A 1917 view of Harold Perkin’s father on a horse-drawn rake at Cawdor. Horses were commonly used on farms throughout the Camden District until after the Second World War. The growing of hay for stock feed was one of the more popular crops grown on local farms. It was sold on the Sydney market to stables to feed horses that were used around the city for deliveries and other activities. In this image, the grass is cut and being raked into rows to dry. It will then be bailed up for sale or made into a haystack on the Perkin’s dairy farm, which would be used later as stock feed.
A 1917 view of horse-drawn plough on Perkins dairy farm at Cawdor
Harold E. Perkins was a smallholder dairy farmer at Cawdor who lived on the family farm of Verdundale. One of his pastimes was photography.
Eliza Adelia Pearl Perkins (nee Starr), who lived at Cawdor and later in Ettlesdale Road Elderslie, donated the family photograph album to the Camden Historical Society.
The images range across the years from 1915 to 1928 and illustrate the many aspects of the daily life of the farmers in the Cawdor area. There are also images of parts of life in Camden, with flooding of the Nepean River and other disruptions to daily routines.
The images are full of life and a snapshot of the past. They evoke emotions that contemporary images fail to arouse.
Flood on Nepean River at Camden in 1925 with a view to Elderslie along Argyle Street outside milk factory.
View along Cobbitty Road in 1928
A 1926 view of Cawdor Creamery with deliveries of milk from local dairy farms
This is a 1915 view of the Commercial Banking Co. building at the corner of Argyle and John Street Camden, with the Anderson drinking fountain in front.
Camden History Notes 
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