20th century · Anzac · Art · Attachment to place · Belonging · Camden Story · Craft · Crafts · Cultural Heritage · Cultural icon · Cultural plantings · Design · Family history · Festivals · History · History of Emotion · Living History · Local History · Local Studies · localism · Memorial · Memorialisation · Memorials · Memory · Metaphor · Military history · Modernism · Monuments · Patriotism · Place making · Propaganda · Second World War · Sense of place · Sewing · Stereotypes · Storytelling · Symbolism · Uncategorized · Volunteering · Volunteerism · War · War at home · Wartime · Women's diaries · Women's history · World War One

Red Flanders poppies, a field of memories

The red poppy carries a lot of symbolism in cultural mythologies from remembrance to sacrifices. The simple flower triggers outpouring of emotion, memories and commemorations on Anzac Day and Remembrance Day every year.

Art · Artists · Australian Botanic Gardens Mount Annan · Belonging · Community identity · Cowpastures · Crafts · Cultural Heritage · Cultural icon · Cumberland Plain · Cumberland Plain Woodland · Dharawal · Heritage · History · Indigenous Heritage · Living History · Local History · Local Studies · Memorial · Memory · Place making · Public art · Sense of place · Storytelling · Trees · Uncategorized · Wayfinding

Life Blood, public art at the Australia Botanic Gardens

On the forecourt of the Herbarium at the Australian Botanic Garden is an artwork celebrating the heritage of Indigenous culture called Life Blood.

1968 Sydney Region Outline Plan · 1973 New Cities Campbelltown Camden Appin Structure Plan · Advertising · Attachment to place · Built heritag · Community identity · Cultural Heritage · Elderslie · Heritage · History · Land releases · Living History · Local History · Local Studies · Place making · rural-urban fringe · Storytelling · Uncategorized · Urban development · Urban growth · Urban history · Urban Planning · urban sprawl · Urbanism

Elderslie land releases 2000-2023, the background and fancy estate names

The Elderslie area has been identified in Sydney’s strategic growth plans for land releases on the metropolitan rural-urban fringe. It is a valuable exercise to see how and when Elderslie was identified as part of Sydney’s planning framework.

Aesthetics · Art · Artists · Belonging · Colonialism · Community identity · Community work · Crafts · Cultural Heritage · Design · Education · Elyard Reserve, Narellan · Heritage · History · Living History · Local History · Local Studies · Memorialisation · Memorials · Narellan · Parks · Place making · Public art · Sense of place · Settler colonialism · Settler Society · Storytelling · Tourism · Urban Planning · Urbanism

Narellan Community Mosaic Project: art in the park

The Narellan Community Mosaic Project was commissioned in 2005 by Camden Council with funding from the NSW Department of Planning. This artwork is one of number in Elyard Reserve in Narellan.

Advertising · Agricultural heritage · Agriculture · Attachment to place · Belonging · Camden · Camden Show · Camden Show Young Woman · Camden Showgirl · Camden Story · Community identity · Community work · Country Women's Association · Crafts · Cultural Heritage · CWA · Dairying · Farming · Festivals · History · Horticulture · Lifestyle · Living History · Local History · Local newspapers · Local Studies · Memory · Newspapers · Onslow Park · Place making · Ruralism · Sense of place · Showgirl competition · Stereotypes · Storytelling · Uncategorized · Volunteering · Volunteerism

Camden Show 2023

The Camden Show is on again after floods and Covid stopped it in recent years. The show is back with all the bells and whistles of the past with some new innovations. A must see is the 2023 Camden Show.

1920s · 1930s · Architecture · Attachment to place · Built heritag · Business History · Collective Memory · Community Health · Cultural Heritage · Design · Edwardian · Film · Foresters Hall (former) · Heritage · History · Interwar · Leisure · Living History · Local History · Local Studies · Memory · Modernism · Movies · Narellan Military Camp · Placemaking · Second World War

The former Foresters’ Hall, a marvellous Edwardian building

In Camden NSW the former Foresters’ Hall occupies one of the most prominent sites in the Town Centre on Oxley Street and Argyle Street at 147 Argyle Street. On its opening in 1908, the hall was considered the best in New South Wales by the Order of Royal Foresters.

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

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

St Mark's Church Elderslie 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.

Argyle Street · Camden · Camden Council · Camden Historical Society · Camden Museum · Camden Red Cross · Camden Show · Churches · Coal mining · Colonial Camden · Country Women's Association · Cultural Heritage · Dairying · Elizabeth Macarthur · Farming · First World War · Floods · Heritage · History · Living History · Local History · Local newspapers · Local Studies · Macarthur · Macarthur Park · Nepean River · Philanthropy · Place making · Placemaking · Railway · Red Cross · Schools · Second World War · Sense of place · Settler colonialism · Settler Society · Silver mining · Storytelling · Sydney's rural-urban fringe · Uncategorized · Urban development · Urban growth · Urban Planning · urban sprawl · Urbanism · Volunteering · Volunteerism · Wartime · World War One

Camden, a Macarthur family venture

The establishment of Camden, New South Wales, the town in 1840, was a private venture of James and William Macarthur, sons of colonial patriarch John Macarthur, at the Nepean River crossing on the northern edge of the family’s pastoral property of Camden Park. The town’s site was enclosed on three sides by a sweeping bend in the Nepean River and has regularly flooded the surrounding farmland and lower parts of the town.

Aesthetics · Architecture · Art · Artists · Attachment to place · Belonging · Community identity · Cultural icon · Design · Heritage · Living History · Local History · Memorial · Memorialisation · Memorials · Memory · Monuments · Oran Park · Oran Park Library · Oran Park Raceway · Place making · Placemaking · Sense of place · Storytelling · Urban Planning · Urbanism

Oran Park Library: public art celebrates the ghosts of motor racing

The Oran Park library has a number of public artworks that commemorate the former Oran Park motorway that was on the site. These wonderful public art installations celebrate the memories of the  Oran Park Raceway which closed in 2010.

Aesthetics · Art · Attachment to place · Belonging · Camden · Colonial Camden · Colonial frontier · Colonialism · Commemoration · Cowpastures Bicentennial · Cultural icon · Dharawal · Family history · Festivals · Frontier violence · Governor Macquarie · Heritage · Historical consciousness · History · Living History · Local History · Local Studies · Memorial · Memorialisation · Memorials · Memory · Monuments · Place making · Public art · Settler colonialism · Settler Society · Tourism · War

Cowpastures’ memories in monuments, memorials and murals.

Many memorials and monuments across the Cowpastures landscape commemorate its history and sense of place, with a recent nostalgic turn focusing on the pioneers and European settlement. War memorials are a ubiquitous form of memorialization in the Macarthur region, and public art, historical sites, and cultural heritage also play significant roles. These commemorations can be controversial, especially considering Australia's dark history, and evoke different memories for different people. Additionally, the landscape of the Cowpastures is interpreted in various ways, including as a colonial frontier, government reserve, and English-style landscape. Various memorials, artworks, and historic sites dot the region, contributing to its identity and history.