replaced by the Cowpastures Bicentennial celebrations.

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The Cowpastures Bicentennial, Governor Hunter and the Appin Massacre: the memory of the Cowpastures

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Representations of the Cowpastures

The Cowpastures was a vague area south of the Nepean River floodplain on the southern edge of Sydney’s Cumberland Plain.

The Dharawal Indigenous people who managed the area were sidelined in 1796 by Europeans when Governor Hunter named the ‘Cow Pasture Plains’ in his sketch map. He had visited the area the previous year to witness the escaped ‘wild cattle’ from the Sydney settlement, which occupied the verdant countryside. In 1798 Hunter used the location name ‘Cow Pasture’; after this, other variants have included ‘Cow Pastures’, ‘Cowpasture’ and ‘Cowpastures’. The latter will be used here.

John Hunter, Second Governor of New South Wales 1795-1800 and Royal Navy Officer (Wikimedia)

Governor King secured the area from poaching in 1803 by creating a government reserve, while settler colonialism was furthered by allocating the first land grants in 1805 to John Macarthur and Walter Davidson. The Cowpastures became the colonial frontier, and the dispossession and displacement of Indigenous people inevitably led to conflict and violence. The self-styled gentry acquired territory by grant and purchase and created a regional landscape of pseudo-English pastoral estates.

This is a portrait of Governor Phillip Gidley King, the third governor of the British colony of New South Wales from 1800-1806. He saw service in the British Navy with the rank of captain. (SLNSW)

Collective memories

 According to Kate Darian-Smith and Paula Hamilton, collective memories are ‘all around us in the language, action and material culture of our everyday life’,[1] and I often wondered why the cultural material representative of the Cowpastures appeared to have been ‘forgotten’ by our community.

The list of cultural items is quite an extensive include: roads and bridges, parks and reserves; historic sites, books, paintings, articles; conferences, seminars, and workshops; monuments, memorials and murals; community commemorations, celebrations and anniversaries.

Material culture

This material culture represents the multi-layered nature of the Cowpastures story for different actors who have interpreted events differently over time. These actors include government, community organisations, storytellers, descendants of the Indigenous Dharawal and European colonial settlers, and local and family historians. Using two case studies will illustrate the contested nature of the Cowpastures memory narrative.

Case Studies

1995 Cowpastures Bicentennial

Firstly, the 1995 Cowpastures Bicentennial celebrated the finding of the ‘wild cattle’ that escaped from the Sydney settlement by a party led by Governor Hunter in 1795.

Following the success of the 1988 Australian Bicentenary and the publication of histories of Camden and Campbelltown,[2] local officialdom decided that the anniversary of finding the ‘wild cattle’ deserved greater recognition. Camden Mayor HR Brooking stated that the festival events’ highlight the historic and scenic significance of the area’.  A bicentenary committee of local dignitaries was formed, including the governor of New South Wales as a patron, with representatives from local government, universities, and community organisations.

In the end, only 10% of all festival events were directly related to the history of the Cowpastures.  Golf tournaments, cycle races and music concerts were rebadged and marketed as bicentenary events, while Indigenous participation was limited to a few lines in the official programme and bicentennial documentation.[3]  The legacy of the bicentenary is limited to records in the Camden Museum archives, a quilt, a statue, a park and a book. 

The Camden Quilters commissioned a ‘story quilt’ told through the lens of local women, who took a holistic approach to the Cowpastures story. It was the only memorial created by women, and the collaborative efforts of the quilters created a significant piece of public art. Through the use of applique panels, the women sewed representations of the Cowpastures around the themes of Indigenous people, flora and fauna, ‘wild cattle’, agriculture, roads and bridges, and settlement.[4]  The quilt currently hangs in the Camden Library.

A postcard produced in 1995 at the time of the Cowpastures Bicentennial of the Cowpastures Quilt produced by the Camden Quilters. (1995, Camden Museum)

Statue of Governor Hunter

In the suburb of Mount Annan, there is a statue of Governor Hunter. The land developer AV Jennings commissioned Lithgow sculptor and artist Antony Symons to construct the work to coincide with a residential land release.   The statue has a circular colonnade, supporting artworks with motifs depicting cows, settlement, and farming activities.  

According to Alison Atkinson-Phillips, three trends in memorial commemoration have been identified since the 1960s, and Hunter’s statue is an example of a ‘representative commemoration’ – commemorating events from the past.  

The statue of Governor Hunter in the suburb of Mount Annan. Land developer AV Jennings commissioned Lithgow sculptor and artist Antony Symons (1942-2018) in 1995 to construct the work. Officially opened by the Mayor of Camden, Councillor FH Brooking, on the 6th April 1995. (I Willis, 2022)

Two other types of memorialisation identified by Atkinson-Phillips have been ‘participatory memorialisation’ instigated by ‘memory activists’ and place-based memorials placed as close as possible to an event.[5] 

On the northern approach to the Camden town centre is the Cowpastures Reserve, a parkland used for passive and active recreation. The reserve was opened by the Governor of NSW on 19 February 1995 and is located within the 1803 government reserve, although the memorial plaque states that it is ‘celebrating 100 years of Rotary’.

The NSW Department of Agriculture published Denis Gregory’s Camden Park Birthplace of Australia’s Agriculture in time for the bicentenary. The book covered ‘200 years of the Macarthur dynasty’. It demonstrated the ‘vision and determination’ of John and Elizabeth Macarthur to make ‘the most significant contribution to agricultural development in the history of Australia’. Landscape artist Greg Turner illustrated the work with little acknowledgement of prior occupation by the Dharawal people.[6]

Commemoration of the 1816 Appin Massacre

Secondly, commemorating the 1816 Appin Massacre has created a series of memorials. The massacre represents a more meaningful representation of the Cowpastures story with the loss of Indigenous lives to the violence of the Cowpastures’ colonial frontier. The commemoration of these events is part of Atkinson-Phillip’s ‘participatory memorialisation’ and includes a place-based memorial.

European occupation of the Cowpastures led to conflict, and this peaked on 17 April 1816 when Governor Macquarie ordered a reprisal military raid against Aboriginal people. Soldiers under the command of Captain James Wallis shot at and drove Aboriginal people over the cliff at Cataract Gorge, killing around 14 men, women and children[7] on the eastern limits of the Cowpastures.  

 

Governor Macquarie (SLNSW)

The Winga Myamly Reconciliation Group organised a memorial service for the Appin Massacre in April 2005 at the Cataract Dam picnic area.[8]  By 2009 the yearly commemorative ceremony attracted the official participation of over 150 people, both ‘Indigenous and Non-Indigenous’. Attendees included the NSW Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and representatives from Wollondilly Shire Council and the NSW Police.[9] 

In 2007 Wollondilly Shire Council and the Reconciliation Group commissioned a commemorative plaque at the picnic area. According to Atkinson-Phillips, plaques are often overlooked and analysing the words gains insight into the intent of those installing them.[10] The inscription on the Cataract memorial plaque leaves no doubt what the council and the reconciliation group wanted to emphasise, and it states:

The massacre of men, women and children of the Dharawal Nation occurred near here on 17 April 1816. Fourteen were counted this day, but the actual number will never be known. We acknowledge the impact this had and continues to have on the Aboriginal people of this land. We are deeply sorry. We will remember them. Winga Mayamly Reconciliation Group. Sponsored by Wollondilly Shire Council.

The memorial and remembrance service have given the descendants of Indigenous people a voice in telling the Cowpastures story.

The plaque at the Cataract Dam picnic area. The memorial was placed at the picnic area in 2007, jointly organised by Winga Myamly Reconciliation Group and Wollondilly Shire Council, following the memorial service started in 2005 by the Reconciliation Group. (Monuments Australia, 2010)

In 2016 the Campbelltown Arts Centre held an art exhibition with an international flavour commemorating the bicentenary of the Appin Massacre called With Secrecy and Dispatch. The gallery commissioned new works from ‘six Aboriginal Australian artists and four First Nation Canadian artists’ that illustrated ‘the shared brutalities’ of the colonial frontier for both nations.[11]

Appin Massacre Cultural Landscape

In 2021 an application was made to Heritage NSW for consideration of the Appin Massacre Cultural Landscape, the site of the 1816 Appin Massacre, for listing on the State Heritage Register. The Heritage NSW website states that the Appin Massacre was ‘one of the most devastating massacre events of First Nations people in the history of NSW’. It is ‘representative of the complex relationships between First Nations people and settlers on the colonial frontier’.[12]

The application was approved in December 2022.

Conclusion

In conclusion, these two case studies briefly highlight how the contested meaning of memorials commemorating aspects of the Cowpastures story varies for different actors over time. At the 1995 bicentenary, only European voices were heard telling the Cowpastures story emphasising the cattle, Governor Hunter, and settlement.

Voices of Indigenous Australians

In recent years the voices of Indigenous Australians have been heard telling a different story of European occupation emphasising the dire consequences of the violence on the colonial frontier in the Sydney wars.[13]

Endnotes

[1] Kate Darian-Smith & Paula Hamilton (eds), Memory and History in the Twentieth-Century Australia. Melbourne, Oxford, 1994, p 4.

[2] Alan Atkinson, Camden, Farm and Village Life in Early New South Wales. Melbourne, Oxford, 1988. Carol Liston, Campbelltown, The Bicentennial History. Sydney, Allen & Unwin, 1988.

[3] Cowpastures Review and 1995 Calendar, Bicentennial Edition. Vol 1, 1995, p3

[4] Cowpastures Review and 1995 Calendar, Bicentennial Edition. Vol 1, 1995, p2

[5] Alison Atkinson-Phillips, ‘The Power of Place: Monuments and Memory’ in Paul Ashton & Paula Hamilton (eds), The Australian History Industry. North Melbourne, Australian Scholarly Publishing, 2022, p.126.

[6] Turner, Greg. & Gregory, Denis. & NSW Agriculture, Camden Park, birthplace of Australia’s agriculture.  Orange, NSW, NSW Agriculture, 1992.

[7] Karskens, Grace, Appin massacre, Dictionary of Sydney, 2015, http://dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/appin_massacre , viewed 09 Oct 2022

[8] Macarthur Chronicle, 12 April 2005.

[9] The District Reporter, 20 April 2009.

[10] Alison Atkinson-Phillips, ‘The Power of Place: Monuments and Memory’ in Paul Ashton & Paula Hamilton (eds), The Australian History Industry. North Melbourne, Australian Scholarly Publishing, 2022, p.127.

[11] Tess Allas and David Garneau (Curators), With Secrecy and Despatch. Exhibition at the Campbelltown Arts Centre, 9 April-13 June 2016, Campbelltown. Online at With Secrecy & Despatch | Campbelltown Arts Centre (c-a-c.com.au) Viewed 9 October 2022.

[12]Heritage NSW, Appin Massacre Cultural Landscape (Under Consideration), Heritage NSW, Sydney, 2022. Viewed 10/10/22. Online at

https://apps.environment.nsw.gov.au/dpcheritageapp/ViewHeritageItemDetails.aspx?ID=5067855

[13] Stephen Gapps, The Sydney Wars, Conflict in the Early Colony 1788-1817. Sydney, NewSouth, 2018.

Initially published in The Federation of Australian Historical Societies Newsletter, December 2022, No 54. Online at https://www.history.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/FAHS-Newsletter-No-54-2_page-0001.pdf titled The memory of the Cowpastures in monuments and memorials

Updated on 16 September 2023. Posted on 30 December 2022 as ‘The memory of the Cowpastures: the Cowpastures Bicentennial and the Appin Massacre’

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Cowpastures’ memories in monuments, memorials and murals.

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A landscape of memorials and memories of the Cowpastures.

Many memorials, monuments, historic sites, and other public facilities commemorate, celebrate and just generally remind us about the landscape of the Cowpastures.

In recent decades there has been a nostalgia turn around recovering the memory of the Cowpastures landscape. This is cast in terms of the pioneers and the legacy of the European settlement.

An applique panel on the Cowpastures Heritage Quilt shows Belgenny Farm, which was part of Camden Park Estate. The quilt is hanging on display at the Camden Library (I Willis, 2022)

Memorials and monuments can be controversial in some quarters, especially in the eyes of those interested in Australia’s dark history.

Apart from monuments and memorials to the Cowpastures landscape, the most ubiquitous form of memorialisation across the Macarthur region are war memorials. Most Macarthur regional communities possess a monument of some kind, dating to the early 20th century commemorating the memory of those killed in action in the First and Second World Wars and the Vietnam War.   

The heyday of building monuments in Australia was in the late 19th century and early 20th century, when the new and emerging nation searched for national heroes. These heroes were overwhelmingly blokes – pale males.

Some of the most significant memorials to the Cowpastures landscape are historical sites, the built environment, and cultural heritage. Many of these are scattered across the Cowpastures region dating from the time of European settlement.

Most of the monuments and memorials to the Cowpastures in the local area date from the mid-20th century. Several have been commissioned by developers trying to cast their housing developments in nostalgia for the colonial past. Only one of these memorials was commissioned by women.

The monuments and memorials can be considered part of the public art of the local area and have contributed to the construction of place and community identity.

The memories evoked by the monuments, memorials, murals, historical sites, celebrations, and other items mean different things to different people.

The Cowpastures Landscape

So what exactly has been referred to by the Cowpastures landscape? In this discussion, there are these interpretations:

  1. The Cowpastures colonial frontier 1795-1820
  2. The Cowpastures government reserve 1803-1820s
  3. The Cowpastures region 1795 – 1840
  4. The landscape of the Cowpastures gentry 1805 -1840
  5. The English-style landscape of the Cowpastures 1795-1840
  6. Viewing the landscape of the Cowpastures 1795-1840

A set of principles for viewing The Cowpastures landscape

The Cowpastures landscape and seven principles of interpretation:

  • Utilitarian – the economic benefit – the protection of the cows and the herd
  • Picturesque – the presentation of the Cowpastures as a result of the burning of the environment by the Aborigines –fire stick farming – the reports of the area being a little England from the 1820s – Hawdon.
  • Regulatory – banning of movement into the Cowpastures to protect the cows
  • The political and philosophical – evils were the true corruptors of the countryside.
  • Natural history – collecting specimens and describing fauna and flora – Darwin’s visit to Sydney – the curiosity of the early officers.
  • ‘New natures’ – the environmental impact of flooding along the Nepean River and clear felling of trees across the countryside.
  • Emotional response – how the European viscerally experienced the countryside – sights, smells, hearing – and its expression in words and pictures. (after Karskins 2009, The Colony)

Examples of memory evocation for The Cowpastures

Monuments and memorials

  1. The Cowpastures Heritage Quilt was commissioned by the Camden Quilters Guild commemorating the Cowpastures Bicentenary in 1995.

2. A public artwork called Cowpastures Story in the forecourt of Narellan Library was commissioned by Narellan Rotary Club.

3. A statue of Governor Hunter was commissioned by a land developer at Mount Annan.

Statue of Governor Hunter in the Governors Green Reserve at Mount Annan (I Willis)

4. A collection of bronze cows in the Cowpastures Wild Cattle of the 1790s was commissioned by a land developer at Oran Park.

5. At Harrington Park Lakeside, public artworks memorialise the Cowpastures commissioned by a land developer.

6. At Picton, the Cowpastures mural is completed by a local sculptor and local school children.

The Cowpastures Memorial Bronze mural at Picton (I Willis, 2021)

7. Camden Rotary Pioneer Mural was commissioned by Camden Rotary Club in the mid-20th century and is located adjacent to Camden District Hospital.

Camden Pioneer Mural was commissioned by Camden Rotary Club in the mid-20th century adjacent to Camden Hospital on the Old Hume Highway (I Willis)

8. A different type of memorial is the Cowpasture Bridge at the entry to Camden, spanning the Nepean River.

Information plaque for the 1976 opening of the Cowpasture Bridge located adjacent to the bridge in Argyle Street, Camden (I Willis, 2022)

9. Memorial to the Appin Massacre at Cataract Dam.

10. The Hume and Hovell Monument on the Appin Road celebrates the departure of the Hume and Hovell expedition to Port Phillip Bay in 1824.

11. Parks and reserves, e.g., Rotary Cowpasture Reserve, opened in 1995 By Rear Admiral Peter Sinclair, Governor of NSW, celebrating 100 years of Rotary.

The Camden Rotary Cowpasture Reserve was opened on 19 February 1995 by Rear Admiral Peter Sinclair, Governor of New South Wales. The reserve is located at Lat: -34.053751 and Long: 150.701171. and the address is 10 Argyle Street, Camden. The reserve is on an original land grant within the boundaries of Camden Park Estate from the early 19th century, which was part of the Macarthur family’s colonial pastoral empire. Camden Park Estate was a central part of the Cowpastures district. (I Willis)

12. In Campbelltown’s Mawson Park is a statue of Elizabeth Macquarie. The bronze statue honours the wife of Governor Macquarie, whose maiden name was Campbell, and Campbelltown was named in her honour. The sculpture was created by sculptor Tom Bass in installed in 2006.

The statue of Elizabeth Macquarie in Mawson Park Campbelltown was created by sculptor Tom Bass and installed in 2006. (C&AHS)

13. The Narellan Community Mosaic Project in Elyard Reserve in Elyard Street Narellan was installed in 2005. The mosaic artwork is a series of concentric rings starting with the Indigenous Story, then the settler society of the Cowpastures, progressively moving outwards to the present urban environment. The Project coordination was through Marla Guppy from Guppy & Associates. It involved Project artist – Cynthia Turner, Ceramic artist – Christine Yardley, Heritage artist – George Sayers and Henryk Topolnicki from Art is an Option.

The outer circle shown here illustrates the historic sites of the Narellan area. The Harrington Park house is in the centre of the image, with the 20th-century house Ben Linden on the left and Bullock teams on the right of the centre. The inner circle represents European settlement from the time of a settler society to the 21st century. (I Willis, 2023)

14. A goanna woodcarving is found in Elyard Reserve on Elyard Street, Narellan. There is no artist attribution.

A wood carving of a goanna climbing a tree in Elyard Reserve at Narellan NSW. There is no artist accreditation. (I Willis, 2023)

15. The artwork Life Blood on the forecourt of the Herbarium at the Australian Botanic Gardens, Mount Annan, NSW.

The artwork Life Blood on the Australian Botanic Gardens Herbarium forecourt (I Willis, 2023)

16. John Oxley Cottage and Memorial Anchor is in Curry Reserve at 46 Camden Valley Way, Elderslie. John Oxley Cottage is the site of the Camden Visitor Information Centre, and a silhouette sculpture of John Oxley is attached to the cottage. Adjacent to the cottage is the John Oxley Memorial Anchor.

A view of the John Oxley Memorial Anchor, the sculpture silhouette of John Oxley and John Oxley Cottage and the Camden Visitor Information Centre found in Curry Reserve at 46 Camden Valley Way, Elderslie, in 2020 (I Willis)

17. John Oxley Reserve is at 300 Macquarie Grove Road, Kirkham. The reserve is 19.5 hectares, an irregular shape and adjoins the residential developments of The Lanes to the north, The Outlook and The Glade to the south, and is bounded by Macquarie Grove Road to the south. In 2023, approval was granted for the erection of a 25-metre communications tower in the reserve.

A map of John Oxley Reserve at 300 Macquarie Grove Road Kirkham. (2023, CC)

Cultural Heritage

1. Cowpastures Bicentennial celebrations occurred in 1995 and were a loose arrangement of community events.

Postcard of the Cowpastures Heritage Quilt commissioned and sewed by Camden Quilter’s Guild members in 1955. The quilt is currently on display at Camden Library. (Camden Museum)

2. An art exhibition at the Campbelltown Art Centre in 2016 called With Secrecy and Dispatch commemorates the bicentenary of the Appin Massacre.

3. The Appin Massacre Cultural Landscape, which is the site of the 1816 Appin Massacre, is being considered for listing on the State Heritage Register.

4. Australasian Federation of Family History Organisations Annual Fair and Conference in 2016, called Cowpastures and Beyond, was held in Camden with exciting speakers and attended by various delegates.

Cowpastures and Beyond Conference held in Camden in 2016 (CAFHS)

5. An art exhibition at the Campbelltown Arts Centre called ‘They Came by Boat‘ in 2017 highlighted many aspects of the landscape of the Cowpastures and its story.

6. Paintings by various artists, e.g., ‘View in the Cowpasture district 1840-46’  by Robert Marsh Westmacott.

7. Campbelltown-born architect William Hardy Wilson wrote The Cow Pasture Road in 1920, a whimsical fictional account of the sights and sounds along the road from Prospect to the Cow Pastures.

A fictional account of The Cow Pasture Road written by William Hardy Wilson in 1920 with pencil drawings and watercolours. (I Willis, 2022)

8. Macarthur ‘Bulls’ FC is a football team founded in 2021 named after the Wild Cattle of the Cowpastures and has a training facility established at Cawdor in the centre of the former 1803 Cowpasture government reserve.

Historic sites

1. The Cowpasture Road was the original access route to the colonial Cowpastures Reserve in the early 19th century, starting at Prospect and ending at the Nepean River crossing.

2. The historic site at Belgenny Farm is one of Australia’s earliest European farming complexes in the Cowpastures. The farm was part of the Macarthur family’s Camden Park Estate and is an example of living history.

3. Camden Park House and Garden is the site of John Macarthur’s historic Regency mansion and was part of the Macarthur family’s Camden Park Estate.

A Conrad Martins 1843 watercolour, ‘Camden Park House, Home of John Macarthur (1767-1834)’ (SLNSW)

4. Other colonial properties across the Cowpastures region (in private hands), eg, Denbigh.

5. Indigenous paintings of polled cattle by the Dharawal people in the Bull Cave at Kentlyn

Updated 7 August 2023. Originally posted 22 August 2022.

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A Cowpastures memorial quilt

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Camden Country Quilters Guild Cowpastures Heritage Quilt

Hanging on the wall in the Camden Library is a quilt, but no ordinary quilt. It is a hand-made quilt that had previously hung in the foyer of the Camden Civic Centre for many years. The quilt celebrated the Cowpastures Bicentenary (1995) and was made by members of the Camden Country Quilters Guild.

A panel in the Camden Cowpastures Bicentennial Quilt showing a map of the Cowpastures using an applique hanging in the Camden Library (I Willis, 2022)

The Cowpastures Quilt is a fascinating historical document and artefact and tells an interesting story of the district.

The Cowpastures Review stated:

The Cowpastures Heritage Quilt, which is featured on the front page, is unique. It is a product of the Camden Country Quilters Guild. It was unveiled by His Excellency, The Governor of New South Wales, Rear Admiral Peter Sinclair on the 19th of February 1995, as part of the opening of the Cowpastures Bicentennial. It was given by the Guild to the Camden Council, which has it displayed in the Camden Civic Centre.

Cover of Cowpastures Review displaying the Camden Cowpastures Bicentennial Quilt Issue Vol 1 1995. (I Willis)

The Cowpastures Bicentennial Committee created postcards and notepaper featuring the quilt that was sold at Gledswood Homestead and the Camden Library.

Postcard of Cowpastures Heritage Quilt 1995 (Camden Museum)

Quilts were practical items with social value

Quilts have sentimental or commemorative value and are examples of needlework skills and techniques, and the use of specific fabrics used in their designs.

The Victoria and Albert Museum in London states on its website:

As a technique, quilting has been used for a diverse range of objects, from clothing to intricate objects such as pincushions. Along with patchwork, quilting is most often associated with its use for bedding.

Quilting first appeared in England in the 13th century, reached a peak in the 17th century and can be traced back to 3000BCE. The word quilt means a ‘bolster or cushion’.

According to the V&A museum, a quilt is usually a bedcover of two layers of fabric with padding or wadding in between held together by lines of stitching based on a pattern or design. Very fine decorative quilts often become family heirlooms and are passed down through generations. In a domestic situation, women made quilts to celebrate ‘life occasions’ like births and weddings.

The V&A states that quilts are often quite large and associated with social events where people share the sewing. In North America quilting was a popular craft amongst Dutch and English settlers and quilts were made as part of marriage dowry for a young woman.

Quilting is often associated with patchwork where the quilt was made of scraps of fabric or ‘extending the life of working clothing’.

Convict women and quilting – The Rajah Quilt

In the National Gallery of Australia is a quilt made in 1841 by convict women transported on the Rajah from Woolwich to Hobart. According to blogger Bernadette, a descendant of one of the women who made the quilt, it is one of the most important textiles in Australia and world history.

The Rajah Quilt (NGA)

The textile is called the Rajah Quilt and was organised as part of the scheme organised by prison reformer Elizabeth Fry’s British Ladies Society for promoting the reformation of female prisoners. The quilt is made up of over 2000 pieces of fabric and it has been described as

 a patchwork and appliquéd bed cover or coverlet. It is in pieced medallion or framed style: a popular design style for quilts in the British Isles in the mid 1800’s. There is a central field of white cotton decorated with appliquéd (in broderie perse) chintz birds and floral motifs. This central field is framed by 12 bands or strips of patchwork printed cotton. The quilt is finished at the outer edge by white cotton decorated with appliquéd daisies on three sides and inscription in cross stitch surrounded by floral chintz attached with broderie perse on the fourth…

On the Rajah’s arrival in Hobart, the quilt was presented to the governor’s wife Lady Jane Franklin by the 29 women who sewed it on the voyage to Van Dieman’s Land. Lady Franklin sent the quilt back to England to Elizabeth Fry and then it was lost. It was rediscovered in a Scottish attic and returned to Australia in 1989 and placed in the collection of the National Gallery of Australia.

The quilt’s story is one of hope at a time of despair and disempowerment from a group of women hidden in the shadows of history. A type of radical history.

Cowpastures Quilt tells a story

Quilts often told a story and in the V&A collection, there are a  number of significant quilts telling Biblical stories, scenes from world events and the 1851 Great Exhibition.

The Cowpasture Quilt tells the story of the Cowpastures on its Bicentenary. The story was represented in the different panels in the quilt created by the Guild members who were part of the project. The quilt’s construction was a community effort and each sewer has their name sewn into the quilt.

  

Camden Cowpastures Bicentennial Quilt hanging in Camden Library in John Street Camden (I Willis, 2022)

The significance of the individual panels in the quilt was explained by the Cowpastures Review and it stated:

The central pane – the discovery of the Hottentot cow. The left pane – The Aboriginal influence, mining, the map of the ‘Cow Pastures’, representing flora and fauna and the Stonequarry Bridge at Picton. The right panel – St John’s Church, John and Elizabeth Macarthur, Camden Park Estates, Belgenny Farm, Gledswood Homestead and merino sheep and vineyards. The bottom panel – John Street, Camden, including ‘Macaria’ and representations of horticulture venture in the area. Not visible in the photograph in the names of the ‘quilters’ and some surprise ‘first family’ names.

Title panel in Camden Cowpastures Bicentennial Quilt hanging in Camden Library (I Willis, 2022)

Fashion quilting

According to the V&A quilting fell into decline in the early 20th century under the influence of modernism. It found a revival in the 1960s as part of the hippie culture and the art community and is firmly part of the art space.

Quiltmaking as art

Artist Isis Davis-Marks writes on the Artsy website that

Quilts’ inherent associations with warmth, nostalgia, and community make them particularly appealing now, in the midst of the pandemic and widespread division and inequity. Perhaps this fraught reality can account for, at least in part, why contemporary artists are drawn to quilting as a means to express themselves. The tactility of quilted fabric inevitability conjures domesticity, and every stitch—every precisely placed patchwork—brings us back to that feeling of the comfort and safety of home

Davis-Marks writes that contemporary American artists are engaging with the craft of quilting and building on the ‘enduring and complex history of quiltmaking’. In the US context quilting was practised by slaves, Indigenous Americans and other marginalised peoples as a form of expression and craftwork for the everyday.

An applique panel of the Cowpastures Quilt shows the Regency mansion on Camden Park still estate built in the 1830s. The panel uses figures to tell a narrative about the foundational story of Australia and the Camden district as part of a settler society. The Cowpasture Quilt is on display at Camden Library (I Willis, 2022)

Davis-Marks writes that the ancient craft of quiltmaking has resonance for contemporary artists in the age of social media and illustrates a broader appeal of working with traditional mediums of textiles, ceramics, knitting and other crafts.

In a January 2020 article for Artsy, writer and curator Glenn Adamson reflected “At a time when our collective attention is dangerously adrift,” Adamson wrote, “trapped in the freefall of our social-media feeds and snared in a pit of fake facts, handwork provides a firm anchor. It cannot be spun. It gives us something to believe in.”

Artists are using quilts as a lens to look into the dark history of the past. Sometimes these are called ‘story quilts’ where they tell a story in a narrative and figures. Artist Faith Ringgold‘s work often explores notions of ‘community and ancestry’ and said that she bonded through the experience of jointly sewing quilts with her mother.

The Cowpastures Quilt is a ‘story quilt’ and tells the story of our past as part of a settler society and the dispossession of Indigenous peoples. The quilt uses figures and narrative to examine the past through the lens of the women who constructed the quilt in 1995. More than this the Cowpasture quilt is a public statement and an affirmation of community through the collective efforts of local women who undertook the sewing project. The collaborative efforts of the Camden Quilters created a significant piece of public art and a narrative statement of who we are through the use of history.

A panel of the Cowpasture Quilt shows the Henry Kitchen cottage from 1819 still standing today as part of the Belgenny Farm complex which is one of the most important colonial farming complexes still intact in Australia on the former Camden Park estate of the Macarthur family. The quilt is on display at the Camden Library. (I Willis, 2022)

Updated 26 August 2022; originally posted 16 August 2022

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Governor Macquarie’s visit to the Cowpasture 1810

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The 1810 Cowpastures visit

In November 1810, Governor Lachlan Macquarie (1762-1824) and Mrs Elizabeth Macquarie visited the Cowpastures. On that occasion, the Governor and Elizabeth Macarthur met the Dharawal people.

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Governor Macquarie (SLNSW)

In 1810 Governor Lachlan Macquarie came out to do a tour of inspection of the Cowpastures.

Governor Macquarie met Mrs Elizabeth Macarthur in Camden Park in what he called a ‘small miserable hut’ on Monday, 19 November 1810. (see extract below)

These are extracts from the diaries he kept on his journey. He left Sydney with his wife, who travelled in a carriage on Tuesday, 6 November 1810.

Extracts from the Diary of Governor Lachlan Macquarie 1810

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Barragal Lagoon in the vicinity of where Governor Macquarie camped in November 1810 (I Willis 2015)

Friday 16 November

we arrived at the Government Hut close to the East Bank of the Nepean River at Half past 9 o’clock, being a distance of 26 measured miles in three Hours and a half. — The Country through which we passed between Parramatta and the Nepean was generally an open Forest, a tolerable good Soil, and the Road pretty good. — There being very little Water in the River at this time, we crossed it at the usual Ford in our Carriage with great ease and safety;
We passed through Mr. McArthur’s first Farm, called by the natives “Benkennie”, and arrived at our Halting Place, called “Bundie”, at half past 1 o’clock in the afternoon, being six miles in a South West Direction from the Ford. –We came in the Carriage all the way, through a very fine rich Country and open Forest, and on the way to our Ground we met two or three small Parties of the Cow-Pastures Natives — the Chief of whom in this Part is named Koggie; who with his wife Nantz, and his friends Bootbarrie, Young Bundle, Billy, and their respective Wives, came to visit us immediately on our arrival at Bundie.
The Servants and Baggage did not reach the Ground till after 3 o’clock in the afternoon and immediately on their arrival our Tents were Pitched and our little Camp was formed on a beautiful Eminence near a Lagoon of fine fresh Water — the Tents fronting the South West — in a very fine open Forest within about 3 miles of the foot of Mount Taurus — and Four Mount Hunter; the latter being to the Northward, and the former to the Southward of us.
At 5 p.m. we sat down Eight at Table to a most comfortable Dinner; Mrs. M. tho’ so young a Campaigner having provided every requisite to make our Tour easy, pleasant, and happy — and we all feel much pleased with one-another — and with our present manner of Life. Being all a little tired, we went early to Bed this Night, after placing Fires around us, and a Watch to guard us from the Wild Cattle.

Source: http://library.mq.edu.au/all/journeys/1810/1810.html

Saturday 17 November

We got up pretty early — and during the Night we heard the Wild Cattle Bellowing in the Woods. — Mr. Blaxland and Warlby went out early in the morning and shot a Wild Bull, which was brought in to Camp for the use of Servants and our other numerous attendants. —
In the course of this Day’s Excursion, which was through a beautiful rich Country consisting of Open Forest and Hills and Dales, we met with several numerous Herds of the Wild Cattle,

Source: http://library.mq.edu.au/all/journeys/1810/1810.html

A plaque commemorating 200 years since Governor Macquarie camped in the vicinity of Barragal Lagoon in November 1810 (I Willis, 2015)

Sunday 18th November.—

Being rather a little fatigued after our Excursion of yesterday, we took a good long sleep and did not Breakfast till Nine o’clock this morning; and while we were at it, we were visited by Mrs. McArthur, who had come the Evening before to the Cow Pastures to look after her Farms and fine numerous Flocks of Sheep in this part of the Country. — As we asked Mrs. McArthur to dine with us today, she expressed a desire to ride about the Country with us during this day’s Excursion, which was of course readily assented to. — We accordingly set out on Horseback from Bundie at 11 o’clock to visit Mount Taurus and Mount Hunter, both of which are close in the vicinity of our little Camp; the former being about 4 miles S.W. of it, and the latter about 6 miles N. West of it. — We first ascended Mount Taurus, riding to the very top of it, from which we had a very fine extensive Prospect of the whole of circumjacent Country. — From Mount Taurus we proceeded by a long Ridge of Hills to Mount Hunter, and on the way thither met two or three Herds of the Wild Cattle, which allowed us to come very near them; and one of the Herds at first made directly at us but were scared away from us by the noise and shouting of our Guide and other Attendants. The view from the summit of Mount Hunter was also very fine and extensive; but I confess I was much disappointed with respect to the Height of both it and Mount Taurus, which hardly deserve to be called Mountains, and would only be classed as Hills in most other Country. — We returned home. by a different route from Mount Hunter, through a fine open Forest, to our Tents at Bundie, where we arrived about 2 o’clock; and after resting ourselves there a little while and taking some refreshment, we all set out to see Manangle a fine extensive Farm of 2000 acres belonging to Mr. Walter Davidson, situated on the Banks of the Nepean, and distant only about three miles from our Camp South East of it. — It is a beautiful situation and excellent rich Land for both Tillage and Pasture, with a fine large Lagoon in the Center of it, which is called Manangle, and is the native name of this Farm. — After looking at the River Nepean here and viewing the Farm, we returned to Camp again at 5 o’clock to Dinner, which we found ready for us

Source: http://library.mq.edu.au/all/journeys/1810/1810.html

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A number of plaques at Barragal Lagoon commemorating Governor Macquarie’s camp in the Cowpastures in November 1810 (I Willis 2015)

During this day’s Excursion we were-attended by some of the Natives, one of whom amused us very much by climbing up a high Tree to catch a Guanna, which he did in a very dextrous manner. In the course of our morning ride we were also much entertained with a Fight between some wild Bulls of two different Herds, which had accidentally met in consequence of being chased by some of our attendants.

Source: http://library.mq.edu.au/all/journeys/1810/1810.html

Monday 19th November.—

Having seen all the Land in this Neighbourhood and also several different Herds (amounting in all perhaps to about 600 Head) of the Wild Cattle, I determined on breaking up our little Camp at Bundie this morning after Breakfast and recrossing the Nepean, after viewing the Land to the Northward of Mr. McArthur’s Farms on this same side of the River. —We all set out accordingly at half past 9 o’clock, having left our Baggage and Servants to follow us leisurely to the River. We called at Benkennie on Mrs. McArthur, with whom we sat for a little while in a small miserable Hut, and then pursued our way to the Ford, where we arrived at 11 o’clock; and having sent the Carriage across, we mounted our Horses to look at the Country in this Neighbourhood for a few miles to the Northward.

Source: http://library.mq.edu.au/all/journeys/1810/1810.html

Updated on 7 July 2023. Originally posted on 25 May 2015 as ‘Governor Macquarie’s visit to the Cowpasture 1810’

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Cowpastures Bicentennial Celebrations 1995, the beginning of a settler society

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Local festival

In 1995, the Camden community held a 12-month programme of events to celebrate the bicentennial of the naming of the Cow Pastures by Governor Hunter in 1795 and the discovery of 61 head of wild cattle. The discovery of the cattle herd was an important event in the life of the fledgling colony as it proved that non-indigenous cattle could survive in New South Wales and that the Cow Pastures could be an important farming area.

Map of Cowpastures SMH 13 August 1932

Governor Hunter and the Cow Pastures 

The story of the Cowpastures begins in 1787 with the First Fleet and HMS Sirius, which collected 4 cows and 2 bulls at the Cape of Good Hope on the way out to New South Wales. After their arrival in the new colony, the stock escapes within 5 months of being landed and disappears.

In 1795, the story of the cattle is told to a convict hunter by an Aboriginal, who then tells an officer and informs Governor Hunter. Hunter sends Henry Hacking, an old seaman, to check out the story. After confirmation, Governor John Hunter and Captain Waterhouse, George Bass and David Collins headed off from Parramatta and crossed the Nepean River on 17 November 1795. They find good farming land covered with good pasture and lagoons with birds. After climbing a hill (Mt Taurus), they spotted the cattle and named the Cowpastures.

Governor  John Hunter marked area on maps ‘Cow Pasture Plains’ in the region of Menangle and elsewhere on maps south of Nepean.  The breed was the Cape cattle from the First Fleet, and the district was declared out of bounds to all and by 1806, the herd had grown to 3,000.

Elizabeth Macarthur Agricultural Institute

The origins of the bicentennial project started after the Elizabeth Macarthur Agricultural Institute occupied what was formerly Camden Park. In 1990, the NSW Department of Agriculture commissioned a set of paintings of Camden Park by Greg Turner, sponsored by Japanese textile manufacturer Toyobo of Osaka, which were published as a book with text written by Denis Gregory in 1992. The exhibition toured the state, received extensive publicity and was displayed at Parliament House in Sydney and at the Camden Civic Centre.

Denis Gregory, Camden Park. Birthplace of Australia’s Agriculture (NSW Agriculture, Orange, NSW, 1992) This was one of the Cowpastures Bicentennial projects for 1995. (eBay 2023)

Bicentennial project

The bicentennial project was driven by the formation of the Cowpastures Bicentennial Planning Committee formed in 1992 by Camden Council under the direction of Camden Mayor Theresa Testoni.  It was envisaged that a series of events would be held during Heritage Week (March) in 1995.

Cowpastures Bicentennial

During the following months, plans for the bicentennial project grew and in January 1994, the committee engaged a professional event organiser to lead the project. The Governor of New South Wales agreed to be patron. The committee had representatives from the Wollondilly Shire Council, Camden Municipal Council, and a host of community organisations, including the Camden Chamber of Commerce, Camden Historical Society, Macarthur Lions Club, Belgenny Farm, Camden Quilters, and Camden Show Society.

The Cowpasture Quilt was constructed by Camden Quilters to celebrate the Cowpastures Bicentennial in 1995 (I Willis, 2022)

Activities and Entertainments

According to the 1995 calendar of events, there were over 85 separate activities, and many were quite successful.  Individual events occurred in locations as diverse as Camden, Bargo, Catherine Fields, Warragamba Dam, Mount Annan, Campbelltown and The Oaks. The project office was located in Campbelltown with a full-time executive director, office manager and office assistant.

The year started off with celebrations on Australia Day and then ramped up in February with a ball and the crowning of Miss Cowpastures for 1995 Elizabeth Hodge. The NSW Governor opened the Rediscover Cowpastures project, the opening of the Cowpastures Heritage Pathways and launching the Cowpastures Heritage Cycling Classic between Colo Vale and Camden. The Camden Country Quilter’s Guild launched the Bicentennial Heritage Quilt wall hanging at their quilt show (August), the inaugural Cowpastures Bush Music and Cultural Festival were held in September, and AGVIEW took place in October.

Re-enactment at Mount Taurus 

In November, there was a re-enactment of the naming of the Cowpastures and a sighting of the cattle at Mount Taurus. There were representatives from the Elizabeth Macarthur Agricultural Institute, Camden Park Education Centre, Belgenny Farm Trust, Camden Historical Society and others, including 200 primary school children from Campbelltown North, The Oaks and Camden. They all climbed Mount Taurus and laid a plaque.

The year was topped out with an awards night in December.

A measure of success or not

While the aims of the bicentennial project were worthwhile, it had little lasting impact on the Australian imagination. The story of the escape of the cattle from the colony was known to many Australians as part of the tribulations of the early settlement of Sydney town.

The term Cowpasture reflected the place-name usage in England to describe the common grazing land near a village. The Dharawal called the place ‘Baragil’, or ‘Baragal’, and the area has only vague geographic boundaries. To the north, the Cowpastures was ill-defined (beyond Narellan), and to the south, its limit was Stonequarry Creek.

The Cowpastures as a regional identity was problematic, and a search of the Geographical Names Board of New South Wales reveals one entry for the Nepean River.

The Cowpastures Bicentennial project was an interesting community festival with mixed results, although it did give prominence to the Cowpastures for a period.

Admission Ticket to an event at the Camden Showground for the Camden Bicentennial in 1995 (Camden Museum)

Read more

Read more about Governor Hunter and the Cow Pastures in the Sydney Morning Herald in 1932 here

Updated 5 December 2023. Originally posted on 4 January 2025 as ‘Camden Cowpastures Bicentenary Celebrations’.