Category: Elderslie

20th century · Adaptive Re-use · Aesthetics · Architecture · Attachment to place · Belonging · Burra Charter · Camden Story · Church History · Churches · Collective Memory · Commemoration · Community identity · Cultural Heritage · Elderslie · Families · Family history · Farming · First World War · Genealogy · Heritage · History · Living History · Local History · Local Studies · Memorial · Place making · Placemaking · Sense of place · St Mark's Church Elderslie · Urban development · Urban growth · Urbanism · Village · Wartime

A little church on the hill, St Mark’s Church Elderslie

camdenhistorynotes1 Comment

A public outcry

In 2009 there was a public outcry when there was a proposal to relocate St Mark’s church and develop the site. (The District Reporter, 16 February 2009) While the church building had remained unused for several years, the public protests posed a conundrum for local authorities. Why was there such an outcry over an empty building?

Small churches like St Marks are vital to small communities in the construction of place and development of community identity. Their potential loss threatens a community’s collective memory and sense of place.  The church tells the story of a small farming community that has disappeared through the mists of time.

The history of St Mark’s church is the history of Elderslie, and the church was a special place of community celebrations and commemorations along with family celebrations, traditions, and events. The church has been a gathering place, a sacred site.

This charming image taken by John Kooyman in 1998 shows the church and other buildings under the shade of the magnificent camphor laurel tree. (Camden Images)

An outdoor Sunday School proves popular

St Mark’s church’s origins go back to 1901 and the formation of an outdoor Sunday School by Elderslie resident Miss Elizabeth Carpenter, a disgruntled St John’s church parishioner. Elizabeth (b. 1863) was the eldest daughter of Elderslie orchardist Horatio Carpenter. According to Elderslie resident Len English, the Carpenter orchard of Fernside was just behind the church with a frontage on Macarthur Road.

According to Harold Lowe, St Mark’s churchwarden and treasurer, the story goes that 38-year-old Elizabeth Carpenter had a falling out with the rector of Camden’s St John’s Church, Rev Cecil John King. (Harold Lowe, File Notes, Camden Museum Archive)

The Sunday School proved popular with local families, and ‘in the summer of 1902…[the Sunday School was] held under the shade of the great stone pines below Mrs Lydia Carpenter’s orchard’. Miss Elizabeth Carpenter had her ‘American organ brought down on a slide and led the singing’. During the autumn, with inclement weather, the classes were held in Fernside’s ‘old wine press room’. (Camden News, 18 July 1912)

 The Sunday School continued to be an essential part of the church’s activities, and in 1933 the Camden press reported that the children of St Mark’s Sunday School held their picnic in Mr Bruchhauser’s ‘top paddock’. Showers did not let up until after lunch, but nothing was ‘daunted’, and the picnic was set up by ‘teachers and helpers’ in the church. ‘A very happy afternoon was spent by all’ after the ground dried out with ‘games and races’. (Camden News, 8 June 1933)

Transcript on the back of the image (Camden Images)
St Mark’s Luker Street Elderslie Sunday School c1955. Bishop Wilston, Ruth Ferguson to R & believed Bishop Wilton, Mary Ferguson next to Ruth. Nancy Ferguson is on the right in a blue dress and white hat. Children, front row, from left Barbara Noble 3, Lesley Noble 6, John Bunce 8, Pat Higgs girl in front of the nameplate. Identification by Lorrie Noble (Dec 1998) Photo from transparency by Ina Cameron, 65 Harrington St, Elderslie, who came to Elderslie in 1946 and worshipped at St Mark’s.

A new church

Miss Carpenter led fundraising efforts, ably assisted by RA Cross, Mr Albury, and Mr Bellingham, early in 1902 (Camden News, 5 August 1954) and moves were made ‘for the purchase of a piece of land’ and construction of the church building. (Camden News, 18 July 1912)

A small portion of Thomas Teasdale’s land was acquired by the Church of England and held in the name of the Bishop of Sydney, the Most Reverend William S Smith, and part of the Narellan Parish. (SOHI 2022)

These efforts resulted in the opening of a church building on the site, with the first service on 22 June 1902. (Camden News, 18 July 1912)

A church building was constructed and has been described as

 a traditional vernacular form with a simple gable roof covered in shingles.  It is a good and representative example of a very modest mission church typical of those erected in small country towns in the late 19th and very early 20th Centuries. Built of weatherboard with a corrugated metal roof and a small belfry, it contained two rooms (the nave and a small vestry) plus a porch. The window openings are simple timber sashes with horizontally pivoting openings. Windows are glazed with translucent and opaque domestic glass from the early 20th Century/Inter-War period. (SOHI 2022)

A new Elderslie resident, Mr Fred Carpenter, constructed the first six ‘handsome and comfortable seats of polished Kauri’, and parishioners donated chairs, books, lamps, blinds, alms dish, matting, communion cloth, pulpit cushions and drape. (Camden News, 18 July 1912)

The church was dedicated by The Rt Rev Bishop AW Pain from Gippsland on St Mark’s Day in 1903, April 25. (Camden News, 5 August 1954)  Saint Mark’s Day, or the Feast of Saint Mark, is held on April 25 and commemorates Mark the Evangelist, also known as Saint Mark. Mark the Evangelist is an important character in early Christianity and is the ascribed author of the Gospel of Mark. Mark the Evangelist is considered the guardian of the earth and harvests and is celebrated in several countries.

According to the Camden press, churchwarden Harold Lowe suggested the church name some years after its consecration. (Camden News, 5 August 1954) According to Lowe, the new church was called St Marks at a meeting held on St Mark’s Day. (Harold Lowe, File Notes, Camden Museum Archive)

Church of England authorities ‘licensed [the church] for divine service in 1913 and named [it] for St Mark’. (SOHI 2022)

By 1914 the church was known as the St Mark’s Mission Church. (Camden News, 13 August 1914) According to Merriam-Webster online dictionary, a mission church is not locally self-supporting but depends at least partially upon the support of mission funds from the larger religious organisation that established it.

Church governance

St Marks was part of the Church of England Parish of Narellan along with St Paul’s Cobbitty and St Thomas’s Narellan.  Services at St Mark’s Church were conducted by the rector of Cobbitty’s St Paul’s, Rev Canon Allnutt. (Cobbitty 1827-1927)

The first churchwardens were RA Cross, Thomas Albury and John Latty. By 1915 churchwardens were GM Gardner and T Albury, the minister’s warden was H Bellingham, and Miss Brain was the Sunday School teacher. (Camden News, 29 April 1915) Harold Lowe was the church auditor. (Camden News, 11 May 1916)

The church held its yearly vestry meeting, and the re-elected churchwardens for 1933 were T Albury, RA Cross and J Ross. (Camden News, 8 June 1933)

In 1940 the Narellan Parish Log reported that the rector decided to hold an evening service on the third Sunday of the month where he conducted a Lantern Picture Show. (Camden News, 7 November 1940)

This image shows the parishioners in 1955, which was likely taken by Ina Cameron around the same time as the Sunday School image. While a poor image, the charm and character of the period are clearly shown. Most parishioners were women and likely members of the church women’s guild. Gloves, hats and Sunday best were essential fashion items when attending church in the 1950s. (Camden Images)

First World War and Anzac Day

The First World War profoundly affected the church and the Elderslie community.

In 1915 a memorial service was held at St Mark’s for two Elderslie lads who ‘gave their lives for the Empire’ on the battlefield of the Great War and was held to an ‘overflowing’ congregation. They were Lance Corporal Eric Lyndon Lowe, Signaller, 18th Battalion and Bugler Milton Thornton. The local press reported that ‘beautiful wreaths’ were presented by Mrs Faithful Anderson of Camelot and one from the Cobbitty Rectory. Rev Canon Allnutt took the service, and his daughter, Alice, sang the ‘At Rest’ by Aylward during the offertory. An amount of £1/10/6d was collected for the Liverpool Camp Church Tent Fund. (Camden News, 28 October 1915)

The progress of the First World War and patriotic fundraising put pressure on the community and church parishioners. Yet despite ‘the many calls and patriotic funds’, church finances were pronounced ‘satisfactory’ at the annual 1916 vestry meeting. (Camden News, 11 May 1916)

St Mark’s Day coincided with Camden’s first Anzac Day in the Camden district in 1916. In 1919, the Anzac Day commemorative service at St Mark’s church ‘was crowded and especially attended by the families and friends of those who had met a soldier’s death’. (Camden News, 1 May 1919)

In 1934 Rev AF Pain celebrated the Festival of Saint Mark at the church, where parishioners presented ‘a bounteous supply of the fruits of the earth’ that was sent to Camden District Hospital. (Camden News, 15 February 1934) In 1937 there was a combined service for Anzac Day and the Festival of St Mark. (Camden News, 22 April 1937)

The services for Anzac Day commemoration and St Mark’s Day were split in the years after the Second World War. In 1952 the service with Holy Communion was held by Bishop EW Wilton from Cobbitty on Anzac Day, Friday 25 April 1952, at 9.30 am. The following Sunday, 27 April 1952, the church had the St Mark’s Festival Service. (Camden News, 24 April 1952)

Farewells and church anniversaries

The 10th anniversary of the church celebrations in 1912 was dampened by the departure of church founders Elizabeth Carpenter and her mother, Lydia.

According to rector Canon GH Allnutt, the Carpenter women had made an ‘immense contribution’ to the church’s foundation with service held once a month at Fernside while the church was being built. The rector presented Miss Carpenter with a gold watch for her efforts. She ‘was visibly affected’ as she thanked the assembly in ‘a simple words’ as the presentation had come as a ‘great surprise’. She said, ‘ she felt quite unworthy…as she had only tried to do her duty to the best of her ability’. (Camden News, 18 July 1912)

In 1939 the church lost its long-term organist when parishioner Olive Burford of Camden to Alan Tindall of Rockdale. As a token of thanks, the parishioners gave her a silver hot water jug. (Camden News, 17 August 1939)

In 1952 on the 50th anniversary of the church, attendances were reported as ‘encouraging’ in the Camden press. Bishop Wilton conducted the evening service and said there was a Sunday School and a congregation ‘that is growing in strength’. The organists were Miss L Cross and Mrs J Bradford. Churchwardens were CS McIntosh, H Rudd, N Hore and Mr Bradford. The supper was organised by parishioners: Mrs Childs, Mrs Teasdale, Miss Teasdale, Mrs Wrench, Mrs N Ferguson, Mrs C Dunk, Mrs R Dunk, Mrs Weiberle, Mrs Harris, and Mrs Wilton. (Camden News, 10 July 1952)

Improvement and additions

There were ‘improvements and additions’ to the church over the decades. (Camden News, 18 July 1912)

The churchwardens at St Thomas Narellan gave parishioners at St Mark’s the ‘old ‘John Oxley’ harmonium’ after they installed a new organ. (Camden News, 18 July 1912)

The church’s original shingle roof was replaced in 1912 with ‘short-sheet corrugated iron painted dark red-oxide’. The ceiling and floors were also replaced.  (SOHI 2022)

On the death of Canon Allnutt in 1919, Percy Butler was commissioned to construct a communion table in his memory. Local cabinet maker and carpenter Fred Carpenter had built additional seating, a prayer desk, a communion rail and a lecturn.   (Harold Lowe, File Notes, Camden Museum Archive)

A vestry was later added to the building that could act as a chancel when there was a need for additional seating. (Harold Lowe, File Notes, Camden Museum Archive)

The St Mark’s Churchwomen’s Guild held the 1954 church fundraising fair with stalls selling ‘useful goods including handicrafts suitable for ‘Christmas presents’ at the home of Mrs C Dunk in Luker Street. The fair was opened by Mrs A Pain, the wife of the former rector St Paul’s Church of England, Cobbitty, who held services at St Mark’s church between 1919 and 1940. (Camden News, 4 November 1954)

The construction of Warragamba Dam was advantageous for the church community when the former Nattai Post Office/general store building was brought up from Burragorang Valley and placed at the church’s rear to be used as a hall. (The District Reporter, 2 February 2009). The Women’s Guild and the Elderslie community funded the relocation and fit-out of the hall for use as a kitchen. (The District Reporter, 16 February 2009; SOHI 2022))

In 1959 a meeting of churchwardens, the Women’s Guild and the rector resolved to create a special fund to finance the purchase of the land adjoining the existing church site. It was decided at the same meeting to repair the organ, which cost £24. (File Notes, Camden Museum archives) The kitchen was extended in 1961; in 1966, the Church of England purchased a small part of an adjoining property. (SOHI 2022) In 1968 a new hall was constructed on the site.

The addition of a new building on St Mark’s church site in 1955 was much anticipated by parishioners who provided voluntary labour for the construction. Images supplied by Ina Cameron, a local Elderslie resident. (Camden Images)

Funerals and remembrance services

Funerals and remembrance services were a time of community grieving and support, and the church had a central role in these events.  

The death of local parishioners was always a loss to the church. A St Mark’s parishioner and ‘keen’ church worker Mrs Ellen Cross recently died aged 66. (Sydney Morning Herald, 6 January 1930) A stalwart of the St Mark’s Sunday School Mrs FA Goodman died aged 60 years old. She had taken the Sunday School just days before admission to Camden District Hospital, where she died of pneumonia last Saturday, December 5. Mrs Goodman had ‘conducted’ the Sunday School from 1926 to her death. (Camden News, 10 December 1931)

St Mark’s churchwarden James Ross was killed by a motor car as he walked at night between the Cowpastures Bridge and the milk depot in 1938. (Camden News, 29 December 1938)

A remembrance service was held at St Mark’s on the death of Joyce Asimus, daughter of Mr and Mrs Roy Asimus, of ‘The Heights’ Elderslie who died after a recent operation. Joyce was reportedly a ‘friendly, energetic and affectionate soul held a high place in esteem and affection of the neighbourhood’. The St Mark’s Churchwomen’s Guild was represented by Mrs Funnell Senr, Mrs Wilton, and Mrs Childs. (Camden News, 29 October 1953)

St Mark’s parishioner and Elderslie resident, 89-year-old Mr RA Cross of Macarthur Road Elderslie, died in 1954. Mr Cross had been a churchwarden since St Mark’s church foundation. The Camden press reported that Mr Cross had attended St Marks Church within days of death along with other parishioners. Mr Cross was a retired brickmaker and made bricks for famous local properties, including Camelot, Carrington Hospital, and Pomare at Cobbitty. His funeral was held at St Thomas’s church at Narellan, with the service taken by Bishop Wilton and buried in Narellan cemetery. A week later, there was a remembrance service at St Mark’s for this ‘faithful and regular worshipper’.(Camden News, 29 July 1854)

The funeral of Mrs Constance AM Ross of Elderslie, mother of Mrs Childs, was held at St Mark’s church in 1952. The Camden press reported that this was the first time a funeral service with the casket was held at the church in its 50-year history. (Camden News, 10 July 1952)

This is a sad image from 2011 of a church past its use-by date, all boarded up, unkempt and unloved. Yet it was still able to rouse the emotions of the Elderslie community to protect the cultural heritage of the building and the collective memories it possessed for them. The church building is up for sale. (IWillis)

Last service and the loss of a church

Over time, church parishioners died, old Elderslie families moved away, the church congregation grew smaller, and the parish could not financially support the church. Church authorities decided to ‘amalgamate St Mark’s with St Thomas‘s, Narellan, with the final service being held at St Mark’s being held on 21 October 2001. The church was then closed to sell the land’. (SOHI 2022)

 In Elderslie, as elsewhere, the threatened loss of a local church often triggers a passionate response from the local community. The local church, even if unused, is a repository of collective memories and a sacred site that possesses a sense of place and community identity.

In 2009 there was a community outcry over a proposal to subdivide the land surrounding St Mark’s church, relocate the church building, demolish the church hall, and cut down the camphor laurel on the Camden’s Register of Significant Trees. (The District Reporter, 16 February 2009)

Passionate locals voiced their concerns, particularly about the state of the camphor laurel. Councillor Eva Campbell maintained that the church building was ‘the most significant building in Elderslie’. (Macarthur Chronicle, 3 February 2009) Later reports show that the camphor laurel tree was planted to celebrate the church’s consecration in 1903.

 In the end, Camden Council voted to cut down the tree and approved shifting the church across the existing site to allow the consolidation of three allotments into two. (The District Reporter, 16 February 2009; Macarthur Chronicle, 3 February 2009)

The Anglican Church deconsecrated St Marks in 2010. (SOHI 2022)

The removal of the camphor laurel tree adjacent to St Mark’s church in 2009 after approval by Camden Council. At the rear of the church, site are the kitchen and hall in the process of demolition (IWillis)

The church site and buildings were sold to the private owners in 2011 and converted to a private residence where the new owners became the guardians of the community’s collective memories.  

In 2022 a proposal by the private owners to extend the former church building generated public interest in maintaining the cultural heritage of the church’s history.

This charming image shows the current usage of the former St Mark’s church in 2022 is now in private hands and used as a residence. The character and integrity of the former church building are still intact, with the belfry, entry porch, and church building with sash windows clearly shown here. The addition of a picket fence adds to the rustic nature of the original building. This image illustrates adaptive reuse that is outlined in the Burra Charter guidelines for heritage sites within Australia. (IWillis)
Agriculture · Attachment to place · Belonging · Cawdor · Cobbitty · Colonial Camden · Colonial frontier · Colonialism · Cowpastures · Cowpastures Estates · Cowpastures Gentry · Cultural Heritage · Denbigh · Economy · Elderslie · England · Harrington Park · History · Kirkham · Landscape · Local Studies · Picton · Place making · Sense of place · Settler colonialism · Urban growth

The Englishmen of the Cowpastures

camdenhistorynotes1 Comment

A certain type of Englishman

These Englishmen were also known as the Cowpastures gentry, a pseudo-self-styled-English gentry.

All men – they lived on their estates when they were not involved with their business and political interests in Sydney and elsewhere in the British Empire.

By the late 1820s, this English-style gentry had created a landscape that reminded some of the English countrysides. This was particularly noted by another Englishman, John Hawdon.

There were other types of English folk in the Cowpastures and they included convicts, women, and some freemen.

EstateExtent (acres)Gentry  (principal)
Abbotsford (at Stonequarry, later Picton)400 (by 1840 7,000)George Harper (1821 by grant)
Birling Robert Lowe
Brownlow Hill (Glendaruel)2000 (by 1827 3500)Peter Murdock (1822 by grant) then Alexander McLeay (1827 by purchase)
Camden Park2000 (by 1820s 28,000)John Macarthur (1805 by grant, additions by grant and purchase)
Cubbady500Gregory Blaxland (1816 by grant)
Denbigh1100Charles Hook (1812 by grant) then Rev Thomas Hassall (1828 by purchase)
Elderslie (Ellerslie)850John Oxley (1816 by grant) then Francis Irvine (1827 by purchase) then John Hawdon (1828 by lease)
Gledswood (Buckingham)400Gabriel Louis Marie Huon de Kerilliam (1810 by grant) then James Chisholm (1816 by purchase)
Glenlee (Eskdale)3000William Howe (1818 by grant)
Harrington Park2000William Campbell (1816 by grant) then Murdock Campbell, nephew (1827 by inheritance)
Jarvisfield (at Stonequarry, later Picton)2000Henry Antill (by grant 1821)
Kenmore600John Purcell (1812 by grant)
Kirkham1000John Oxley (1815 by grant) then Elizabeth Dumaresq (1858 by purchase)
Macquarie Grove400Rowland Hassall (1812 by grant)
Matavai Farm200Jonathon Hassall (1815 by grant)
Maryland Thomas Barker
Narallaring Grange700William Hovell (1816 by grant) then Frances Mowatt (1830 by purchase)
Nonorrah John Dickson
Orielton1500Edward Lord (1815 by grant) then John Dickson (1822 by purchase)
Parkhall (at St Marys Towers)3810Thomas Mitchell (1834 by purchase)
Pomari Grove (Pomare)150Thomas Hassall (1815 by grant)
Raby3000Alexander Riley (1816 by grant)
Smeeton (Smeaton)550Charles Throsby (1811 by grant)
Stoke Farm500Rowland Hassall (1816 by grant)
Vanderville (at The Oaks)2000John Wild (1823 by grant)
Wivenhoe (Macquarie Gift)600Rev William Cowper (1812 by grant) then Charles Cowper, son (1834 by purchase)

This Charles Kerry Image of St Paul’s Anglican Church at Cobbitty is labelled ‘English Church Cobbitty’. The image is likely to be around the 1890s and re-enforces the notion of Cobbity as an English-style pre-industrial village in the Cowpastures (PHM)

Private villages in the Cowpastures

VillageFounder (estate)Foundation (Source)
CobbittyThomas Hassall (Pomari)1828 – Heber Chapel (Mylrea: 28)
CamdenJames and William Macarthur (Camden Park)1840 (Atkinson: Camden)
ElderslieCharles Campbell (Elderslie)1840 – failed  (Mylrea:35)
Picton (Stonequarry in 1841 renamed Picton in 1845)Henry Antill   (Jarvisfield)1841  (https://www.aussietowns.com.au/town/picton-nsw#:~:text=Origin%20of%20Name,at%20the%20Battle%20of%20Waterloo.)
WiltonThomas Mitchell (Parkhall)1842 – failed (https://www.towersretreat.org.au/history/park-hall-east-bargo-1841-1860)
The OaksMrs John Wild (Vanderville)1858 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Oaks,_New_South_Wales)
MenangleJames and William Macarthur (Camden Park)1863 – arrival of railway (https://camdenhistorynotes.com/2014/02/16/menangle-camden-park-estate-village/)
   

Architecture · Attachment to place · Camden · Communications · Cowpastures · Cultural Heritage · Cultural icon · Economy · Elderslie · Floods · Heritage · Historical consciousness · Historical Research · Historical thinking · History · Landscape · Living History · Local History · Local Studies · Macarthur · Memorials · Memory · Modernism · Monuments · Nepean River · Place making · Sense of place · Storytelling · Tourism · Transport · Travel · Urban growth · Urban Planning · urban sprawl · Urbanism · Utilities

Macarthur Bridge

camdenhistorynotes2 Comments

The Macarthur Bridge across the Nepean River

The Macarthur Bridge across the Nepean River is one of the most critical parts of the economic and social infrastructure in the Macarthur area on Sydney’s south-western rural-urban fringe.

The bridge can also be regarded as one of the most items of engineering heritage in the Camden Local Government Area. The bridge provides a high-level flood-free crossing of the Nepean River which can isolate the township of Camden when the numerous low-level bridges in the area are flooded.

The low-level bridges are the Cowpasture Bridge (Camden), the Cobbitty Bridge and the Menangle Bridge.

Macarthur Bridge View from Nepean River Floodplain 2015 IWillis
Macarthur Bridge View from Nepean River floodplain upstream from the Camden township in New South Wales (IWillis 2015)

History and Description

The Macarthur Bridge is named after one of the Camden district’s first land grantees John Macarthur and their pastoral holding of Camden Park, which the family still occupy. There are many descendants of the Macarthur family in the Camden district.

The naming of the bridge coincided with establishing the Macarthur Growth Centre as part of the Askin Government’s 1968 Sydney Region Outline Plan and The New Cities of Campbelltown Camden Appin Structure Plan. These plans were supported by the Australian Government’s own Growth Centres program.

These were exciting plans that were never fully realized by the planners. The New Cities Plan turned into a developer’s dream and hastened Sydney’s urban sprawl into the southern reaches of the Cumberland Plain. The Macarthur Region is one of those legacies.

The New Cities Plan 1973[1]
The New Cities Campbelltown Camden Appin Structure Plan of 1973 was completed by the NSW State Planning Authority of the Askin Government.

The Macarthur bridge guaranteed flood free access from the Burragorang Valley coalfields to the Main Southern Railway at Glenlee for American shipping magnate Daniel Ludwig’s Clutha Development Corporation.

This development was considered important given the defeat of the Askin Liberal Government’s support for a proposal by Clutha for a rail link between the Burragorang coalfields and the Illawarra coastline. The Askin government passed special enabling legislation, which turned into one of the first environmental disputes in the Sydney basin in the early 1970s.

The Construction of the Macarthur Bridge (RMS 1973, 71/2 mins)

The high-level Macarthur Bridge allowed the diversion of coal trucks from the Burragorang Valley coalfields away from Camden’s main street, passing across the low-level Cowpasture Bridge from 1973. Coal trucks then travelled along Druitt Lane and over the Macarthur Bridge to the Glenlee Washery at Spring Farm.

The flooding by the Nepean River of the road access to the township of Camden at the low-level Cowpasture Bridge had been a perennial problem since the town’s foundation in 1840.

Cowpasture Nepean River Road Rail Bridge 1900 Postcard Camden Images
Cowpasture Nepean River Road Rail Bridge 1900 (Postcard Camden Images)

In 2002 the NSW Minister for Transport replied to a question in parliament from Dr Elizabeth Kernohan, Member for Camden, about the bridge. The Minister stated

I am advised that Macarthur Bridge was built in the early 1970’s on the basis that most of the long distance traffic would use the F5. I am advised that the primary function of the Macarthur Bridge was for use as a flood relief route. It was built parallel to the Cowpasture Bridge at Camden to take the full traffic load when the Cowpasture Bridge is impassable.

I am advised by the Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) that the bridge referred to was not specifically designed to be widened at a later date. (NSW Parliament, 8 May 2002)

Specifications

The Macarthur Bridge is a 26-span, 3380 feet (approximately 1.12 km) long concrete structure that carries the Camden Bypass across the Nepean River and its flood plain. The bridge was built between 1971 and 1973, originally to carry Hume Highway traffic, on a flood-free alignment around Camden.

The Camden Bypass

The Camden Bypass is the former Hume Highway alignment between the localities of Cross Roads and Camden. It is marked as State Route 89. The proper route is from Cross Roads, skirting Camden via the Camden Bypass and ending at Remembrance Drive, another part of the former Hume Highway near Camden South.

The  Camden Bypass was in turn bypassed in December 1980 when the section of what was then called the South Western Freeway (route F5) from Campbelltown to Yerrinbool was opened. It has grown in importance as a major arterial road linking the Hume Motorway, WestLink M7 and M5 South Western Motorway interchange at Prestons, near Liverpool, with Camden.

Macarthur Bridge Approaches 2015 1Willis
The Macarthur Bridge northern approaches from the Camden Bypass  (1Willis, 2015)

Open to traffic and construction details  

The official plaque on the bridge states:

Macarthur Bridge.

The bridge was designed by the staff of the Department of Main Roads and is the longest structure built by the Department since its inception in 1925. Length (Overall) 3380 feet comprising 26 spans each of 130 feet long. Width between kerbs 30 feet with one footway 5 feet wide. Piled foundations (max 90 feet deep) were constructed by the Department’s Bridge construction organisation. Piers and superstructure by contact by John Holland (Constructions) Pty Ltd. Total cost of bridge £2,600,000.

RJS Thomas Commissioner for Main Roads

AF Schmids Assistant Commissioner for Main Roads

GV Fawkner Engineer-in-Chief

FC Cook Engineer (Bridges)

Department of Main Roads, New South Wales

Open to traffic on 26 March 1973

Memories

Facebook 30 June 2021

Annette DingleI remember the day it opened, the school ( Camden south) walked to it . I lived in the street under it ( it was a dead end back then ) we use to play in the “tunnels “ under the bridge. You could only go so far before there was no air . Fun times

Read more

State Route 89 on Ozroads Website Click here

State Route 12 on Paul Rands Website Click here

Updated 4 March 2022, 30 June 2021. Originally posted 6 January 2020

Adaptive Re-use · Architecture · Attachment to place · Australia · Belonging · British colonialism · Camden · Camden Historical Society · Colonial Camden · Colonial frontier · Colonialism · Community identity · Convicts · Cultural Heritage · Cultural icon · Elderslie · England · Farming · Georgian · Governor Macquarie · Heritage · Historical consciousness · History · History of a house · House history · Landscape · Living History · Local History · Local Studies · Macarthur · Memorials · Memory · Myths · Place making · Sense of place · Settler colonialism · Storytelling · Tourism · Travel

Oxley’s anchor away for 34 years

camdenhistorynotes1 Comment

The mystery of the John Oxley memorial anchor.

As visitors approach the Camden town centre along Camden Valley Way at Elderslie they pass Curry Reserve which has a quaint late 19th-Century workman’s cottage and next to it a ship’s anchor. What is not readily known is that the anchor disappeared for 34 years. What happened? How did it become lost for 34 years? How did it end up in a park on Camden Valley Way?

The cottage is known as John Oxley Cottage and is the home of the local tourist information office The anchor is a memorial which was gifted to the Camden community from British naval authorities on the anniversary of the death of noted Englishman and New South Wales colonial identity John Oxley. So who was John Oxley and why is there a memorial anchor?

Portrait John Oxley 1783-1828 SLNSW
A portrait of Englishman and New South Wales colonial identity John Oxley 1783-1828 (SLNSW)

 

This tale could also be viewed as a celebration of European invaders displacing and dispossessing the Indigenous Dharawal people from their country.  Englishman and colonial identity John Oxley was part of the colonial settler society which, according to LeFevre, sought to replace the original population of the colonized territory with a new society of settlers.

Whichever view of the world you want to take this tale is an example of how the past hides many things, sometimes in plain view. This story is one of those hidden mysteries from the past and is also part of the patina of the broader Camden story.

Elderslie John Oxley Cottage Anchor and Cottage 2020 IW lowres
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)

 

John Oxley Memorial Anchor

Next to the anchor in Curry Reserve is the Oxley memorial plaque  which states:

 

In Memorium

Lieutenant John Oxley RN

1783-1829

Pioneer, Explorer and Surveyor General of New South Wales.

This Navel Anchor marks the site of the home and original grant of 1812 to John Oxley RN.

 

Elderslie John Oxley Cottage Plaque Anchor 2020 IW lowres
The plaque was attached to the John Oxley Memorial Anchor in 1963 and originally located in Kirkham Lane, Kirkham.  The 1963 site was located on the original 1812 Kirkham land grant to Oxley adjacent to the Kirkham Stables. In 2020 the plaque located on the plinth attached to the Oxley Memorial Anchor in Curry Reserve Elderslie. (I Willis, 2020)

 

The anchor was relocated to Curry Reserve in Elderslie in 2015 by Camden Council from a privately-owned site in Kirkham Lane adjacent to the Kirkham Stables. The council press release stated that the purpose of the move was to provide

greater access for the community and visitors to enjoy this special piece of the past.

Mayor Symkowiak said:

The anchor represents an important part of our history and [the council] is pleased that the community can now enjoy it in one of Camden’s most popular parks.

We are pleased to work with Camden Historical Society in its relocation to Curry Reserve. The society will provide in-kind support through the provision of a story board depicting the history of the anchor.

 

The anchor had originally been located in Kirkham Lane adjacent to Kirkham Stables in 1963. According to The Australian Surveyor, there had been an official ceremony where a descendant of John Oxley, Mollie Oxley, of Cremorne Point, NSW unveiled the plaque.  The report states that there were around 20 direct descendants of John Oxley present at the ceremony organised by the Camden Historical Society.

British naval authorities had originally handed over the anchor to the Camden community in 1929. So what had happened between 1929 and 1963?

The answer to this mystery is explained in the 60th-anniversary address given by the 2017 Camden Historical Society president Dr Ian Willis.  He stated that shortly after the society was founded in 1957 Camden Council was lobbied to do something with the anchor that

[had] languished in the council yard all but forgotten.

In 1929 the British Admiralty had presented the anchor to the Camden community to commemorate the centenary of the death of Englishman and New South Wales colonial identity John Oxley.

The British Admiralty actually had presented three commemorative anchors to Australia to serve as memorials. The Sydney Morning Herald reported:

One anchor, from the destroyer Tenacious, is to be sent to Wellington, where Oxley heard of the victory at Waterloo. A second anchor, from the minesweeper Ford, will to Harrington, to mark the spot where Oxley crossed the Manning River. The third anchor is from the destroyer Tomahawk, and will go to Kirkham, near Camden, where the explorer died.

The HMS Tomahawk was one of sixty-seven “S” class destroyers built for the Royal Navy as the Great War was ending. The ship was built in 1918 and reduced to the naval reserve list in 1923.

HMS Tomahawk
HMS Tomahawk 1920-1923 (RN)

 

John Oxley, the man.

The Australian Surveyor noted that Oxley came to New South Wales on the HMS Buffalo in 1802 as a midshipman, returned in England in 1807, gained his lieutenancy and came back to New South Wales in 1809. Oxley returned to England in 1810 and was then appointed as New South Wales Surveyor-General in 1812 and returned to the colony.

Oxley was born in Kirkham Abbey in Yorkshire England and enlisted in the Royal Navy in 1802 aged 16 years old.

Presentation The Cowpastures 2017Oct3

 

John Oxley was allocated the grants of Kirkham in 1812 (later Camelot) and Elderslie in the Cowpastures district.  He had several convicts assigned to him who worked at the property of Kirkham.

As Surveyor-General Oxley led several expeditions into the New South Wales interior and he was also active in the public affairs of the colony.

John Oxley Reserve

The sculpture of Oxley’s profile had been originally erected in John Oxley Reserve in Macquarie Grove Road at Kirkham in 2012 after lobbying by the Camden Historical Society. The metal cut-out silhouette was commissioned by Camden Council at the instigation of Robert Wheeler of the society. The sculpture commemorated the bi-centennial anniversary of Oxley’s appointment as surveyor-general to the New South Wales colony.

Mayor Greg Warren said:

John Oxley was a major part of Camden’s history. The signage and silhoutte will be a continual reminder of [his] significant contribution to the Camden area. (Camden Narellan Advertiser 20 June 2012)

 

John Oxley Cottage

The John Oxley Cottage is only remaining building from a row of workman’s cottages built in the 1890s along what was the Great South Road, later the Hume Highway (1928) and now the Camden Valley Way.

 

Elderslie John Oxley Cottage 2020 IW lowres
A view of John Oxley Cottage which is the home of the Camden Visitors Information Centre at 46 Camden Valley Way Elderslie. The late 19th-century Victorian workman’s cottage in what is now located in Curry Reserve. The site is part of the original 1812 Elderslie land grant to John Oxley. The silhouette was moved to this location from John Oxley Reserve on Macquarie Grove Road at Kirkham. (I Willis, 2020)

 

The Visitor Information Centre was opened in 1989 after the cottage, and its surrounding curtilage was purchased by Camden Council in 1988 and added to Curry Reserve. The cottage was originally owned by the Curry family and had been occupied until the late 1970s, then became derelict.

The four-room cottage had a shingle roof that was later covered in corrugated iron. There were several outbuildings including a bathroom and toilet, alongside a well.

Curry Reserve is named after early settler Patrick Curry who was the Camden waterman in the 1840s. He delivered water he drew from the Nepean River to townsfolk for 2/- a load that he transported in a wooden barrel on a horse-drawn cart.

John Oxley is remembered in lots of places

There is Oxley Street in the Camden Town Centre which was named after Oxley at the foundation of the Camden township in 1840.

An obelisk has been erected by the residents of Redcliffe that commemorates the landing of Surveyor-General Lieutenant John Oxley. In 1823, John Oxley, on instructions from Governor Brisbane, was sent to find a suitable place for a northern convict outpost.

There are more monuments to the 1824 landing of John Oxley and his discovery of freshwater at North Quay and Milton in the Brisbane area.

An anchor commemorates the route taken by John Oxley in his exploration of New South Wales in 1818 and marks the spot where Oxley crossed the Peel River in 1818 outside  Tamworth.  In 2017 the anchor was targeted as a symbol of settler colonialism and the European invasion of the lands of the Wiradjuri people. The anchor was obtained from the Australian Commonwealth Naval Department and came off the British survey ship HMS Sealark.

A monument,  the anchor from the HMS Ford from British naval authorities, was erected at Harrington NSW in honor of explorer John Oxley who explored the area from Bathurst to Port Macquarie. Oxley and his 15 men crossed the Manning River on 22 October 1818 having stayed here from 19 October in the lands of the Biripi people.

There is John Oxley Park in Wellington NSW on the Macquarie River on the land of the Wiradjuri people. Wellington was named by the explorer John Oxley who, according to the popular story, unable to cross the Lachlan River because of dense reeds, climbed Mount Arthur in 1817 and named the entire landscape below him Wellington Valley, after the Duke of Wellington who, only two years earlier, had defeated Napoleon at Waterloo.

Wellington Oxley Historical Museum once the Bank of New South Wales 1883 (WHS)
The Oxley Historical Museum located in Wellington NSW. The museum is housed in the former 1883 Bank of New South Wales. The site of the town was named after the Englishman the Duke of Wellington by John Oxley on one of his expeditions to the interior of New South Wales. The town is located on the land of the Wiradjuri people. (OHM)

 

The Oxley Historical Museum is housed in the old Bank of New South Wales, on the corner of Warne and Percy Streets, in a glorious 1883 Victorian-era two-story brick building designed by architect J. J. Hilly. Wellington’s Oxley anchor memorial is today found in the grounds of the Wellington Public School.

Updated 4 July 2020; original posted 27 March 2020

1920s · Architecture · Attachment to place · Belonging · Camden · Colonial Camden · Community identity · Cultural Heritage · Dairying · Dr West · Economy · Elderslie · Family history · Farming · First World War · Gardening · Genealogy · Heritage · Historical consciousness · Historical Research · Historical thinking · History · History of a house · House history · Interwar · Landscape · Living History · Local History · Local Studies · Memory · Myths · Place making · Ruralism · Sense of place · Settler colonialism · Storytelling · Voluntary Workers Association · War

The value of family and personal histories

camdenhistorynotes

 

The value of family and personal histories

Ian Willis writes:

Personal and family stories that family historians and genealogists seek out provide a broader perspective on local histories and local studies of an area. They allow a person to take a look at themselves in the mirror from the past. Insights into our ancestors provide a greater understanding of ourselves in the present. The past informs the present through family and personal histories and places the present us into context.

Family and personal histories allow us to see and understand that we are greater than just ourselves. We are all part of a continuum from the past. The present is only a transitory phase until tomorrow arrives.

Looking at the past through personal and family histories gives a context to our present location on the timeline within our own family. Our own family story is located within the larger story of our community. Personal and family stories remind us daily of our roots and our ancestors.

We all have a past and it is good to be reminded of it occasionally. This is a job that is well done by thousands of enthusiastic family historians and genealogists and their creation of family trees and our connections to our ancestors.

We all need an appreciation of the stories from the past to understand how they affect and create the present. The past has shaped the present and the present will re-shape the future. Our ancestors created us and who we are, and we need to show them due respect. We, in turn, will create the future for our children and their offspring.

One local family were the Pattersons of Elderslie and one of their descendants, Maree Patterson, to seeking to fill out their story. She wants your assistance. Can you help?

 

The Patterson family of Elderslie

 

Maree Patterson has written:

I moved from Elderslie in 1999 to Brisbane and I have tried unsuccessfully to find some history on the family.

I am writing this story as I have been trying to research some of my family histories on my father’s side of the family and I feel sad that I never got to know a lot about his family.

My father, Laurence James Henry Patterson, was a well-known cricketer in the Camden district. He was an only child and he didn’t really talk much about his aunts, uncles, and cousins.

My grandfather passed away when I was young. Back then I was not into family history and I’ve hit a stumbling block. I’m now in need of some assistance.

I would really like to find out some history on the Patterson family as I have no idea who I am related to on that side of my family and I would like to pass any family history down.

 

Limited  information

At the moment I am seeking any help as the following is the only information that I have on the Patterson family.

 

H Patterson arrives in Elderslie

My great grandfather was Henry Patterson (b. 16 July 1862, Kyneton, Victoria – d. 11th July 1919, Camden, NSW).  Henry arrived in Elderslie from Victoria in the 1880s with his wife Catherine (nee Darby) and they became pioneers in the Camden district.

Henry Patterson was a carpenter by trade and worked around the Camden area for various businesses.  He and his wife, Catherine had 7 children, all of whom were born in Camden.

They were Ethel Adeline (b. 9 June 1886), Clarice Mabel (b. 14 May 1888), Isabella (b. 2nd June 1890), William Henry (b. 8 May 1892), Stanley Dudley (b. 5 October 1894), Ruby Lillian (b. 24 March 1899 and who passed away at 5 months of age) and Percy Colin (b. 13 January 1903). [Camden Pioneer Register 1800-1920, Camden Area Family History Society, 2001]

Henry Paterson and Pop with family Elderslie 1895 (MPatterson)
I have been told that Henry and his family lived in a cottage in Elderslie which is now the Tourist Information Centre, but I have not been able to confirm this. [This would be what is now known as Oxley Cottage] (M Patterson)
 

 

Henry’s wife dies

Henry sadly lost his wife Catherine in 1910 at only 47 years of age, which left him to raise 6 children.

Camden St John Cemetery Catherine Patterson Grave Headstone 2020 JOBrien lowres
Headstone of the grave of Catherine Patterson who died on 2 April 1910 aged 47 years old, Henry Patterson who died on 11 July 1929 aged 66 years old. The grave is located in St John’s Church cemetery Camden and is one of the most important cemeteries in the Macarthur region. (J OBrien, 2020)

 

Henry remarried in 1912 to Martha Osmond (nee Boxall) from Victoria.

Henry died on 11 July 1929 in Camden District Hospital after pneumonia set in following an operation. Martha, who was well known and respected throughout the district passed away on 18 May 1950 at the age of 86 years of age. She broke her leg and had become bedridden for some months.

Camden St John Cemetery Catherine Patterson Grave 2020 JOBrien lowres
The Patterson family gravesite in St John’s Church cemetery Camden. St John’s Church was built in the 1840s and is one of Australia’s oldest Gothic-style churches. The church has been endowed by the Macarthur family on several occasions. The church makes up one of the most important vistas in the district with sightlines from Camden Park House. the Macarthur family mansion. (J OBrien 2020)

 

Henry’s son goes to war

Henry and Catherine’s 5th child, Stanley Dudley Patterson, was a farmer in Elderslie. He enlisted in the 1/AIF on 18 July 1915 and was sent off to war on 2 November 1915.  He was wounded and as his health continued to decline he was sent back to Australia in February 1917.

Camden Pte Stanley Dudley PATTERSON SydMail1916Sept13
Sydney Mail 13 September 1916 (Trove NLA)

 

Voluntary Workers Association helps local digger

Upon Stanley Patterson’s return to Elderslie, a meeting was held by the Camden Branch of the Voluntary Workers’ Association.

They approved the building of a three-roomed weatherboard cottage with a wide verandah front and back to be built at 7 Purcell Street, Elderslie. He was married to Maud Alice Hazell.

7 Purcell Street house 2019 REA
7 Purcell Street house originally built in 1918 for Stanley Patterson by the Workers Voluntary Association. It was the first house built in the Camden area under the scheme. (2019 REA)

 

Construction of VWA cottage

The land on which the cottage was to be built was donated by Dr. F.W. and Mrs. West. Once the cottage was completed Stanley secured a mortgage to repay the costs of building the cottage.  I believe that the construction of this cottage started in either late February or late March 1918.

Carpentering work had been carried out by Messrs. H.S. Woodhouse, A. McGregor, E. Corvan, and H. Patterson.  The painters were Messrs. F.K. Brent, J. Grono, A.S. Huthnance. E. Smith, Rex May and A. May under the supervision of Mr. P.W. May.  The fencing in front of the allotment was erected by Mr. Watson assisted by Messrs. J. E. Veness, C. Cross, and J. Clissold.  [Camden News]

Camden VWA Official Opening Advertisement 7 Purcell St CN1918June13
Camden News 13 June 1918 (Trove NLA)

 

Official handing over of VWA cottage

Stanley Patterson’s cottage in Elderslie, which was the first cottage built by the Voluntary Workers’ Association was officially opened by Mr. J.C. Hunt, M.L.A. on Saturday 15 June 1918.

  

The Camden News reported:

 A procession consisting of the Camden Band, voluntary workers, and the general public, marched from the bank corner to the cottage, where a large number of people had gathered.

 Mr. Hunt, who was well received, said he considered it a privilege and an honour to be invited to a ceremony of this kind, for when those who had fought for us needed help it was our duty to give that help, for they had fought for us needed help it was our duty to give that help, for they had sacrificed so much for us.  Although Private Patterson had returned from active service, he had offered his life for us.  Mr. Hunt congratulated Pte. Patterson on responding to the call of duty; soldiers did not look for praise, the knowledge of having done their duty to their country was all they required.  He hoped that Pte. and  Mrs. Patterson would live long to enjoy the comforts of the home provided for them by the people of Camden.

[Camden News, Thursday 20 June 1918, page 1]

 

Appeal for photographs of VWA cottage by CE Coleman

CE Coleman took a few photos of the VWA cottage handed over to Pte. Patterson.  These included: one in the course of construction; the official opening; the gathering that had assembled on the day; and a photo of Pte. Patterson.  To date, I have searched high and low for these photos but to no avail.  The only photo of a cottage built by the Voluntary Workers’ Association is a cottage at 49 Broughton Street, Camden for returned soldier Pt. B. Chesham. [Camden Images Past and Present] [Camden News, Thursday, 20 June 1918, page 4]

 

 

VWA cottage is a model farm for other returning soldiers

Elderslie (O) looking towards house in 34 River Road 1925 MPatterson
Elderslie looking towards the house in 34 River Road 1925 (M Patterson)

 

Camden Stan Patterson Poultry Farm Display Advert CN1935Jun13
Camden News 13 June 1935 (Trove NLA)

 

 The Camden News reported:

 MODEL POULTRY FARM

 Stanley Patterson settled down in his new cottage on 1¼ acres and was determined to make good and earn a livelihood and cultivated the land and planting a small apple and citrus orchard and a vineyard.  It wasn’t long before he purchased an adjoining piece of land of another 1¼ acres and within a few more years added another block, giving him 3 ¾ acres.

 By 1935, Stanley Patterson owned 14 acres in the vicinity of Elderslie.  With his apple and citrus orchard and vineyard, Stanley went into poultry farming as well with particular attention given to the production of good and profitable fowls and he had over 1,000 birds, mainly White Leghorns and Australorps with an extra run of the finest standard Minorca.

In 1935, the progeny test of Stanley Patterson’s birds held a record of 250 eggs and over and the distinctive productivity of these is in the fact that he collects eggs in an off period equal to numbers in flush periods.  The marketing value is therefore enhanced.  The pens are well divided into different sections, the buildings being on the semi-intensive system each with its own separate run.  The brooder house is fitted with the Buckeye principle brooders, also has run for young chicks.  The incubator house is a separate identity fitted with a Buckeye incubator of 2,000 eggs capacity, hot air is distributed by means of an electric fan.  Feed storage and preparation shed and packing room are conveniently attached and the model poultry farm is one that stands out only to the credit to the industrious owner, but to the district in which it is worked.  

 In 1935 day old chicks were sold for 3 Pounds per 100 or 50 for 32/-.  Day old Pullets were sold for 7 Pounds per 100, eggs for hatching sold for 25/- per 100 and Custom hatching 8/- per tray of 96 eggs.   [Camden News, Thursday 20th June 1935, page 6]

Elderslie looking to(P) house at 34 River Rd 1925 MPatterson
Looking down River Road in Elderslie to house at 34 River Rd with Nepean River in distance 1925 (M Patterson)

 

My grandfather WH Patterson

My grandfather was William Henry Patterson, the 4th child born to Henry and Catherine Patterson.  He was a carpenter like his father and following his marriage to Ruby Muriel Kennedy in 1918, he purchased some acreage in River Road, Elderslie. He had a vineyard, flower beds, fruit trees and other crops on a small farm.

Elderslie 34 River Road (X) front of house 1970 MPatterson
Family cottage of WH Patterson at 34 River Road Elderslie front of house 1970 (M Patterson)

William built his own home at 34 River Road, Elderslie in the early 1920s with some assistance from another builder.  The home was a double brick home with a tin roof and consisted of two bedrooms, a bathroom, lounge room, kitchen, laundry and a verandah around 3 sides.

Inside the home, there were a lot of decorative timber and William had also made some furniture for his new home.  This home has since gone under some extensive renovations but the front of the home still remains the same today and recently sold for $1.9 million.

As a carpenter William worked locally in the Camden district and on several occasions worked at Camelot.  Unfortunately, I have no other information on William.

Elderslie 34 River Road (W) side view of house 1970s MPatterson
Family cottage of WH Patterson at 34 River Road Elderslie side view of house 1970s (M Patterson)

 

Contemporary developments at 34 River Road, Elderslie.

Jane reports she is the current owner of 34 River Road Elderslie and has loved finding out about the history of the house. She purchased the house two years ago (2018) and is currently renovating the house interior.

Jane says:

I have been working with Nathan Caines from Fernleigh Drafting & Melanie Redman Designs for the interior, coming up with some beautiful concepts. The original exterior of the house will not be changed, but there will be some amazing changes out the back.

 

PC Patterson

Percy Colin Patterson, the 7th child born to Henry and Catherine Patterson married Christina N Larkin in 1932. In the early 1920s, Percy was a porter at Menangle Railway Station for about 5 months before he was transferred to Sydney Station.

 

Maree’s search continues

Maree Patterson concludes her story by asking:

I am particularly interested in information on the Camden Branch of the Voluntary Workers’ Association which was formed in 1918.

The WVA built the first cottage at 7 Purcell Street, Elderslie  for returned World War 1 soldier Pte. Stanley Dudley Patterson, who was my great uncle.

7 Purcell Street house 2019 REA
7 Purcell Street house 2019 (REA)

 

The house still stands today but has had some modifications and I lived in this cottage for a few years after I was born with my parents.

I am particularly interested in trying to obtain copies of these photos if they exist somewhere.   Any assistance you can offer would be greatly appreciated or perhaps point me in the right direction to find these photos.

Maree Patterson can be contacted by email:

reesrebels@yahoo.com

 

The mysteries of a house history

Revealing the layers of the past

For those who are interested in finding out the history of their house one author who has recently published her account is Caylie Jeffrey’s in her book Under the Lino The Mystery The History The Community.

Caylie writes that she had no idea of what she and her husband David Jeffrey would find when they decided to renovate the worst house on the busiest terrace in Milton, a Brisbane suburb. She says that they had no idea of the treasures they would find ‘secreted inside the house’.

Caylie writes:

A curious online community of amateur sleuths began a relentless quest for answers. As more clues were revealed, the ghosts of Old Brisbane started to rise from the depths of people’s memories.

Read more about Caylie’s story here

1920s · Adaptive Re-use · Aesthetics · Architecture · Attachment to place · Belonging · Business · Camden · Colonial Camden · Colonialism · Community identity · Cultural Heritage · Cultural icon · Economy · Edwardian · Elderslie · Fashion · First World War · Heritage · Historical consciousness · Historical Research · History · Interwar · Lifestyle · Living History · Local History · Local Studies · Macarthur · Memory · Modernism · Myths · Narellan · Place making · Ruralism · Sense of place · Storytelling · Streetscapes · Tourism · Urban growth · Urban Planning · Urbanism · Victorian · War

The Camden cottage

camdenhistorynotes1 Comment

Camden Edwardian cottages

It is with interest that I see that a local Camden real estate agent has used the term ‘Camden cottage’ on a sale poster for 21 Hill Street.

This is the first time I have seen the term ‘Camden cottage’ used in a commercial space before and it is an interesting development. The sign actually state ‘Classic Camden Cottage’.

Camden 21 Hill St Front IWillis 2019 lowres
Camden 21 Hill Street. The first time that I have seen the use of the term the ‘Camden Cottage’ used in a commercial space in the local area. This is a simple Edwardian style cottage that was a typical building style of the early 20th century in local area. (I Willis)

 

Maybe this is a recognition for the first time of a building style that was quite common in the local area in the early 20th century.

Camden 21 Hill St Front WideView I Willis 2019 lowres
Camden 21 Hill Street. The use of the term ‘Camden cottage’ on the advertising sign is an important acknowledgement of this style of residential cottage in the local area. (I Willis)

 

The cottage is a simple timber Edwardian style cottage that can be found across the Macarthur region. It was a cut-back version of more sophisticated buildings styles that were evident in the wealthier suburbs of Sydney and Melbourne. The typical Queenslander Federation cottage is a sophisticated version of the same style of house.

Queensland House style Wikimedia 2005 JBrew lowres2
Queenslander Housing Style with wide verandah. This is an elegant version of the Edwardian style of housing typical of the early 20th century in the Brisbane area. (Wikimedia, 2005, JBrew)

 

There are examples of this style in most of villages and hamlets across the local area and many isolated ones on local farms.

The name Edwardian is loosely attached to cottages and buildings erected during the reign of Edward VII from 1901 to 1910. This period covers the time after the Federation of the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901 when the six self-governing colonies combined under a new constitution. They kept their own legislatures and combined to form a new nation.

The housing style was evidence of the new found confidence of the birth of a new nation that borrowed overseas trends and adopted them to suit local conditions. These style of houses were a statement of the individualism and the national character.

The Edwardian style of housing also includes a broad range of styles including Queen Anne, Federation, Arts and Crafts and Early Bungalow. These styles often tend to be asymmetrical with a projecting from gable, can be highly decorated with detailed work to gables, windows and verandahs. Edwardian style cottages often fit between 1900 and 1920, although the style extends beyond this period influencing the Interwar style housing.

Typical Edwardian colour schemes range from apricot walls, gables and barge boards, with white lattice panelling, red roofing and green coloured windows, steps, stumps, ant caps.

A number of Camden Edwardian cottages have a projecting from room with a decorated gable. A number of been restored while others have been demolished.

Edwardian country cottages are not unique to the Camden area. Toowoomba has a host of these type of homes and published the local council publishes extensive guides explaining the style of housing and what is required for their sympathetic restoration in the online publication The Toowoomba House (2000).

Examples of Edwardian style cottages, including in and around Camden, were an Australian version of English Edwardian houses. Houses were plainer in detail, some with lead lighting in the front windows. Australian architecture was a response to the landscape and climate and the building style tells us about the time and the people who built them, how they lived and other aspects of Camden’s cultural heritage.

Camden Melrose 69 John St FCWhiteman CIPP
Camden, Melrose Cottage, 69 John Street. It was owned by FC Whiteman owner of the general store in the early 20th century. Now demolished. (Camden Images)

 

In the most March 2014 edition of Camden History Joy Riley recalls the Edwardian cottages in John Street. She stated:

‘I lived at 66 John Street for the first 40 years of my life before moving to Elderslie with my husband Bruce Riley. The two rooms of 66 John Street were built by the first John Peat, Camden builder, to come to Camden. In the 1960s I had some carpet put down in my bedroom, the floor boards were so hard, as they only used tacks in those days to hold carpet, the carpet just kept curling up.’ She says, ‘The back of the house was built by my grandfather, William Dunk. They lived next door at 64 John Street. He also built the Methodist Church at Orangeville or Werombi.

 

A number of Camden Edwardian style timber cottages have a projecting room at the front of the cottage with a decorated gable, adjacent to a front verandah, with a hipped roof line.

This housing style is often characterised by a chimney that was a flue for a kitchen fuel stove and chip copper in an adjacent laundry. In some houses plaster cornices were  common, sometimes there were ceiling roses, skirting and architraves. A number of been restored while unfortunately many others have been demolished.

Carinya Cottage
Carinya Cottage, Stewart Street, Narellan. c.1890. Since demolished. (Camden Historical Society)

 

Some Camden Edwardian homes had walls of red brickwork, sometimes with painted render in part. While there are many examples in the local area of timber houses with square-edged or bull-nosed weatherboards. Sunshades over windows supported by timber brackets are also common across the local area.

Ben Linden at Narellan is an outstanding example of the Edwardian cottages across the local area.

Ben Linden Narellan J Kooyman 1997 (Camden Images)
Ben Linden, 311 Camden Valley Way, (Old Hume Highway, Great South Road) Narellan J Kooyman 1997 (Camden Images)

 

Yamba at Kirkham is another fine example of this style.

Yamba cottage
Yamba Cottage, 181 Camden Valley Way, (Old Hume Highway/Great South Road) Kirkham c. 1913 (Camden Images)

 

Camden has quite a number of Edwardian cottages in the town area, on surrounding farms and in local district villages. They are typical of the early twentieth century landscape in the local district.

 

Aesthetics · Architecture · Attachment to place · Camden · Community identity · Cultural Heritage · Cultural icon · Elderslie · Heritage · Historical consciousness · History · Landscape aesthetics · Local History · Modernism · Place making · Sense of place · Urban growth · urban sprawl · Urbanism

Mid-20th Century Modernism in Elderslie

camdenhistorynotes1 Comment

Modernism was a transnational force that embraced the Camden community.

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

Elderslie 64 Macarthur Road 2010 IWillis
The Hennings house built at the beginning of the 1960s by a local businesman at 64 Macarthur Road. It occupied a prominent position and was influenced by the American West Coast Ranch style of housing. The house was demolished in 2011. (I Willis, 2010)

 

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

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

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

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

Wrought iron work, Elderslie NSW 1960s (I Willis)
House in Macarthur Road Elderslie showing wrought iron work popular in the 1960s. A number of houses were built in this style based on the mining boom from the Burragorang Valley coal mines. (I Willis, 2010)

 

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

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

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

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

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

Attachment to place · British colonialism · Colonial Camden · Colonialism · Community identity · Convicts · Cowpastures · Elderslie · England · Farming · Governor Macquarie · Heritage · Historical consciousness · History · Landscape aesthetics · Local History · Place making · Sense of place · Settler colonialism · Victorian

The Cowpastures Project

camdenhistorynotes14 Comments

The Cowpastures project is a community based collaborative research enterprise which is co-ordinated by UOW historian Dr Ian Willis.

Presentation The Cowpastures 2017Oct3

 

It is a long term venture which aims to reveal the intricacies of the Cowpastures district from 1795 to 1850.

The Dharawal people occupied the area for centuries.

 

Sydney1790_Aborgines in Port Jackson
Sydney 1790 Aborigines in Port Jackson (SLNSW)

The district was part of the Australian colonial settler society project driven by British colonialism.

There was the creation of the government reserve for the wild cattle between 1795 and 1823. After this period the Cowpastures became a regional locality that was in common usage well into the 19th century.

 

1824-view-of-cowpastures-joseph-lycett
View upon the Nepean River, at the Cow Pastures New South Wales 1824-1825 Joseph Lycett (SLNSW)

The British aimed to create an English-style landscape from their arrival in the area from 1790s. The earliest written acknowledgement of this by Englishman John Hawdon in 1828.

 

1932_SMH_CowpastureCattle_map
Map of the Cowpastures government reserve (SMH 13 August 1932)

Learn more about the Cowpastures from these blog posts and other resources: 

A colonial diarist of the Cowpastures

This blog post is a review of Janice Johnson (ed), Camden Through a Poet’s Eyes, Charles Tompson (Jnr) (2019).  Tompson was a prolific writer and observer of the Cowpastures under the byline ‘From our Correspondent – Camden’ for The Sydney Morning Herald between 1847 and 1852. In 1854 Charles Tompson described that the ‘village of Camden’ had ‘the aspect and the attributes of an English village’ (p.118) for the first time.

A contested sacred site in the historic landscape of the Cowpastures (blog post)

This blog post examine community concerns around the sale of glebe land attached to St John’s Anglican Church in Camden and highlights community sensitivities to sale of church sites. This church was largely funded by the Macarthur family and has since its foundation in 1847 has received considerable endowments from the family.

The Cowpastures Region 1795-1840 (blog post on regionalism & boundaries)

This blog post attempts to put a regional boundary on The Cowpastures for the first time and examines some of the historical evidence for this boundary.

Camden Cowpastures Bicentenary Celebrations  (Blog post)
‘Just like England’, a colonial settler landscape  (Peer-reviewed article)
Cowpastures and Beyond: Conference 2016  (Camden Area Family History Society)
Convicts in the Cowpastures (Blog post)
Governor Macquarie in the Cowpastures 1810 (Blog post)
Governor Macquarie returns to the Cowpastures 1820 (Blog post)
Mummel and a Cowpastures Patriarch (Blog post)

The Cowpastures, just like a English landscape (Presentation)

The Cowpasture, just like an English landscape (Slideshare)
Viewing the landscape of the Cowpastures (Blog post)
John Hawdon of Elderslie (Blog post)
John Hawdon of Elderslie English Origins (Blog post)
The Cowpastures at the Campbelltown Arts Centre (2017) (Exhibition)
The Came by Boat Exhibition Campbelltown Arts Centre (Exhibition Review, 2017)
John Macarthur the legend (Blog post)
Hope, heritage and a sense of place – an English village in the Cowpastures (Blog post)

This blog post looks at the historical elements that have contributed to the Camden sense of place, and ultimately its historical significance.

A walk in the meadows of the past

This blog post is about the Miss Llewella Davies Pioneers Walkway at the Camden Town Farm. The beauty of the Cowpastures landscape characterises the recently opened Miss Lewella Davies Memorial Walkway which weaves its way across the Nepean River flats on the western side of Camden’s township historic town centre.

British colonialism · Colonial Camden · Colonialism · Cowpastures · Elderslie · England · Farming · Heritage · History · Local History · Macarthur · Newspapers · Place making · Sense of place · Settler colonialism

John Hawdon of Elderslie and his English origins

camdenhistorynotes3 Comments

James Pearson of Staindrop History of County Durham in England has recently written to the CHN blogger and brought to his attention information about the English origins and connections of John Hawdon of Elderslie.

John Hawdon arrived in New South Wales with his family and servants in 1828. He took a six year lease on John Oxley’s former grant of Elderslie and became a colonial identity. He later took up a grant in the Moruya area of the New South Wales South Coast and built Kiora homestead in 1836

John Hawdon image
John Hawdon [Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney), Saturday 18 January 1879, page 17]

The village of Wackerfield in County Durham, England

England Wackerfield hamlet signage ODixon 2009
The signage on the approaches to the hamlet of Wackerfield County Durham England  (ODixon 2009)

John Hawdon of Elderslie was born in the village of Wackerfield. The village is also known as Wakefield or Walkerfield in Country Durham. According to James Pearson the accent  in the north-east reduces this pronunciation to ‘Wackerfield’ and it appears on maps under either spelling.

James Pearson writes that Wackerfield sits on the slope of Keverstone bank just above Raby Castle and the ground begins to descend, though not steeply, towards the river Tees.  It looks flat area in places and is located  on the ‘spine’ of England.  The area is on the eastern side of the north Pennine range so areas of moorland.

The hamlet of Wackerfield is about half a mile from Raby Castle in County Durham.

Raby Castle websites states:

Built for the mighty dynasty of the Nevills, this great fortress stands proud and defiant, its history rolling back almost a thousand years. King Cnut (also known as Canute II the Great) owned the Estate, then known as ‘Rabi’ (derived from ‘Ra’, Danish for a boundary, and ‘Bi’, a settlement or dwelling) in the early 11th Century. The Viking King and self appointed ‘Emperor of the North’ may well have built a manor house here, but it was the Nevills who built the 14th century castle which still stands today.

England Raby Castle Co Durham 2017 RCastle
Raby Castle Co Durham England. The Raby estate includes the hamlet of Wackerfield (2017 RCastle)

Raby Castle was the property of the Nevill family and royal connections until 1569 when they led a rebellion against Elizabeth I  for which hundreds were executed in the north,  a number from every village and town.  It then became the property of the Vane family who were prominent in the English Civil War.

Raby Castle websites states that:

Raby Castle, the private home of Lord Barnard, sits at the heart of the Raby Estate, which spreads across Teesdale, County Durham and Northumbria. Agriculture is an important source of income for the Estate. As well as the Estate’s own Home Farm in Raby Park, there are many tenanted farms and a large number of houses and cottages in villages around Teesdale, many are whitewashed farmsteads and houses where families have been tenants for several generations.

Raby Estates have several residential properties and agricultural holdings which become available from time to time. Houses owned by Raby can be found in many Teesdale villages near Barnard Castle and Darlington such as Staindrop, Piercebridge, Wackerfield and Middleton-in-Teesdale.

Wackerield Hall in the main building in the village and there are a number of outbuildings.

England Wackerfield John Hawdon 2017 JPearson
The hamlet of Wackerfield County Durham where John Hawdon of Elderslie grew up. The hamlet is part of the estate linked to Raby Castle. (JPearson, 2017)

Next to the Hall is a row of 4 cottages and, according to James Pearson, this is about the extent of the village. There are only one or two other isolated cottages

Today they produce a lot of hay in this area, and during harvest period tractor and trailer loads of baled hay come through the village.

 

The Hawdon family of Wackerfield

John Hawdon, the father of John of Elderslie, was a yeoman farm.    A yeoman farmer between the 14th and 18th century as a farmer who owned land. The social rank of the yeoman was between the land owning gentry and labourer

John Hawdon of Wackerfield was born in 1770, son of John Hawdon and Mary Watson.  He married Elizabeth Hunt of Gainford, a village about three miles away, in 1798.  John’s children included sons John (b.1801), Joseph and William (b.1812), who stayed on the family farm.

John was a ‘Cornet’ (2nd Lieutenant) in Staindrop Gentlemen and Yeomanry (1798—1815), raised by John Ingram which was renamed as the Staindrop Troop of Volunteer Cavalry, disbanded in 1815.  The was cavalry raised in 1798 in the face of a threatened Napoleonic invasion.  John was promoted to a lieutenant and eventually served as captain of the troop.

Officers Jacket Staindrop Cavalry 1798-1815 DLI
This is an Officer’s Full Dress Light Cavalry Jacket, Staindrop Cavalry, 1798-1815. This scarlet wool jacket has black velvet facings (collar and cuffs), white cord ‘frogging’, and plain silver domed buttons.(Durham Light Infantry Collection)

The Durham Light Infantry Museum Collection website states:

The Staindrop Gentlemen and Yeomanry was raised in 1798 by John Ingram of Staindrop, with a strength of 54 officers and men. In 1803, the Regiment changed its name to the Staindrop Volunteer Cavalry. It survived until 1815, when it became part of the Durham Yeomanry. This is a rare surviving example of Napoleonic Volunteer cavalry uniform from County Durham.

Officers Helmut Staindrop Cavalry 1798-1815 DLI
Officers Helmut Staindrop Cavalry 1798-1815 (Durham Light Infantry Collection)

 

John Hawdon of Wackerfield died in 1845.

John of Elderslie’s parents are buried in the churchyard in Wackerfield and there is a gravestone.

John Hawdon, grandfather of John of Elderslie, was born in the parish in 1742 son of Christopher and Ann Hawdon.  Christopher was born in 1710 in the same parish.

 

The Hawdon farm in County Durham

John Hawdon’s farm was 520 acres and is still a working farm with the original farmhouse. It was primarily concerned with breeding and growing sheep.

John Hawdon, (b.1770) was a member of the Staindrop Farmer’s Club where they discussed the latest developments in farming and other issues. In 1862 John felt that the steam plough and threshing machine would be a great improvement for farming.  John was quite an expert on raising sheep and presented a paper at the Club on the issue in 1863. In 1865 John spoke the Club on the subject of fattening sheep during the summer months.

On the death of John Hawdon (1770-1845) in 1845 his third  son William Watson Hawdon was in possession of the farm.

Brother William (1812-1879) stayed and farmed at Wackerfield.    William married and had several sons, one was an engineer, another  was a director of ironworks, and one died young aged 16yrs.

England Wackerfield Moorland looking to the Hal 2017 JPearson
A country lane on the Moorland looking east from the hamlet of Wackerfield (JPearson, 2017)

When William Watson Hawdon died in 1879 aged 67yrs, he had no son in the farming business to follow him.

William’s widow left the farm  and moved into Ormuz house on the village green and died there in 1891.

James Pearson came across a speech their father John Hawdon (1770-1845) gave to the Staindrop Farmers Club in 1844 and he was discussing the breeds of sheep and what is best for the local area.

Today the farm has some sheep, dairy farming and some cropping.

 

John of Elderslie

John Hawdon of Elderslie did duties in the Staindrop Volunteer Cavalry before coming out to New South Wales.

Elderslie2
The scene at Elderslie New South Wales on an autumn day showing the site in 2014 of the original Elderslie lease that John Hawdon took out in 1828 (IWillis)

John’s younger brother Joseph Hawdon followed his elder brother, John, out to Australia. He too had an eventful life eventually moving to New Zealand where he became famous as an outlander.

Brother Joseph had died in 1871 in New Zealand, and brother John of Elderslie was the surviving brother.  John of Eldersle returned to England in the late 1870s.

James Pearson located an interesting newspaper article about John of Elderslie’s return to England. The local newspaper reported the visit and John’s return to New South Wales in 1880.

In the course of a few days Mr John Hawdon, of Wackerfield, will sail for the antipodes, and the last link of a family long associated with agricultural pursuits in this neighbourhood will be severed. Mr Hawdon’s family for centuries have farmed at Walkerfield, and the name is familiar in most market towns in the north.  At a period contemporaneous with the reign of Queen Elisabeth the farm at Wackerfield belonged to the Hawdons, the property subsequently having been purchased by one of the lords of Raby, and the farm being now held by the Duke of Cleveland. The lot of the farmer has been beset with difficulties during the past few years. The English agriculturist has had to cope with foreign competition. Bad trade has long depressed all industries, and, what is even more significant to the farmer, bad crops for a succession of years have been reaped. There is every prospect, however, this season, that good crops will uniformly be gathered. Let us venture a hope that in his new home Mr Hawdon may prosper, and that he may soon be surrounded by as many friends as now regret his departure from these shores.

[The Teesdale Mercury—Wednesday  July 14, 1880 at Barnard Castle]

 

 

Read more:

S G P Ward (1962), ‘Faithful: The Story of The Durham Light Infantry’ provides an overview of the Napoleonic Volunteers in County Durham.

 

Agriculture · Attachment to place · Australia · British colonialism · Colonial frontier · Colonialism · Community identity · Convicts · Cowpastures · Cultural Heritage · Denbigh · Economy · Elderslie · England · Farming · Gothic · Heritage · Historical consciousness · Historical Research · Historical thinking · History · Living History · Local History · Local Studies · Macarthur · Memory · Place making · Radical history · Sense of place · Settler colonialism · Storytelling

Convicts in the Cowpastures, an untold story

camdenhistorynotes6 Comments

The convict story in the Cowpastures

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

View near Woolwich in Kent shewing [sic] the employment of the convicts from the hulks, c. 1800 (State Library of NSW)
View near Woolwich in Kent shewing [sic] the employment of the convicts from the hulks, c. 1800 (State Library of NSW)
 

Part of a global story

The convicts were a form of forced labour, with a global history that goes back to Roman times. Amongst those who were landed were human souls who were part of the dark story of banishment and exile. The story of convicts and banishment is an integral part of the European colonialism from the 16th century and the rise of labour camps. The story parallels that of slavery. Convicts came to New South Wales after the British lost the American colonies in the revolutionary wars in the 1780s.

Convicts in the Australian colonies

The convicts that ended up the in Cowpastures district were part of the 160,000 who were transported to the Australian colonies from England, Wales, Ireland, and the British colonies. Convicts were usually employed in several ways by the colonial authorities: assignment; government work gangs; Tickets of Leave; Conditional Pardon; and an Absolute Pardon with complete freedom to do as they wished including returning to Britain.

Generally speaking, most convict women could be classified as domestic servants, while male convicts had a host of skills with town trades dominating over rural workers.  The literacy rates and skills of convicts were the same or better than the English and Irish working classes.

Map of Cowpastures SMH 13 August 1932
This is a map of the Cowpastures published in the Interwar period when then was an increased increase in the story of the cattle, John Macarthur and Camden Park Estate. Map of Cowpastures (SMH 13 August 1932)

 

The Cowpastures district

The Cowpastures district was an ill-defined area that included Governor Hunter’s government reserve from 1795.   The reserve covered an area that generally south of the Nepean River between Stonequarry Creek (Picton), The Oaks and Menangle to the east. By 1840 the Cowpastures district had become a general locality name that extended north of the Nepean River to include Narellan and Bringelly.

View upon the Nepean River, at the Cow Pastures New South Wales 1824-1825 Joseph Lycett
View upon the Nepean River, at the Cow Pastures New South Wales 1824-1825 Joseph Lycett

Stories of Convicts

The best short reference of the convicts in the Cowpastures is Ken Williams’ 1824 Cawdor Bench of Magistrates Population, Land and Stock Book (2011), where he lists the names and masters. Williams indicates that in the Cowpasture in 1824 there were 430 convicts and of them, 15 were women, who were listed as domestic servants.[1]  Elizabeth Villy indicates that the stock books indicate 29 landholders, who were mostly absentee landlords.[2]

The best account to date of the activities of the convicts in the Cowpastures is Elizabeth Villy’s The Old Razorback Road (2011). She states that in the 1820s in the last days of the Cowpastures Government Reserve there were around 550 convicts assigned to settlers including around 100 at Camden Park Estate. These men were employed as shepherds and labourers, who were clearing land, and preparing the ground for ploughing and growing pasture.[3]

Convicts and civil works in the Cowpastures

The Great South Road was one of the major civil engineering projects in the Cowpastures district that employed convicts. A major bridge (Cowpasture Bridge) was constructed by convicts across the Nepean River mid-way between the river crossings at the Home Farm at Belgenny and the Hassall’s at Macquarie Grove.  Villy details how the bridge was built by a team of convicts between 1824 and 1826. The construction was supervised by convict Samuel Wainwright, a Cheshire carpenter, who arrived on the Neptune in 1818. Villy lists 24 convicts who worked on the bridge construction between 1827 and 1829.[4]

The other major project was The Great South Road itself and in the Cowpastures section Villy estimates that around 400 men worked on the road. Her research indicates that they left no surviving records and many just ‘melted into society after their sentences’ (p.67).  The ethnography of the convicts up to 1828 was mainly English, with smaller numbers of Welsh and Scots. From this time as more Irish were sent out the ratio English to Irish was around half and half. If the convicts misbehaved they were punished by whipping and the Cawdor Bench imposed punishments up to 50 lashes. Mostly they involved insolence, absconding, drunkenness, and laziness. On the Camden-Stonequarry road section, there were no portable stockades or vans. Villy provides interesting accounts of the activities of individual convicts, their punishments and the convict lifestyle of the road gangs. [5]

John Hawdon Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1870 - 1907), Saturday 18 January 1879, page 17
John Hawdon arrived in New South Wales with his family and servants in 1828. He took a six-year lease on John Oxley’s former grant of Elderslie and became a colonial identity. He later took up a grant in the Moruya area of the New South Wales South Coast and built Kiora homestead in 1836  (Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW: 1870 – 1907), Saturday 18 January 1879, page 17)

 

Elderslie

Convicts were part of the John Oxley’s Elderslie enterprise and when John Hawdon leased it in 1828 off Francis Irvine he was impressed with the range of trades amongst the 30 ‘government men’ who worked on Elderslie. He was not deterred by dark Gothic notions of the penal settlement and expressed his frustration with the attitude of his countrymen in a letter home.[6] Hawdon felt that the dark stories and fear about the colony were over-rated. He wrote:

‘I am aware of the feeling you all have at home about us having so many convicts around us. Your fears, I can assure you are most unfounded’.[7]

Elderslie according to Alan Atkinson supported 9 convicts when Oxley sold the grant to Francis Irvine in 1827.[8] At Macquarie Grove under Samual Hassall, there were 30 convicts with 3 families of children.[9]

Denbigh

Reverend Thomas Hassall who purchased Denbigh in 1826 on the death of Charles Hook had 20 convicts, according to his son James Hassall in his In Old Australia, Records, and Reminiscences from 1794. The worked from six in the morning in summer and from eight in winter until sundown. The convicts were managed by a Scottish overseer and they carried out the farming activities on the property. The rations included tea, sugar, meat, flour or when which they ground for themselves on a small steel mill.[10]

Denbigh Homestead Open Day 2015 IWillis
Denbigh Homestead is an important colonial farm complex in the Cowpastures. The original grant of 1812 was to Charles Hook and he built a single story dwelling on the site. The property was purchased by Thomas Hassall in 1827 and added a bedroom story to the house. The farm is significant because it contains a rare and remarkable group of the homestead and early farm buildings from colonial New South Wales. (Open Day 2015 I Willis)

 

Kirkham

At the time of the 1828 Census at ‘Kirkham’, which had 54 people including 44 convicts. (SRNSW NRS 1273 1828 Census).

Birling

Birling’ was a 1000 acre granted to Robert Lowe in 1812. According to the 1814 muster, Robert Lowe employed seven assigned convicts which had increased to 21 by the 1822 muster, while by 1828 this had dropped to 12 convicts. (SRNSW)

The Cowpastures Convict and Settler Database

Some members of the Camden Historical Society drew together a database of names of convicts and settlers in the Cowpastures in the early part of the 19th century in the 1990s. The data was drawn from a variety of sources including convict musters. On extracting the names of convicts the following information is now available for several gentry properties in the Cowpastures District before 1840 and include: Brownlow Hill  – 44 convicts between 1823 and 1828. In 1823 there were 11 convicts assigned to Peter Murdoch who had the Glendaural grant, which later became part of Brownlow Hill; Denbigh – 8 convicts in 1828; Kirkham – 103 convicts between 1814 and 1830 with a mix of skill including ploughman, shepherds, millers, and general labourers; Macquarie Grove – 28 convicts in 1828 with skills including ploughman, wheelwright, labourer, and house servants; Matavai (Cobbitty) – 14 convicts in 1828 who included blacksmith, sawyer, labourers and house servants; Wivenhoe – 6 convicts in 1828 who included a cooper and shoemaker. The database is located at the Camden Museum.

Notes

[1] Ken Williams, 1824 Cawdor Bench of Magistrates Population, Land and Stock Book, A Biographical Register of the Inhabitants residing in the Cowpastures, Picton & District Historical and Family History Society, Picton, 2011.

[2] Elizabeth Villy, The Old Razorback Road, Life on the Great South Road between Camden and Picton 1830-1930, Rosenberg, Dural, 2011. p. 35.

[3] Villy, The Old Razorback Road, pp. 34-35.

[4] Villy, The Old Razorback Road.pp. 62-65

[5] Villy, The Old Razorback Road.pp. 66-90.

[6] The Sydney Morning Herald, Saturday 26 October 1929, p 13.

[7] The Sydney Morning Herald, Saturday 26 October 1929, p 13.

[8] Alan Atkinson, Camden, Farm and Village Life in Early New South Wales, OUP, Melb, 1988, p.20. Peter Mylrea, Camden District, A History to the 1840s, Camden Historical Society, 2002, p.34.

[9]  Atkinson, Camden,  p.20

[10] James S Hassall, In Old Australia Records and Reminiscences from 1794, RS Hews,  Brisbane, 1902 (BiblioBazaar, 2015), pp. 4-5

The Cowpasture Project

More information about the Cowpastures can be found on the Cowpastures project blog page. Click here