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

April 29, 2024 camdenhistorynotes1 Comment

Australian Historical Association 2007 Regional Conference

Engaging Histories

University of New England, Armidale

23-26 September 2007

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

Abstract

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

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

Article

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

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

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

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

What is the country town idyll?

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

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

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

The origins of the idyll.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Formalisation of the idyll

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

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

It further maintains that

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

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

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

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

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

St Johns Church Camden around 1900 (Camden Images)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The webpage continues in a similar vein

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

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

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

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

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

Is the idyll still relevant?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[21] Macarthur Advertiser 16 August 1995.

[22] The Crier 18 March 1981.

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

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

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

[26] Macarthur Advertiser 11 September 2002.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Camden, the making and re-making of familiar places

April 27, 2024April 28, 2024 camdenhistorynotes

WEA-RAHS Seminar Series

Understanding Places

History House, 135 Macquarie Street, Sydney

28 October 2009

Camden, the making and re-making of familiar places

Abstract

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

Slide Presentation

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

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

April 13, 2024 camdenhistorynotes

Book Review

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

A story from the shadows of history

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Recovery of stories

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

April 10, 2024 camdenhistorynotes

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

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

Conference Paper

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

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

This partnership is the subject of this paper.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Understanding and Trust

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

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

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

Clear Objectives

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Common Goals and Benefits

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

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

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

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

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

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

Evaluation

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

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

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

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

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

Conclusion

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

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

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

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

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

Acknowledgements

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

References

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Endnotes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Agency · Art · Artists · Artworks · Attachment to place · Belonging · Camden Council · Community · Community building · Community Engagement · Community identity · Craft · Cultural Heritage · Heritage · Living History · Local History · Local Studies · Oran Park · Place making · Placemaking · Public art · Sense of place · Social History · Stories · Storytelling · Women's art · Women's stories

Public Art, Young Women Artists Have Something to Say

March 22, 2024March 29, 2024 camdenhistorynotes

Something to Say art installations

Young people are often described as having nothing to say. Well, at Oran Park, outside the Camden Council administration building, there is a series of artworks that have Something to Say. The artworks are part of the Camden Council’s Camden Council’s Youth Participation Public Art Program, which began in 2016.

These works are described as temporary art installations. They were created by young women artists between the ages of 12 and 24. The artists were encouraged to tell their own stories within their own communities and enhance their skills as artists.

The aim of the public art program is as

a place making initiative that encourages local youth and artist collaboration to create vibrant spaces that foster a sense of belonging and identity.
https://www.camden.nsw.gov.au/community/support/cultural-development-and-arts/camden-council-public-arts/something-to-say-eoi/

Artworks often tell stories through a series of images or by selecting a moment in time. These are narrative works that illustrate aspects of an artist’s life or some historical event, cultural festival, religious theme, or perhaps a legendary figure or mythic character.

The J Paul Getty Museum states that teaching young people stories in art involves lessons that

will build students’ awareness of how stories can be told visually and how artists use color, line, gesture, composition, and symbolism to tell a story. Students will interpret and create narratives based upon a work of art and apply what they have learned to create works of art that tell a story.
https://www.getty.edu/education/teachers/classroom_resources/curricula/stories/

Something to Say art installation outside Camden Council administration building at Oran Park (CC 2023)

The young women who participated in the Something to Say program worked with local Menangle artist Michele Arentz.

On the Camden Council website, each of the artists in the program has issued a statement of intent or a statement that outlines the story that each of the artists tell in their works.

These young women are from different cultural backgrounds and have used their agency to tell intensely personal stories. The stories reflect a diversity of life experiences and provide an insight into the minds of Gen Z.

The artworks reflect different storytelling techniques across a range of art mediums and styles.

Women artists and their statements of intent

Team leader

Michele Arentz @marentzy

In my artwork, I have tried to create a symbolic representation of the elements that the young people in the Something to Say program have chosen to identify as having a positive influence in their lives to date or into their futures.

For example, the elements I have tried to convey in my artwork are featured around family support, promoting togetherness and strength of character, links to community via faith and sport, creativity, expression through artmaking, and achieving academically and spiritually.
https://www.camden.nsw.gov.au/community/support/cultural-development-and-arts/camden-council-public-arts/something-to-say-eoi/

Something to Say art installation outside the front of the Camden Administration building at Oran Park. (I Willis 2024)

Young women artists

Ayesha Khan @ajk_afflatus

My artwork depicts women of all different ages and ethnicities in a public bathroom looking at a mirror. It is a reflection of all the different walks of life that people come from, as well as women’s empowerment. These women all have different careers or roles they play in life, from mother to fast food worker, doctor to student.
https://www.camden.nsw.gov.au/community/support/cultural-development-and-arts/camden-council-public-arts/something-to-say-eoi/

Channie Chu

I decided to create this artwork as it incorporates some of my favourite things in life that I love, including art, the city and flowers. These express who I am and what I love. This artwork is made with acrylic paint and posca paint markers.
https://www.camden.nsw.gov.au/community/support/cultural-development-and-arts/camden-council-public-arts/something-to-say-eoi/

Eashtha Inavolu

My artwork is based upon a picture of me that was taken during a family trip. The painting reflects my love for nature and plants. The colourful flowers on the heart represent all the people who bring joy to my life. I chose to paint this because it embraces who I am in an indirect way.
https://www.camden.nsw.gov.au/community/support/cultural-development-and-arts/camden-council-public-arts/something-to-say-eoi/

Evie Hay

My Something to Say project is about the struggles and challenges in life that relates to all audiences. It’s about the importance of having positivity, community and creativity to push you towards your goals.
https://www.camden.nsw.gov.au/community/support/cultural-development-and-arts/camden-council-public-arts/something-to-say-eoi/

Jade Stein

With this painting, I wanted to visualise the warmth and community that can be found in churches all across the Camden LGA. To do this, I gave my impression of a familiar building, St John’s Anglican Church, surrounded by a diversity of people spending time with each other in the afternoon light. Although the historical structure is almost 200 years old, it is still a place of fellowship for the community. I also wanted to emphasise the role that any place of meeting or worship can have in bringing people together and developing a sense of belonging and connection.
https://www.camden.nsw.gov.au/community/support/cultural-development-and-arts/camden-council-public-arts/something-to-say-eoi/

Jessica Beck

In my artwork, I have painted a Barbie doll with the words “Life Is Short Make Every Hair Flip Count” to represent the role of a female. This is not just because Barbie has become a huge influence for children, in particular girls, but because as we grow, we long for the days when we knew who we were and weren’t aware of our passion being destroyed by the real world. This painting represents that we can still regain the confidence and innocence that we once had by simple things like flipping your hair.
https://www.camden.nsw.gov.au/community/support/cultural-development-and-arts/camden-council-public-arts/something-to-say-eoi/

Karrin Smith-Down

My artwork is called ‘The Fridge’. Members of the local community may have personal issues and concerns, but not many know how to reach out for help. For this artwork, I convey services and ways to reach out through post-it notes on a fridge, which is where people put most of their important things.
https://www.camden.nsw.gov.au/community/support/cultural-development-and-arts/camden-council-public-arts/something-to-say-eoi/

Lana Johnstone

In loving memory of Olive McAleer.

This artwork is inspired by my late great-grandmother Olive McAleer’s artworks. Family and heritage are an important part of my life. I wanted to display this through a clear connection between my artwork and my grandmother’s artworks, from the brushwork to the colours to the type of flower – white camellias. I wanted to add my own unique features to the artwork, with the Australian flowers seen. I am passionate about caring for and protecting Australian nature and wanted to include that to merge aspects of my life into my grandmother’s artwork.
https://www.camden.nsw.gov.au/community/support/cultural-development-and-arts/camden-council-public-arts/something-to-say-eoi/

Srihitha Nagella

I painted this on my board because it holds some of my favourite moments. The pink moon represents the blood moon that I have always wanted to see. So, the night of the eclipse I waited all night and then fell asleep when it rose. The African violets represent the ones on my windowsill.
https://www.camden.nsw.gov.au/community/support/cultural-development-and-arts/camden-council-public-arts/something-to-say-eoi/

Rosa Quispe

My artwork is based on how sport brings everyone together. I show a little of each sport, whether it is a ball or a player. As a personal touch, I decided to highlight football, since football has helped me to understand Australia’s culture and blend with the people in the community. I added keywords, such as ‘communication’, which means that through sport we can know other people better. ‘Passion’ that motivates people to commit in sports and be able to achieve their goals. Lastly, ‘teamwork’ is in every sport, whether it is played 1vs1 or in groups. It always involves supporting and helping each other. My main message to get across is that sports leads to people being united and being a big family, without exception.
https://www.camden.nsw.gov.au/community/support/cultural-development-and-arts/camden-council-public-arts/something-to-say-eoi/

Concluding Remarks

These art installations demonstrate how art can contribute to community-building through the construction of placemaking.

Public art encourages cultural tourism by promoting community identity and a sense of place. These factors contribute to job creation and the enhancement of local business opportunities.

Something to Say art installation on a bus shelter in Harrington Street Elderslie in the early dawn light (I Willis 2024)

All photographs are by Ian Willis unless otherwise indicated.

Updated on 29 March 2024. Originally posted on 22 March 2024 as ‘Public art by young women artists on display at Oran Park’.

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Despina’s story, fond memories of living in Campbelltown

March 21, 2024 camdenhistorynotes

Memories of Campbelltown

A former resident of Campbelltown, Despina Maddalena, has recalled her time living in Campbelltown in the early 2000s. She has fond memories and is quick to defend the city from stereotypes and misinformation.

Over the decades, Campbelltown has received some bad press from some quarters of the Sydney press.

On the other hand, others have come to its defence, like former editor Campbelltown-Macarthur News Jeff McGill in 2013 when he stridently defended his home town in the Sydney press in an article ‘Careful what you call south-western Sydney’.

In another story, former Airds resident Fiona Woods defended her home turf from detractors in an emotionally filled story in a suburb where residents have lived on the edge and faced many challenges.

In a blog post called Westies, Bogans and Yobbos. What’s in a name? I argue that

Sydney’s west and south-west have also been stereotyped as regions that are dangerous foreign places, a form of Otherness.

I conclude in the blog post that

a name does matter and Macarthur regionalism is a touchy issue in the communities of Campbelltown, Camden and Picton where identity, place, stereotypes and perceptions are realities for some but not for all.

Memories are important to people as they are tied up with their identity and sense of place. Memories help tell our story to the world, who we are and where we come from.

This Despina’s story.

An area to be proud of

Despina Maddalena

It was August 2002, and we were preparing for our wedding. At the time, we opted to buy our own home rather than rent.

After looking at what our 21-year-old selves could get with our savings, the options were a studio apartment located in a rather run-down part of Sydney’s CBD for approximately $150,000 or $210,000 for a home in Campbelltown not too far from my parents. We decided at the time, given our family also consisted of a staffy called Tessa, that a home with a yard would be more appropriate.

Colonial Street Cottage Campbelltown (D Maddelana)

Whilst looking at homes in and around Campbelltown, we settled for a little home on Colonial Street.
Colonial Street is a split-level street in the older part of Campbelltown. Many homes in that area look much the same, being mostly fibro or weatherboard. We found out that they were offered as part of an affordable housing scheme introduced to returning servicemen with families following WW2.

Having grown up in South Australia, my knowledge of Campbelltown was limited at the time despite living in the surrounding suburb of Bow Bowing for a few years. However, from what I had heard, Campbelltown had a reputation of being a rather rough area, so though I was proud my fiancée and I were able to buy our own home, I must admit I didn’t feel I could proclaim ‘we bought our first home in Campbelltown’ to all out friends and family. The area we were told had an issue with crime, and the demographics of the area were very much blue collar, with a good majority of residents living in government housing and living on government handouts. As such, although I was excited to move in, I was rather hesitant as to what our experience would be.

Colonial Street cottage Campbelltown (D Maddalena)

In August 2002, we purchased the home, and by February 2003, I moved in. Over the next 3 years, living in our little fibro 2-bedroom, 1-bathroom home, I came to appreciate the area, and my opinion of it had, for the most part, changed. Our neighbours on either side were working-class folk, much like us. On one side, there was a young family, very quiet with a newborn baby, and the father enjoyed his potted patch of greens. They were always quiet and friendly. Our neighbours on the other side were also lovely people with two grown-up children. They were a little rough around the edges but decent and hardworking.

Campbelltown itself had everything and anything we could ask for in amenities, hospitals, shopping centres and transportation. It was also a perfect pivotal location to visit regional areas surrounding Sydney and other cities such as Canberra.

Our quaint little home had wonderful views that overlooked the mountains of Razorback. We enjoyed living there and never had a problem with crime, and neither really did our neighbours or friends who lived in the area. Our support network was fantastic, we attended the local Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses that met at St Helen’s Park were we were able to meet a great deal of people from all walks of life as well as walk the areas of Campbelltown both old and new. It was then that I really came to appreciate that, despite its reputation, Campbelltown wasn’t such a bad place to live after all.

In August 2005, exactly 3 years from the date we bought it, we sold our little home on Colonial Street to travel the world. On returning to Australia, we moved to different areas of NSW and Sydney itself and got to experience varying demographics. Kempsey on the Mid North Coast, which also had its own unique reputation and history, was one area we lived in, somewhat similar to Campbeltown, as well as Kurraba Point on Sydney’s North Shore. Both are vastly different. In each area where we lived, we joined the local congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses and, through our volunteer work, got to see aspects and places of suburbs that even people who live in an area for most of their lives sometimes don’t really experience.

In December 2013, we ended up back in Campbelltown, this time on Ruzac Street, purchasing a considerably older home. Most people would turn in the opposite direction, given how much work it needed. However, my husband and I have always had an appreciation for older homes with history and charm. We would often joke that we wanted a home with a soul.

The house was apparently built in the 1950s for Mr French, a schoolteacher. It was double-brick and almost triple-story, with interesting handrails and wonderful views.

Our neighbours were the best you could ask for, Judy Clarke, who grew up a street above ours in the 1940s. A year after we moved in, she moved next door to us, after having lived out of the area during her married life. Brian and Noreen across the road, Brian of which was born and bred in the area. Both are really lovely neighbours, neighbours you could only wish you had.

Our home was just below St Elmo, a wonderful grand home on Broughton Street with a rich history that sadly has been left to rack and ruin. As with most homes with history in Campbelltown and everywhere, my heart breaks to see them let go. However, for the most part, those glimpses of Campbelltown that remind us of yesteryear are still there, the Old Bank on Queen Street built in the 1880s, the Queen Street shopfronts, some still untouched from the 1940s, Mawson Park not even scratching the surface. Campbeltown has a rich and wonderful history we found with much to offer.

From the first time we moved back to Campbelltown, we had noticed a drastic change in people and the surrounding landscape from 2005, returning in 2013.

Many of the older fibro or weatherboard homes that really embodied Campbelltown’s construction were now being flattened in preparation for 2, 3 or even 4-story buildings, some townhouses, and some apartment buildings. It was sad to see these older homes go. However, this was the reality of life. The population was expanding, and Campbelltown was really becoming a satellite city. Along with this the culture of the area had drastically changed, there was a healthy mix of different nationalities moving in. From being predominantly Australian, an influx of immigrants from India, Bangladesh, Philippines, Samoa and China now flavour the area. The shopping centres and small shops on the main streets and back streets avail those who live in the area or visit a variety of cultural experiences that have the ability to tease one’s sensory system.

The Australian Botanical Gardens were also a favourite place to visit with friends and family.

If asked, I would be hard-pressed to find another area, such as Campbelltown, that has so much to offer. There is great truth in the saying time changes things, and it certainly has.

My once initially negative thoughts of the area had changed. Yes, there is crime, there are areas decidedly ugly and neglected, but most suburbs have that, so really, the area is what one makes it. Campbelltown, for the most part, is perhaps even better than ever for its cultural diversity and perhaps forced adaptation to the new.

I feel sorry for people who live locally but who haven’t had the opportunity or drive to embrace the area. When in discussion with people now about our growth as individuals and journey in life, I’m actually quite proud to mention Campbelltown.

Its history and demographics have certainly changed over the last century. It cannot be argued that the preservation of an area’s history can enrich both socially and culturally.

My only wish is that those delegated with the power to make a change take a little more pride, take a little more care, and show a little more interest in Campbelltown and its surrounding suburbs’ tangible history and invest in its future through infrastructure and building preservation. Campbeltown really does have a lot to offer.

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Public art in Hobart tells the story of female convicts in Van Diemen’s Land

February 25, 2024 camdenhistorynotes

Hidden in the shadows

Public art has been used in Hobart to reveal stories of female convicts that have been hidden in the shadows for decades.

The silence of history has been broken, and the layers of history have been peeled back to reveal a story of resilience and agency in the face of misery and hardship.

The logo of the Cascades Female Factory Historic Site in South Hobart (CFFHS)

These stories have been commemorated in two sets of statues, one on the Hobart waterfront and one at the Cascades Female Factory in South Hobart, by Irish sculptor Rowan Gillespie.

Footsteps Towards Freedom (2017)

In 2017, the Footsteps Towards Freedom statues were installed on the Hobart waterfront and unveiled by the President of Ireland, Michael Higgins, and the Governor of Tasmania, Kate Warner.

The proposal was first mooted in 2015 when Hobart Lord Mayor Sue Hickey, the Speaker of the House of Assembly Elise Archer and the Governor of Tasmania met to discuss the project.

Irish sculptor Rowan Gillespie was commissioned to undertake the art installations. Dublin-based Gillespie is from a global community of bronze-casting sculptors and works from a foundry in County Clare in Ireland. He is one of the few who works on site-specific art installations and uses the lost wax casting process to portray human emotions where a metal sculpture is cast from an original.

Footsteps Towards Freedom art installation at Macquarie Wharf No 1 on the Hobart waterfront (I Willis 2024)

The four statues that make up Footsteps Towards Freedom are located on Macquarie Wharf No. 1, where the convict women were taken off the ships.

The women were then walked up Macquarie Street to the Female Factory to await assignment or to be kept there if they were considered unassignable.

The Monuments Australia website states that Footsteps Towards Freedom is:

From 1803 to 1853, almost 13,000 convict women together with 2,000 children arrived in Van Diemen’s Land.
https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/landscape/settlement/display/112076-footsteps-towards-freedom

The President of Ireland Michael Higgins said at the opening of the art installation:

These sculptures, let us remind ourselves, also make common cause with the suffering of migrants in our times. They should remind us that the trauma of displacement and forced exile are not experiences confined to our past, but are the lived experience of millions around the world today, including many who now call Australia home.
https://fromtheshadows.org.au

From the Shadows (2021)

Following on from the success of the Footsteps of Freedom project, the Governor of Tasmania, Kate Warner, launched the From the Shadows project at a reception at Government House in 2019.

In 2021, the Governor of Tasmania, Kate Warner, unveiled the first of two statues, one of a pregnant convict outside the Cascades Female Factory and the other in the factory yard.

The statues were designed and constructed by Irish sculptor Rowan Gillespie.

From the Shadows art installation at the Cascades Female Factory in South Hobart. This statue of a pregnant female convict, completed by Irish sculptor Rowan Gillespie, is located outside the grounds of the factory. (I Willis 2024)

The Governor of Tasmania Kate Warner said at the opening of the first statue in 2021

The narrative of the pregnant convict woman highlights that there is much more to a convict life than a crime, a trial and sentence. The statue of the pregnant convict woman is evocative and challenging, and is designed to make those viewing her ask: who is she? why is she here? what became of her baby?
https://www.govhouse.tas.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/2022-03/from_the_shadows_2021_.pdf

Cascades Female Factory

The Cascades Female Factory was one of a number of sites of reform and retribution of the British penal system in Van Diemen’s Land, where women could be hidden from their English masters.

Women of Irish, Scottish and Welsh descent and working-class English women from the northern counties.

If the factory walls could speak, they would tell harrowing tales of depravity, immorality and corruption. Decadence, sinfulness, perversion, degenerate, evil and wickedness for the upright church-going middle-class of colonial Hobart.

The female factory was opened at the Cascades from 1828 to 1856 at a time when women had few legal rights. The story of the female factory is one of women’s agency, resilience and perseverance in the face of incredible adversity and hardship. Hundreds of descendants in Tasmania point to these stories.

Now rebuilt with a new interpretative information centre, the female factory allows these stories to be told. Women’s stories and experiences at the female factory have been re-interpreted. Stories of trauma, queerness, loss and dispossession of children, and loss of identity.

One of the yards at the Cascades Female Factory in South Hobart (I Willis 2024)

The very fact of the isolation and desolation of the female factory did, in its own way, lead to enough remnants of the factory remaining on its original site to be able to resurrect the stories and experiences of the women experiences and stories.

Careful interpretation of the old and its remnants have produced a hauntingly real experience for visitors at a site of hardship and trauma for many women inmates.

The Cascades Female Factory website states that the

Cascades Female Factory Historic Site bears witness to the displacement, oppression and control of women in Tasmania. We honour their pain and loss, their courage and perseverance.
https://femalefactory.org.au/audioguide/

Cascades Female Factory in South Hobart in the late 19th century (CFFHS)

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Embroided handkerchief, memories of home at Christmas on the frontline in 1916

December 24, 2023 camdenhistorynotes

Embroidered silk handkerchief

At the Liverpool Regional Museum, there are poignant memories of home for an Australian soldier on the frontline at Christmas in 1916.

Christmas during wartime is a period of hope and memories of home. This embroidered silk handkerchief is full of meaning and memories for an Australian soldier.

An embroidered silk handkerchief sent to an Australian soldier on the frontline in 1916 at Christmas (Liverpool Regional Museum)

Embroidered souvenirs during wartime were popular with the troops, and they were light and easily folded and posted from home.

The troops could easily carry these momentoes in their kit bag as they moved around the front.

The embroidered silk handkerchief was a personal item from a loved one who had taken the time and effort to hand-sew the design on the material.

The curator at the Liverpool Regional Museum has written:

In the heat of the First World War, many continued to find comfort in the small holidays that dotted the year. The highlight was Christmas, which held high prominence throughout Australia from the 1910s.

As war waged throughout the world, Christmas brought sorrow for those separated from loved ones fighting in far-off lands. As a result, embroidered cards and fabrics were frequently purchased by soldiers. As souvenirs to send home, they were a powerful message to loved ones as a reminder during these times apart. These elaborate gifts were handmade, often featuring traditional or patriotic symbols, generally adorned with the flags of the countries fighting the war.

This handkerchief belonging to the Ashcroft Family is one of these souvenir gifts. Made from white silk, it is hand embroidered with a Christmas Tree. The bauble decorations illustrate the flags of the Triple Entente, the allied powers of World War One, which then included Great Britain, France and Russia.
https://mylibrary.liverpool.nsw.gov.au/My-Library/liverpool-regional-museum

An embroidered silk handkerchief sent to an Australian soldier on the frontline at Christmas 1916 (Liverpool Regional Museum)

From the Ashcroft Collection at the Liverpool Regional Museum.

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Camden Material and Colour Guide, a heritage building guide

December 15, 2023 camdenhistorynotes1 Comment

Camden Material and Colour Guide

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

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

The aim of the guide

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

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

The guide is welcome

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

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

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

Camden Mayor Ashleigh Cagney said,

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

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

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

Camden Council commissioned City Plan Heritage to prepare the guide.

Camden Material and Colour Guide

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

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

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

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

There is also an illustrated guide to architectural terms.

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

Camden housing styles

The guide has identified eight Camden housing styles:

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

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

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

I have written

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

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

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

The Camden Cottage

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

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

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

Other heritage guides

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

The Guide and the Camden Heritage Conservation Area

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

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

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

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

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

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Celebrate Camden 93, a spring festival

December 5, 2023 camdenhistorynotes

30^th anniversary

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Speculation of cancellation

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

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

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

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

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

Great success

So, how did things go?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Celebrate Camden 94

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

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

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

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

Sponsorship problems

Sponsorship for Celebrate Camden 94 proved to be a problem.

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

Planning proceeded.

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

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

Success or failure?

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

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

Australian Historical Association 2007 Regional Conference

Engaging Histories

University of New England, Armidale

23-26 September 2007

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

Abstract

Article

What is the country town idyll?

The origins of the idyll.

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

Formalisation of the idyll

Is the idyll still relevant?

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WEA-RAHS Seminar Series

Understanding Places

History House, 135 Macquarie Street, Sydney

28 October 2009

Camden, the making and re-making of familiar places

Abstract

Slide Presentation

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Book Review

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

A story from the shadows of history

Recovery of stories

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

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

Conference Paper

Understanding and Trust

Clear Objectives

Common Goals and Benefits

Evaluation

Conclusion

Acknowledgements

References

Endnotes

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Something to Say art installations

Women artists and their statements of intent

Team leader

Michele Arentz @marentzy

Young women artists

Ayesha Khan @ajk_afflatus

Channie Chu

Eashtha Inavolu

Evie Hay

Jade Stein

Jessica Beck

Karrin Smith-Down

Lana Johnstone

Srihitha Nagella

Rosa Quispe

Concluding Remarks

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Memories of Campbelltown

An area to be proud of

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Hidden in the shadows

Footsteps Towards Freedom (2017)

From the Shadows (2021)

Cascades Female Factory

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Embroidered silk handkerchief

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Camden Material and Colour Guide

The aim of the guide

The guide is welcome

Camden Material and Colour Guide

Camden housing styles

The Camden Cottage

Other heritage guides

30^th anniversary