Category: Memorialisation

Architecture · Art · Built heritag · Commemoration · Cultural Heritage · Garden Palace · Heritage · History · Industrial Heritage · Lost Sydney · Memorialisation · Memorials · Memory · Pageant · Place making · Placemaking · Sense of place · Settler colonialism · Sydney International Exhibition · Uncategorized · Urban growth · Urban history · Victorian

Garden Palace, showing the wonders of the age

camdenhistorynotes

Massive fire in Macquarie Street 1882

In 1882, there was a massive fire in Macquarie Street, Sydney. The Sydney Morning Herald reported:

The beautiful building known as the Garden Palace was totally destroyed by fire together with its valuable contents. The conflagration naturally provided an impressive spectacle and was watched with awe by tens of thousands of people who quickly gathered from all parts of the city. (SMH, 18 April 1931)

The Burning of the Garden Palace, seen from the North Shore, [1882] / J.C. Hoyte 1882 (SLNSW)

The newspaper report stated this apparent

calamity was in reality was a blessing in disguise, for it returned am area of open space to the citizens, of which they should never been deprived, and removed a source of danger that must have grown ever more dangerous with the passage of time. (SMH, 18 April 1931)

Litograph, “Burning of the Garden Palace, Sydney”, Gibbs Shallard and Company, Sydney, 1882. Jonathan Jones’s artwork barrangal dyara traces the building’s physical outline with 15,000 ash-white shields. Image credit: Kaldor Public Art Projects/Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, Sydney

The fire, a tragic event that filled the hearts of many with sorrow, resulted in the significant loss of irreplaceable records, artefacts, and other materials. Among the casualties were the records of the 1881 Census, railway surveys, and the Technological, Industrial and Sanitary Museum, which had been a treasure trove of knowledge since its founding in 1878 by the Australian Museum. This later became the Museum of Applied Arts and Science and the Powerhouse Museum. The fire also claimed the squatting occupation of NSW and around 1000 Aboriginal artefacts, a loss that can never be fully quantified.

Garden Palace ruin after fire 1882 (SRNSW/MoHNSW)

The origin of the fire, a puzzle that has intrigued historians and researchers for years, remains shrouded in mystery. Despite its best efforts, the official inquiry could not definitively determine the cause. Speculation, as diverse as the city itself, ranged from the disgruntled wealthy residents of Macquarie Street to the destruction of convict records containing potentially damaging information. (SLNSW)

Sydney International Exhibition 1879-1880

The Garden Palace was originally commissioned in 1878 by the NSW colonial government to house the Sydney International Exhibition. The exhibition’s aim was to contribute to the progress and development of the colony of NSW. The exhibition benefited Sydney, boosted the economy, and improved services in the city. A steam-powered tram was installed in the city to assist movement around the town centre, and after the exhibition, it was expanded and converted to electric traction in 1905.

Garden Palace Architectural Drawing 1870 (SLNSW)

 According to Shirley Fitzgerald in the Dictionary of Sydney

The fashion for holding exhibitions, where countries could show off their industrial and manufacturing might as well as their agricultural riches and artistic skills, began in 1851 with the London Exhibition. It was housed in the purpose-built Crystal Palace. Exhibitions followed in other European cities and in Philadelphia in the United States. Paris was particularly fond of holding them. Then Sydney, a place not noted for its advanced industrial sector, and very far away from other places that were, decided to have a go. (https://dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/garden_palace)

Royal Agricultural Society

Originally, the Royal Agricultural Society of NSW proposed a small international exhibition with a rural theme in 1877 using the society’s exhibition hall in Prince Alfred Park. As the idea gained momentum, the RAS backed out. In 1878, the colonial government set up the Royal Commission for an International Exhibition in Sydney, headed by politician and philanthropist Sir Patrick Jennings.

Like a large cathedral

Colonial Architect James Barnet designed the Garden Palace building. It was in a commanding position in the Inner Domain, with a ‘beautiful view of the harbour and its shores’ (ISN, 25 October 1882) at the southwestern end of the Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain.

Sydney Garden Palace 1879 (Antique Print Club)

The building was shaped like a crucifix, similar to a large cathedral or London’s Crystal Palace. It was like the later Melbourne Exhibition Centre (b.1879-1880). The Garden Place nave and transept were flanked by expansive aisles, stretched 800 feet from north to south and 500 feet from east to west with towers at each end. The northern tower contained Sydney’s first hydraulic lift.

Plan of exhibitors Garden Palace 1879 (SLNSW)

The nave and transept intersection were crowned by a dome, 100 feet in diameter and 90 feet from the floor, culminating in a lantern that soared 210 feet above the ground. The nave and transept ended in four entrance towers, each standing tall at heights ranging from 120 to 150 feet. The extensive aisles were bathed in natural light from vertical windows, strategically placed to avoid direct sunlight. The basement, too, was illuminated by lofty side windows. The total floor space of this architectural marvel was a staggering 8½ acres. (ISN, 25 October 1882)

View of the Garden Palace from Macquarie Street 1879 (SLNSW)

Beneath the dome was a fountain with a 25-foot statue of Queen Victoria on top. The dome had a 25-foot diameter skylight dotted with ‘golden stairs’. The galvanised iron roof was coloured light blue. The fronts of the galleries had the names of cities and towns on their panels. (ISN, 25 October 1882)

Garden Palace interior Queen Victoria under the dome at the International Exhibition 1879 (PHM/MAAS)

Construction

Construction took eight months to complete, and was opened on 17 September 1879 at a cost of £192,000 by the Governor of the colony of NSW, Lord Augustus Loftus. Work was carried out around the clock under electric lighting imported from England. Construction was completed by experienced builder John Young, who had worked on the Crystal Palace at The Great Exhibition of 1851 in London. The construction job employed around 3000 men and 650 carpenters, using 2.5m bricks, 243 tons of galvanised iron, and 1.4m of timber and glass. (SLNSW)

Garden Palace dome construction 1879 (SLNSW)

Official opening

The opening was attended by the governors of Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania, military and naval officers, foreign dignitaries, and 20,000 members of the general public. (ISN, 25 October 1882)

Garden Palace engraving 1879 Illustrated Australian News October 1879 (SLV)

Commissioner PA Jennings said:

Since the Exhibition of 1851 in London, held under the presidency of the illustrious Prince Contort, whose memory is nowhere more deeply revered than in this colony, universal Expositions, or ‘World’s Fairs have been held in Paris, in Loudon, in Vienna, and in Philadelphia, and the beneficial consequences of those “Festivals of Peace” become more apparent the more their effects are studied. It has remained for this city of Sydney, the metropolis of the parent colony of Australia, to sustain its position by inviting “all the flags of all the world” to range themselves in peaceful concord here to-day. (Sydney Morning Herald, Thursday 18 September 1879)

Mr Jennings then invited the governor to open the Sydney International Exhibition 1879.

Governor Loftus said:

In the name of New South Wales, the elder colony of the Australian group, the once despised, and – may I not say – the now honoured, I welcome the representatives of the old heroic nations welcome the representatives of the bright daughter-lands of England- I welcome all of human brotherhood, to our newly raised Temple of Industry and Peace in a new world. (Sydney Morning Herald, Thursday 18 September 1879)

The governor then opened the exhibition to the public.

Vase from the French Government to the City of Sydney International Exhibition 1879 (CofSydney)

Fine art annexe

The fine art commissioners at the exhibition were not satisfied that the Garden Palace was a suitable space to hang artworks and convinced the exhibition organisers to build a Fine Arts Annexe. Designed by church designer William Wardell and shaped like a crucifix, the annexe opened two months after the exhibition opened. After the exhibition closed, the colonial government gave the building to the NSW Academy of Art in 1880, and the refurbished building was named the National Art Gallery of NSW and retained that title until 1958. (https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/about-us/history/our-gallery-history/history-of-the-building/the-fine-arts-annexe-1880-84/)

Garden Palace Interior North Nave International Exhibition of 1879 (PHM/MAAS)

The exhibition

The exhibition closed on 20 April 1880 after being open for 185 days and attended by 1,117,536 people, producing a surplus of £41,432. (ISN, 25 October 1882) The remarkable achievement was when the population of NSW was around 650,000.

The cost of admission was 5/-, later dropped to 1/-, and a season pass was £3/3/-. Over 30 countries and colonies, with over 14,000 exhibits, participated in the exhibition. The exhibition provided opportunities for countries to express their national identity and display the latest technology. Exhibits included glass, tapestries, fine porcelain, ethnographic specimens (Aboriginal specimens), and heavy machinery. (SLNSW)

Garden Palace International Exhibition Tasmania 1879 (SRNSW/MoHNSW)

Commemorative sites

Commemorative gates were built on the former site of the Garden Palace in 1889 to commemorate the memory of the Garden Palace.

Garden Palace Gates 1958 (CofSArchives)

In 1979, Sir Roden Cutler unveiled a commemorative plaque on the Garden Palace’s central dome site, celebrating the centenary of the first International Exhibition in Sydney in 1879.

Commemorate plaque International Exhibition Royal Botanic Gardens 1979 (MonAust)

The site of the former Garden Palace is now a rose garden within the Royal Botanic Gardens of Sydney.

Palace Rose Garden Pergola Royal Botanic Garden Sydney 2024 (RBG)

Legacies

  1. Powerhouse Museum, formerly the Museum of Applied Arts and Science, formerly Technological, Industrial and Sanitary Museum (1878)
  2. Art Gallery of New South Wales, formerly National Art Gallery of NSW (1880)
Art Gallery of New South Wales 2022 WikipediaCommons
Adaptive Re-use · Adaptive Reuse · Art · Artists · Artworks · Attachment to place · Belonging · Cascades Female Factory · Collective Memory · Colonialism · Community identity · Convicts · Cultural and Heritage Tourism · Cultural Heritage · Cultural icon · Grief · History · History of Emotion · Hobart · Hope and loss · Local History · Local Studies · Memorial · Memorialisation · Memorials · Memory · Monuments · Place making · Placemaking · Public art · Sense of place · Social History · Stories · Storytelling · Uncategorized · Women's history · Women's stories

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

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

<pic 4 statues on Macquarie wharf Hobart>

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
Statue of a female convict in the yard of the Cascades Female Factory that is part of the art installation From the Shadows by Irish sculptor Rowan Gillespie. (I Willis 2024)

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.

Cascades Female Factory in South Hobart (CFFHS)

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)

Burragorang Valley · Business History · Camden Historical Society · Camden Museum · Camden Story · Communications · Cultural Heritage · Engineering Heritage · Engineering History · Heritage · History · Industrial Heritage · Legends · Local History · Memorial · Memorialisation · Memorials · Memory · Moveable Heritage · Pioneers · Place making · Silver mining · Storytelling · Teamsters Memorial · Transport · transport history · Travel · Travellers · Uncategorized

Camden Teamsters Memorial, when the horse was king on the Yerranderie Road

camdenhistorynotes

Tribute to mining and industrial heritage

If you wander along the John Street heritage precinct, you will come across a quaint monument with a large wagon wheel reminding you of when the horse was king on the Yerranderie Road.  

The Camden Teamster’s Memorial is on John Street, Camden. The memorial is between Macaria, a Victorian gentleman’s townhouse, and Tiffins Cottage, an early Victorian cottage. (I Willis 2023)

Before, motorised transport teams of between 13 and 16 horses pulled wagons along the Yerranderie Road that were no more than a goat track in places, up and down steep inclines, through bushfires, floods and droughts.

The Teamsters Memorial, an item of public art, is a tribute to the memory of these horses, the men who worked with them, and the district’s industrial and mining heritage. 

Australian Town & Country Journal 30 August 1911

What was a teamster?

These hard-bitten characters could handle a team of up to 16 horses pulling a wagon loaded with up to 15 tons of ore.

Wikipedia defines a teamster as someone who drives a team, usually of oxen, horses, or mules, pulling a wagon in Australia, sometimes called a bullocky. In 1912, the term carrier was used to describe the teamster.

These men, and they were only men, were skilled horsemen with a tough, dangerous job. Teamsters were out in all weather, working dawn to dusk, and some died on the job.

Photograph from The Australasian Journal (Melbourne) published 1 October 1932.

The Camden teamsters carried ore from the Yerranderie Myall gold & silver fields to the Camden railhead between 1900 and 1925.

At its height, Yerranderie had a population of around 3000 people, with 16 mines extracting silver and lesser amounts of gold and lead. Between 1900 and 1926, over £2 million of silver was extracted from the Yerranderie fields.

Royalty on the Yerranderie Road

In the early days of mining operations, the teamsters were at the height of their reign. They were the royalty of the district and commanded their authority over the mine owners at Yerranderie. Without their services to cart ore from Yerranderie to the Camden railhead, mining operations at Yerranderie stopped.

The teamster would load his wagon at Yerranderie, unload at the top of the Bluff (at Nattai) and go back for another load. On his return to the Bluff, he would reload the remainder and head to the Camden railhead. This process would take about five days.

One of the information boards on the side of the memorial (I Willis 2023)

The horse teams

The horse teams would be between 13 and 16 horses carting a flat-top wagon with a load of 13 to 16 tons of ore.

In 1908, there were 54 horse teams on the Yerranderie Road carting to the Camden railhead.

Bennetts of St Marys NSW built a common flat-top wagon type used by the teamsters.

The going rate for carting ore was £2/ton. (1908) The rate varied little across the years the Yerranderie fields were operational.

The high cost of cartage meant that only the highest grade ore could be sent for refining at Sulphide Corporation at Cockle Creek on Lake Macquarie via the Camden railhead.

Lower-grade ore remained at the Yerranderie mines as waste. Partial treatment of the ore was tried with varying success.

One of the information boards on the side of the memorial (I Willis, 2023)

There was a serious attempt by the mine owners to bypass the stranglehold of the teamsters from 1906. The mine owners tried to have the state government build a light tramway to the top of the Bluff and, at one stage, from Thirlmere to Yerranderie (1910). The NSW Government was never really interested in any of these proposals.

In 1904, the idea of using camels to cart ore was floated. The idea did not last long.

The authority of the teamsters started to wane in the pre-war years, and there were moves to unionise and fix cartage rates by the Australian Carrier’s Union (1913)

Others plying the Yerranderie Road

The Yerranderie teamsters were not the only ones plying the Yerranderie Road.

There was a daily mail coach that ran between Camden and Yerranderie. The passenger fare was  12/6 one-way from Yerranderie to Camden (1908), which had come down from a height of 30 shillings.

Camden News, 9 November 1911

Bullock teams occasionally appeared on the Yerranderie Road, carting cedar logs extracted from the Kowmung area of the Blue Mountains (1911).

Bullock team on the Yerranderie Road coming up The Bluff carrying bales of wool (Facebook)

A local ecology

The teamsters and the horse teams supported a local ecology of farmers growing hay, blacksmiths at The Oaks and Camden, breeding horses, wheelwrights, wagon makers, and many others.

The memorial

The memorial has a rear wagon wheel, a front axle and two hubs. These are mounted on a steel frame set in a concrete base. The wheels are timber construction with a steel rim. There are three metal information boards.

Construction was completed by Eric Henderson of Ungarie, formerly a teamster who worked for Cook & Co.

The memorial was opened in 1977 by 95-year-old Mrs Jean McCubbin, the widow of a former teamster.

The opening of the Teamster’s Memorial in 1977. (Camden News 24 April 1977)

The memorial plaque commemorating the opening in 1977 (I Willis 2023)

The memorial was restored in 1995 and 2003.

Wheelwright Neil Johnston working on the wagon wheel from the memorial in the 2003 restoration project. (CHS)

The mythology of the horse team

The memorial is a wonderful, evocative reminder of times in the district when the horse was king.

A Bennett wagon is on display at the blacksmith shop at the Wollondilly Heritage Centre.

There is a certain degree of mythology around the teamster, best exemplified by The Australian Teamsters Hall of Fame in Queensland.

Driving teams are still practised today, and there are driving competitions at Barellan, horse teams at the Royal Easter Show, on ABCTV, and occasionally at Belgenny Farm.

A teamster and horse team on the ascent out of Burragorang Valley on the Yerranderie Road. The horse team is pulling a loaded flat-top wagon with silver ore. At the rear of the horse team is a passenger coach. (early 20th century, WHC&M)

Updated 29 December 2023. Originally posted on 21 December 2023 as ‘Camden Teamsters Memorial, when the horse was king on the Yerranderie Road’.

Advertising · Agriculture · Agriculture history · Argyle Street · Attachment to place · Belonging · Camden Story · Collective Memory · Community Engagement · Community organisations · Cowpastures · Cowpastures Bicentennial · Cultural and Heritage Tourism · Cultural Heritage · Education · Festivals · Heritage · History · Local History · Local Studies · Memorialisation · Place making · Retailing · Sense of place · Stereotypes · Storytelling · Teamsters · Uncategorized

Celebrate Camden 93, a spring festival

camdenhistorynotes

30th anniversary

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Speculation of cancellation

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

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

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

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

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

Great success

So, how did things go?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Celebrate Camden 94

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

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

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

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

Sponsorship problems

Sponsorship for Celebrate Camden 94 proved to be a problem.

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

Planning proceeded.

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

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

Success or failure?

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

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

Architecture · Attachment to place · Built heritag · Camden · Camden Story · Community identity · Country town · Cultural and Heritage Tourism · Cultural icon · Heritage · Leisure · Local Studies · Lost Camden · Macarthur Country Tourist Association · Media · Memorial · Memorialisation · Memorials · Memory · Monuments · Placemaking · Sense of place · Storytelling · Tourism · Women's history · Women's stories

Memorial plaque to Jennifer Eggins, a founder of local tourism

camdenhistorynotes

A local identity

Outside John Oxley Cottage, Camden Visitor Information Centre at 46 Camden Valley Way Elderslie, is a memorial plaque with a story to tell of local identity, Jennifer Eggins, and her legacy that still echoes across the district.

Jennifer Eggins is one of the founders of the local tourist industry.

The plaque was originally located adjacent to the Macarthur Country Tourist Association Information Centre at 470 Hume Highway, Liverpool, on the corner of the Hume Highway and Congressional Drive.

Jennifer Eggins’s memorial plaque is located outside the Camden Visitor Information Centre at 46 Camden Valley Way, Elderslie. (IW, 2023)

The MCTA tourist information centre opened in 1987 and was demolished in 2005. The plaque is the only remnant of the official opening.  

Eggins and others founded the Macarthur Country Tourist Association in 1978.

Camden Tourist Association (1906)

This was not the first attempt to form a local tourist association. In 1906, 30 local businessmen formed the short-lived Camden Tourist Association under the leadership of Camden Mayor GM Macarthur Onslow. Their aim was to promote the ‘magnificent scenery around Camden’ in the Burragorang Valley. (Camden News, 10 May 1906)

Seven decades later, events cast a pessimistic view of the world across the Camden business community. The Hume Highway was shifted from Argyle Street in 1973 to the Camden Bypass, removing the passing trade and the main street was blocked when the 1975 flood destroyed the decking of the Cowpastures Bridge.

Macarthur regionalism had been turbocharged by the establishment of the Macarthur Growth Centre by the Whitlam Government in 1974 and the Macarthur Development Board (1975-1992) as the state authority to direct the urban growth in the Campbelltown area.

In May 1978, Eggins called a public meeting to form an organisation to promote tourism in the Macarthur region. Betty Hunt (Yewen) attended the meeting and was hooked.

At the time, Jennifer was employed at a doctor’s surgery in Camden, and Betty was working for a Camden dentist.

The dynamic duo

Eggins and Hunt had a wider vision of tourism in the 1970s.

The dynamic duo, Jennifer Eggins and Betty Hunt, on the cover of Betty’s book My Story. The pair were on a media tour at Bundanoon, and the photo appeared in The Crier newspaper. (The Crier 26 September 1984)

The former Member for Macarthur Michael Baume recalls, ‘while some lamented that Camden would wither on the vine, two women took the view that a great opportunity only required imagination and energy to exploit’. Jenny Eggins and Betty Hunt (Yewen) became ‘the female double-act to show Camden was alive and well’. (Yewen, My Story)

Macarthur Country Tourist Association (1978)

The May meeting led to the formation of the Macarthur Country Tourist Association. The aims were to (1) promote local tourist attractions, (2) encourage further development of tourist facilities, (3) and foster new attractions. (Camden News 14 June 1978)

The new association intended to do this by setting up a tourist information centre and pursuing the association’s aims through advertising, literature, and community involvement. (Camden News 14 June 1978)

Macarthur Country Tourist Association logo (B Yewen, 2018)

Eggins and Hunt were an unstoppable duo. They attracted a motivated team of supporters around them and set out to achieve the aims of the new association.

Association membership gathered pace over the following months under the direction of Betty Hunt (Yewen). By December 1978, there were 200 paid-up members.

Over the following decade, there were many events and activities. Lunchtime bus tours, festivals, promotional events, creation of the position of tourist officer, Camelot open house, visitor guides, filmmaking, and a host of other activities.

The MCTA Tourist Information Centre (1985)

The association successfully lobbied the Wran Labor Government to create a tourist information centre at Liverpool on the Hume Highway.

The Macarthur Country Tourist Association at 470 Hume Highway, Liverpool, on the corner of the Hume Highway and Congressional Drive, Liverpool. (LCL, 1985)

The land for the tourist information centre was allocated to the association by the state government in 1985, which also provided $350,000 towards the construction of the centre. Liverpool City Council, Campbelltown City Council, Camden Municipal Council, and Wollondilly Shire Council jointly met running expenses.

Demolition (2005)

In the early 1990s, Liverpool City Council and Campbelltown City Council withdrew their support for the information centre. The centre closed in 1998, sat empty and was demolished after vandalism in 2005.

The demolition of the MCTA Tourist Information Centre in Betty Yewen’s My Story (Betty Yewen 2018)

 The site of the former tourist information centre is now vacant and has been converted into a park.

Legacy

The dynamic duo of Eggins and Hunt (Yewen) left a considerable legacy that has left an indelible mark on today’s tourist industry.

The duo were responsible for many firsts. These include the first bus lunch tours, the first dedicated visitor’s guide, the first tourism promotion booklet, the first tourism promotional business in the region, the first tourist officer, the first tourist information centre and others.

Sometime around 2005, the Jenny Eggins memorial plaque was relocated from the Liverpool site to a location outside the John Oxley Tourist Information Centre on Camden Valley Way at Elderslie.

Read more about the Macarthur Country Tourist Association in Betty Yewen’s My Story.

Seek it out at your local library.

Read a story written by Betty Yewen in Camden History about the creation of her book, My Story.

Art · Artists · Belonging · Commemoration · Community identity · Cultural Heritage · Local Studies · Memorial · Memorialisation · Memorials · Monuments · Mural artwork · Narellan · Narellan Library · Placemaking · Public art · Sense of place · Storytelling · Street Art · Uncategorized · Urban development · Urban Planning · Urbanism

Narellan Library Murals, a wall of public art

camdenhistorynotes

Colourful mural artwork

The casual observer may have noticed the colourful murals outside the Narellan Library along Queen Street Narellan.

These mural artworks were commissioned by Camden Council in 2017, which engaged mural artist Mandy Salter.

A portion of one of the two mural artworks on the Queen Street wall of Narellan Library. (I Willis, 2023)

Salter collaborated with local young artists as part of Camden Council’s 2017-2018 Youth Public Art Participation Project.

The designs were settled after a workshop in January 2018  and depict young people reading and playing, and the design incorporates living plants and a 3-D sensory element. (CC Media Release 19 April 2018)

Mayor Lara Symkowiak stated:

This large-scale artwork incorporates bold colours and imagery that brings colours and aspects of the library out into the street. The use of plants as part of the art creates a really dynamic sensory and textural element to the project. The artwork has been welcomed by the community, who have offered a lot of positive feedback to library staff and the artist. (CC Media Release 23 May 2018)

The mural artwork was commenced in April 2018 and completed in late May. (CC Media Release 19 April 2018)

A portion of one of the two mural artworks adjacent to the footpath along Queen Street outside Narellan Library (I Willis, 2023)

Youth Participation Public Art Program

The Narellan Library murals were part of Camden Council’s Youth Participation Art Project, which began in 2016 as a place-making initiative to create a sense of identity and belonging.

Established artists were engaged to mentor young artists and provide an opportunity for them to tell a personal story with new, distinctive, and innovative approaches.

The project covered the entire local government area and developed artworks on bus shelters, small-scale mural and pavement artworks, and a series of ARTangle display boxes at Oran Park.

The $25,000 budget from the youth project provided the funding for the Narellan Library murals. (CC Media Release 23 May 2018)

A portion of one of the two mural artworks along the Queen Street frontage of Narellan Library (I Willis 2023)

Mural artist Mandy Salter

Camden Council commissioned Blue Mountains-based mural artist Mandy Salter to undertake the murals at Narellan Library.

Salter draws her inspiration from a range of sources and writes on her LinkedIn page

 My art is all about making a difference and telling stories that inspire change. I’m not afraid to push boundaries and create visually stunning pieces that leave a lasting impression. I believe art has the power to transform society, and I’m excited to keep exploring and creating meaningful artworks that make an impact.

I love transforming urban spaces and grey walls into captivating artworks, and nature is my greatest inspiration. When I paint a mural, I want to bring the beauty of nature into the city. By combining mostly flora and fauna in an man-made environment, I hope to create a connection between them that feels balanced and peaceful.

I believe that by adding touches of colour and nature to our cities, we can make people’s everyday lives happier and more meaningful.

A portion of one of the two mural artworks along the Queen Street frontage of Narellan Library (Mandy Salter, 2018)

Mural artist Mandy Salter writes on her website and states:

My imagery often features children and/ or our native flora and fauna giving a voice to those who need it the most. Today we are more disconnected to our natural world than ever before.  Through my artworks, I want to highlight the important relationship between nature and humans by painting local flora and fauna in an urban environment. We need to be reminded of our role as custodians and protect what is left for future generations to come.

Mural artworks are a tool for economic development

Mural artworks are part of public artworks and can provide a source of economic development and have been used to build a sense of place and community identity in small country communities.

The first mural art to appear on siloes and public buildings appeared in Western Australia in 2015 and has since sparked interest across rural Australia.

Chris Fry writes about the Western Australia silo art trail.

Silo Art is all about turning dull grey silos into beautiful pieces of artwork.  Silo art has become a surefire way to draw visitors to small communities across the country. Many people now travel to towns they would otherwise have never heard of to see these beautifully decorated silos. Hopefully spending some time and money in the community in the process.

In country New South Wales, the silo art trail has sparked a growth in local tourism. Annette Green writes:

For us, Australia’s New South Wales Silo Art Trail was a wonderful experience and a fantastic opportunity to explore unknown territory. We travelled through towns we had never heard of before and probably would never had visited if it was not for the Australian Silo Art Trail. 

One of the two mural artworks on the Queen Street frontage of Narellan Library (I Willis 2023)

The Central University of Arkansas Center for Community and Economic Development director Amy Whitehead says that community murals can generate economic development. The Centre’s website states:

Finally, one of the most important aspects of a mural is its connection to community history and values. This provides community attachment to the mural, making people more likely to want to preserve the mural while also attracting tourists looking for art that reflects local culture.  

Murals have the opportunity to tell the community’s story, create a unique experience, engage citizens, increase foot traffic and tourism, increase appreciation for the arts and artists, and increase overall attractiveness of the space.

Mural artwork is an outdoor art gallery

Mural artwork is a form of street art that emerged from the counterculture of the 1980s and 1990s and provides an outdoor art gallery for all to enjoy. Mural art is accessible and democratic.

The Australia Your Way website states that

Street art has the power to bring imagination and expression to the dreariest parts of a city. Street art has come to be valued across the world for its playful, intelligent, and striking contributions to the modern city.

Australian street artist, muralist, and illustrator Happy Decay states

 Murals can create a sense of community, beautify urban spaces, express historical and cultural identity, raise awareness about social issues, and inspire creativity and wonder. As such, they are a powerful tool for making cities more vibrant, engaging, and meaningful places to live.

A portion of one of the two mural artworks along the Queen Street frontage of the Narellan Library. (IWillis 2023)
1920s · 1930s · 1973 New Cities Campbelltown Camden Appin Structure Plan · 20th century · Agriculture history · Attachment to place · Belonging · Camden Council · Camden Council Heritage Advisory Committee · Camden Mayor · Camden Museum · Camden Produce Market · Camden Story · Camden Town Centre · Camden Town Farm · Colonialism · Commemoration · Country town · Cowpastures · Cultural and Heritage Tourism · Cultural Heritage · Entertainment · Festivals · Food · Heritage · History · Interwar · Living History · Local History · Local Studies · Macarthur · Memorialisation · Place making · Ruralism · Sense of place · Social History · Storytelling · Symbolism · Tourism · Unlock Camden · Urban history

Unlock Camden 2023, a festival celebrating our past

camdenhistorynotes

The fifth year of Unlock Camden

In its fifth year, Unlock Camden was on again. This year, Unlock Camden 2023 was on Saturday, 2 September, from 10am – 3pm at the beginning of 2023 History Week.

The 2023 History Week theme was Voices from the Past. Unlock Camden encouraged local folk to tell their own story in a social media campaign run by the Heritage Advisory Committee called #mycamdenstory.  You can submit your own story or listen to other local stories about events, places and people.

This image is from the #mycamdenstory project which is part of the Unlock Camden 2023 social media campaign (Camden Council)

The Unlock Camden 2023 program celebrated Camden’s history and heritage. The activities were centred around John Street as in the past, with the addition of activities at Camden Library. For the first time, there were activities at Camden Markets located on the Camden Town Farm in Exeter Street.

The official opening was at 10am at the Camden Town Farm Market site by the Camden mayor Ashleigh Cagney.  

Unlock Camden 2023 promotional artwork from Camden Council (Camden Council)

The Alan Baker Gallery Art Gallery hosted  Weaving with Aunty Michelle Hailes.

Several art activities were hosted at the Camden market site of the Camden Town Farm. They included En Plein Air with Bob Gurney, Charcoal White Gum with Tracey Prioste, Botanical Drawing with Belle Mitchell and Heritage Drawing with Michele Arentz.

At the Camden Library was a talk by Taylor Clarke on family history, the Burragorang Valley’s future, and an Unlock Camden Small Works Art Exhibition.

Unlock Camden 2023 outside the Alan Baker Art Gallery Macaria in John Street Camden. Here, members of the Camden Musical Society have got into the swing of the vibe and dressed for the occasion in vintage costume. They are standing in front of ‘Clem’ a French 1911 Clement Bayard Roadster, 4 cylinder, 8.6 litre motor, with a 4-speed manual transmission. This car was for a time displayed at the Greens Motorcade Museum at Leppington (1974-1982). (I Willis, 2023)

Starting at the Alan Baker Art Gallery, there were four guided history walks of the Camden town centre starting at 10.30am, then the half-hour until 1.30pm by members of the Camden Historical Society.

Camden Council was awarded $25,000 for interpreting and promoting heritage through the Heritage NSW 2023-2025 Local Government Heritage Grants Program. The grant required a dollar-matched contribution from the council.

Some folk dressed for the occasion at the Unlock Camden 2023 History Festival. These two damsels are from the Camden Musical Society and are dressed for a motoring tour of the historic Camden town centre. (I Willis 2023)

Where it all began

The first Unlock Camden was held in 2019. It was the initiative of the Camden Council Heritage Advisory Committee under the dynamic leadership of committee member Laura Jane Aulsebrook.

The cover of the publicity flyer for Unlock Camden 2019 showing Edithville at 18 Mitchell Street, which was Camden’s first hospital (1889-1902) (Camden Council)

The committee hoped the event would focus community attention on the area’s rich colonial history. (Camden Advertiser, 13 March 2019)

Timed to coincide with the History Week conducted by the History Council of New South Wales, the day was held on the first Saturday in September.

History Week

The first History Week was started in 1997 by the History Council of New South Wales. The HCNSW website states

History Week is a fantastic opportunity for member organisations, large and small, throughout NSW to engage and educate the community about the vitality, diversity and meaning of History and its practice.   

https://historycouncilnsw.org.au/history-week-nsw/

Organisations celebrate history with

talks and lectures, behind-the-scenes tours and heritage trails, exhibitions and radio features, film festivals, open historic houses and gardens, book sales and launches.   

https://historycouncilnsw.org.au/history-week-nsw/

Unlock Camden 2019

The first Unlock Camden was based around the Alan Baker Art Gallery on John Street, with several stalls from community organisations.

This is the information page in the publicity flyer for Unlock Camden 2019. The flyer shows images of Alan Baker Art Gallery at Macaria (1860), The Honey Sippers, Camden Museum (40 John Street) and Brookfield House (30 Hill Street, 1896) (Camden Council)

On the day, the windy spring weather proved challenging for stall holders and caused havoc with tables and umbrellas, while other events in Camden were cancelled.

Heritage Advisory Committee Chair Councillor Cindy Cagney said, ‘It was an exciting idea and a positive for the community’. (Camden Advertiser, 13 March 2019)

Committee member Laura Jane Aulsebrook, a ‘local identity and Camden’s living piece of history’ launched the #mycamdenstory social media campaign.

Unlock Camden 2023 cutout of Elsie Pyrke at a Camden Hospital Carnival. Elsie worked as a receptionist for Dr Robert Crookston. The cutout was located outside of Camden Library. (C Cagney 2023)

“Residents are encouraged to share photos and stories that showcase their Camden story, historic and modern photos, and anything that shares why they are in Camden and why they love Camden,”  said Ms Aulsebrook. (Camden Advertiser, 19 August 2019)

The day was highlighted by walking tours of the historic town centre, live music, and displays at the Alan Baker Art Gallery and Camden Museum.

The Camden Heritage Walking tour and brochure were relaunched, music was provided by the Camden Community Band and the Honey Sippers, and their owners displayed several vintage cars.

Organiser Ms Aulesbrook said, ‘This was a chance to learn more about their history and why they are so important to the fabric of the community.’  (Camden Advertiser, 10 September 2019)

This image shows the Unlock Camden 2019 organiser Ms LJ Aulesbrook posing for a photograph in one of the vintage cars that were displayed on the day in John Street outside the Alan Baker Art Gallery located in the former gentleman’s townhouse Macaria (1860). The community stalls are shown on the gallery forecourt in the rear of the image ( Brett Atkins/Camden Advertiser 10 September 2019)

The day was quite successful despite the council not allocating any specific budget for the occasion.

Covid-19 forces Unlock Camden online in 2020

In 2020 Unlock Camden Council held its second event as a digital online event because of the outbreak of Covid-19 and the associated restrictions. 

For the first time, the council allocated a small budget for the event of $3500.

Events included virtual tours of the historic town centre, the #mycamdenstory social media campaign, and a series of historic sites highlighted through the council website and on social media.

Unlock Camden 2023 cutout of the Thomson sisters, Annette and Elizabeth, of Maryland. The sisters worked with the Royal Agricultural Society and had a herd of prize-winning dairy cows. The cutout was located in the market area of the Camden Town Farm. (C Cagney 2023)

Camden Mayor Cr Theresa Fideli said:

Unlock Camden allows us to celebrate the history, culture and achievements on Camden that we are all incredibly proud of. We are lucky enough to be living in an area with a great historical significance and while it is unfortunate that we cannot open the doors to our historic buildings and locations this year, our Virtual Historic Tour will allow residents to walk through Camden’s heritage precinct and key historic locations right from the comfort of their own homes. 

Camden Council Website 20 August 2020

Unlock Camden 2021 online again

Unlock Camden 2021 was an online event due to Covid-19 restrictions and included virtual tours, a #mycamdenstory social media campaign and the promotion of historic sites on the Camden Council website. The event had a small budget of $2900.

Things look up at Unlock Camden 2022

The 2022 Unlock Camden celebration of our local history was first held after Covid-19 restrictions were lifted. The event was held away from History Week on Saturday, 15 October.  

The day’s events ran from 10am-3pm using the theme of unlocking stories and images. 

Similar to 2019, the event was centred at the Alan Baker Art Gallery with walking tours of historic Camden town centre by volunteers from the Camden Historical Society, community stalls and historical games in the gallery forecourt, vintage car displays in John Street, music, and an online photographic display.

The day aimed to ‘Unlock the stories, the people, the images and the history of Camden’. (LJ Aulsebrook, CCHAC)

The increasing importance of the event in a post-restrictions Covid-19 environment regarding community resilience and cohesion saw an increased budget from the council of $10,000.

This is part of the #mycamdenstory social media campaign for Unlock Camden 2023, showing well-known Camden identity Llewella Davies (Camden Council)

The legacy

The aim of the day and the associated events has been to tell the Camden story through walks, art, images, stories, and a host of other activities.  

The Camden story is about what the town centre represents in the narrative of the Australian story.  Founded on Dharawal country, the colonial period started with the Cowpastures the Macarthur private town on Camden Park Estate in 1840. Growing into the market town in the late 19th century, the early 20th century saw the town become a regional hub. The development of the Interwar years created a prosperous country town that was subsumed by the Macarthur Growth Centre in 1973 and Sydney’s urban growth.

Unlock Camden was an initiative of the Camden Council Heritage Advisory Committee to tell the Camden story and has been ably assisted and coordinated in conjunction with the work of Camden Council staff.

Over the past five years, the program of events has offered another view into Camden’s past as we celebrate Unlock Camden 2023 and explore our history and heritage.

This image was part of the 2019 Unlock Camden social media campaign generated by organiser Ms LJ Aulsebrook (Camden Council)

A group of notable locals at the tree planting commemorating Llewellas Davies, who donated The Camden Town Farm to the Camden Community, for Unlock Camden 2023 at the Camden Town Farm ‘Sheep Dog Paddock’. From L-R are Mr Buckely CTF, Cr Cindy Cagney, Dr Ian Willis CHS, …..Glenda Chalker CCHAC, Mayor Ashleigh Cagney, Sally Quinnell MP Member for Camden, … (M Willis, 2023)

Unlock Camden 2023 Mayor Ashleigh Cagney planting the commemorative tree (I Willis, 2023)

Updated 3 September 2023. Originally posted on 22 August 2023.

Artefacts · Belonging · Camden · Camden District · Camden Historical Society · Camden Story · Collective Memory · Community identity · Cultural Heritage · Cultural icon · Historical consciousness · Historical thinking · History · Local History · Local Studies · Memorialisation · Memorials · Monuments · Place making · Storytelling · Uncategorized

Camden Historical Society, 60 years of local history, 1957-2017

camdenhistorynotes

Address by Dr Ian Willis at the 60th Anniversary Meeting, 24 July 2017, Camden

Welcome all.

First, I would like to thank the 60th Anniversary Organising Committee for their work in organising this event. Rene, Cathey, Dawn and Lee.

Dr Ian Willis, society president, gave the 60th-anniversary address standing next to Dawn Williams, the event MC. The anniversary was held in the Camden Library Museum atrium and the Camden Museum. The anniversary birthday cake is on the table in front of the image. (CHS)

When I was told I was presenting the keynote address at this anniversary meeting, I was told there would be no other speakers. So what to say?

The society has had 60 wonderful years since its foundation in 1957.

 I want to drill into those 60 years and ask the question: What is the business of the society? What is our mission statement?

The 60th-anniversary birthday cake of the Camden Historical Society was cut and distributed to the many who attended the event. (CHS)

I maintain that role of the Camden History Society is to tell the Camden story.

Stories are an integral part of place-making and the creation of community identity. They are full of meaning by allowing the past to inform the present. They help those in the present to understand why things are like they are. Stories are about context and help explain where we fit in the big picture.

And telling the Camden story explains why our community is how it is today.

Telling the Camden story has led to several firsts for the society.

Camden History Journal

The first history of the society was written by Peter Mylrea in the first journal published by the society, Camden History, in 2001. The upcoming issue of the journal will be part of volume 4.

The cover of the first edition of the Camden History Journal under the editorship of Peter Mylrea. (I Willis, 2023)

The first public lecture was presented at the first ordinary meeting of the society meeting in August 1957 by the society’s first vice-president Harold Lowe. The talk was called the ‘History of Camden Park’.  Harold was an interesting local identity, a farmer from Elderslie and a good cyclist who competed in the Goulburn-Sydney cycle races. He was an alderman on Camden Municipal Council for many years. In 1925, Toby Taplin rescued undertaker Percy Peters and his driver George Thurn when their hearse was washed off the Cowpastures Bridge in the flood.

Lobbying

The first lobbying of the Camden Council by the society occurred in 1957.  The society was concerned about the location of John Oxley’s anchor that the Council had been given in 1929. The British Admiralty had given Australia three commemorative anchors to serve as a memorial of the death of John Oxley.

The other two are in Wellington and Harrington, NSW. The Camden anchor was from the Destroyer Tomahawk. Oxley was a naval officer and the first colonial Surveyor General in NSW and had been assigned the grants of Kirkham and Elderslie.  The anchor languished in the council yard for over 25 years, all but forgotten. The society lobbied the council for six years, and in 1963 the anchor was unveiled in Kirkham Lane. The society has recently lobbied the council again, and in 2015 the anchor was moved to Curry Reserve, along with a sculpture of Oxley’s profile. 

Camden Museum display of hand tools. Each object has a story to tell those who care to listen to it. (2021 KHolmquist)

Community Partnership

The first community partnership was with Camden High School on the foundation of the society in 1957. The first meeting was held at the school and chaired by the Camden High School P&C Society president. The first president Bill McCulloch was the deputy principal of Camden High School, whom John Brownie, the school principal, followed. Society meetings were held at the school for 42 years.

There have been a host of other community partnerships, and two of the largest have been with Camden Rotary in the foundation of the museum in 1970, and currently with Camden Council Library and Camden Area Family History Society. Other organisations collaborating with the historical society have included   Camden Lions, Camden Quota, Camden Show Society, Camden Red Cross, Camden Council, and our affiliation with the Royal Australian Historical Society.  

Many firsts

Some other firsts for the society include:

  • The first society excursion was a day trip to Yerranderie in March 1958 before the Burragorang Valley was flooded, with the first overnight trip to Canberra in 1964.
  • The first time the society acted as a tour guide was on a visit to the Catholic Historical Society in September 1958.
  • The community speakers were provided at the Festival of the Golden Fleece in August 1960,
  • The first newsletter was put together in 1970, with a short rebirth in 1985-86 as the Camden Historian, and most recently, from November 2005.
  • The first radio broadcast was Dick Nixon’s ‘Know Your Camden’ for community radio 2CR in 1978,
  •  The first society publication was John Wrigley’s, ‘A History of Camden’ in 1979.
  • The state government’s first grant to fund society activities was $150 in 1979.
  • The first website for the society appeared in 1997, sponsored by Christine and Steve Robinson, and in 2006 the society launched its website, <camdenhistory.org.au>
  • And in 2015, the society launched into the social media space with its Facebook page. 

Camden Museum

The most important first for the society was the establishment of the museum.  

In 1967, a children’s book, EL Konigsburg’s From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler was published in the USA.  The book tells the story of two kids, 12-year-old Claudia and her 9-year-old brother Jamie, who ran away from home to live in New York’s Metropolitan Art Museum.

Claudia and Jamie have an exciting adventure living in a museum coming face-to-face with the thrilling mysteries of art history. They immerse themselves in the adventures of learning about everything. The book won numerous awards and is used extensively in schools in the US.

Now, the Camden Museum is not the New York Met.

I hope visitors to our museum want to learn about everything about Camden. 

Hopefully, a visit to the Camden Museum will allow folk to immerse themselves in the mysteries of the past.  And be a learning adventure on the way.

A yearning for the past is not new.  For some people, the past provides security and safety.  The Camden Museum provides a safe zone where visitors can immerse themselves in their memories. Nostalgia.

Camden Historical Society 25th Anniversary past presidents. L-R: RE Nixon, Colin Clark, Owen Blattman, John Wrigley in1995 standing outside the original entry of Camden Museum adjacent to laneway (Camden Images)

Nostalgia is a yearning for a sentimental rose-coloured view of the past. Recent research has shown that nostalgia can be a positive thing. But it was not always so. In the past, nostalgia was a medical disease and a psychiatric disorder. Hopefully, a visit to our museum does not affect visitors this way.

Local museums tell local truths and are trusted sources of local stories and histories. They are honest and straightforward. What you see is what you get.  They are not fake news.

The Camden Museum is a mirror to the community where visitors can reflect on their past in the present. The museum displays, collection and archives represent the Camden community to itself.  The museum is the custodian of these stories.

Camden Museum frontage in the Camden Library Museum complex 2022 (CHS)

The Camden Museum can also provide challenges for visitors who take their time to look for the nuances in our stories. If you drill into the stories of museum objects, they touch on deeper social and cultural characteristics of the country town of the past.  Some of these elements include class, rural conservatism, gender, intimacy, race, religion, parochialism, localism, rural ideology, city/country divide, and many other things.

I would argue that the Camden Museum has a critical role in the construction of resilient communities of the present. The museum acts as a site for place-making. The continued growth and expansion of the Camden Local Government Area demands sites that contribute to creating social connections and facilitate community networks.

The museum provides a space for creating social capital through volunteering and philanthropy. Museum volunteers provide a successful model as a centre of active citizenship and volunteering which contributes to the social glue of the community.

The museum helps create a healthy society characterised by trust, reciprocity, support networks and social norms. The museum provides an opportunity for volunteers to actively participate in the social, political, and economic life of the Camden LGA. The museum is a local tourism centre and can play a role in job creation.

So, while the Camden Museum may not be the New York Metropolitan Art Museum, it does provide a meaningful window into our past.

Like the story of Claudia and Jamie, the Camden Museum can provide a learning adventure into the thrilling mysteries of our past. Something that we can draw on in the present.

Camden identities and volunteers Frances and Harry Warner standing outside the Camden on the 2018 Australia Day Open Day (I Willis, 2018)

Legacy

The legacy that we are currently leaving will ensure that the Camden Historical Society and the Camden Museum continue to tell the Camden story for another 60 years and beyond.

Volunteers Julie, Peter, Chris and John busy doing research work in the Camden Museum research room in 2014 (I Willis)
20th century · Anzac · Art · Attachment to place · Belonging · Camden Story · Craft · Crafts · Cultural Heritage · Cultural icon · Cultural plantings · Design · Family history · Festivals · History · History of Emotion · Living History · Local History · Local Studies · localism · Memorial · Memorialisation · Memorials · Memory · Metaphor · Military history · Modernism · Monuments · Patriotism · Place making · Propaganda · Second World War · Sense of place · Sewing · Stereotypes · Storytelling · Symbolism · Uncategorized · Volunteering · Volunteerism · War · War at home · Wartime · Women's diaries · Women's history · World War One

Red Flanders poppies, a field of memories

camdenhistorynotes

A flower honours the dead

The red Flanders poppy appeared in Camden in recent years when local identity Frances Warner was inspired to crochet them for Anzac Day in 2013. Frances was inspired by the efforts of two Melbourne women, Lyn Berry and Margaret Knight, who had organised the 5000 Poppies Project. They initiated the project to pay tribute to their fathers’ military service in World War Two, triggering a massive community outpouring of emotions, memories, and commemorations. Frances’ efforts were part of this response.

Wreaths with artificial poppies for the 2023 Anzac Day Ceremony in Camden from Camden Florist (CF 2023)

What is the significance of the red Flanders poppy?

The red Flanders poppies were among the first plants to spring up in the battlefields of northern France and Belgium after the war. Soldiers’ folklore said that the vivid red came from the blood of their fallen comrades.

The poppy symbolises many cultural mythologies, from remembrance to sacrifice, dreams, regeneration, and imagination. In Christianity, the red of the poppy symbolises the blood of Christ and his sacrifice on the cross. The Roman poet Virgil used poppies as a metaphor to describe fallen warriors in his epic tale, the Aeneid, written around 25 BC. (https://www.uniguide.com/poppy-flower-meaning-symbolism)

The Anzac Portal website states that Canadian medic John McCrae recalled the red poppies on soldiers’ graves who died on the Western Front and wrote the poem ‘In Flanders Field’. He wrote the poem whilst serving in Ypres in 1915, and it was published in Punch magazine after being rejected by The Spectator. (https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/why-we-wear-poppies-on-remembrance-day)

In Flanders Fields

by John McCrae (1915)

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie,

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47380/in-flanders-fields

Red poppies growing in the fields at Flanders remind the community of the soldiers’ lives lost in battle during World War One on the Western Front. (2023, Narellan Town Centre)

In response to In Flanders Fields, American humanitarian and teacher Moina Michael was so moved by the poem that she pledged to ‘keep the faith’ and scribbled down on an envelope ‘We Shall Keep The Faith’ in 1918.

We Shall Keep the Faith

by Moina Michael, November 1918

Oh! you who sleep in Flanders Fields,
Sleep sweet – to rise anew!
We caught the torch you threw
And holding high, we keep the Faith
With All who died.

We cherish, too, the poppy red
That grows on fields where valor led;
It seems to signal to the skies
That blood of heroes never dies,
But lends a lustre to the red
Of the flower that blooms above the dead
In Flanders Fields.

And now the Torch and Poppy Red
We wear in honor of our dead.
Fear not that ye have died for naught;
We’ll teach the lesson that ye wrought
In Flanders Fields.

Moina Micheal used the poppy symbol to raise funds for US ex-servicemen returning from World War One and was known as ‘The Poppy Lady’.  (http://www.greatwar.co.uk/people/moina-belle-michael.htm)

Australia

In Australia, the Returned Soldiers and Sailors Imperial League of Australia (RSS&ILA) first sold poppies for Armistice Day in 1921. The League imported one million silk poppies made in French orphanages. The RSL continues to sell poppies on Remembrance Day to assist its welfare work. (https://www.awm.gov.au/commemoration/customs-and-ceremony/poppies)

People place a red poppy next to a soldier’s name on the AWM Roll of Honour ‘as a personal tribute’. This practice began in 1993 at the internment of the Unknown Australian Soldier. (https://www.awm.gov.au/commemoration/customs-and-ceremony/poppies)

This image shows poppies on the Roll of Honour at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. (K Alchin, 2021)

United Kingdom

Poppies are used in remembrance all over the world. In the United Kingdom, the white poppy represents an international symbol of remembrance for all casualties of war, civilians and armed forces personnel, and peace.

Artificial poppies were first sold in the UK in 1921 to raise funds for ex-servicemen and their families for the Earl Haig Fund supplied by Anna Guérin in France, who had manufactured them to raise funds for war orphans. It proved so popular that the British Legion started a factory in 1922 staffed by disabled ex-servicemen to produce their own.

The Imperial War Museum website states:

Other charities sell poppies in different colours, each with their own meaning but all to commemorate the losses of war. White poppies, for example, symbolise peace without violence and purple poppies are worn to honour animals killed in conflict.

(https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/why-we-wear-poppies-on-remembrance-day)

 Melbourne’s 5000 Poppies Project

The 5000 Poppies Project started when Lyn Berry and Margaret Knight set out to crochet around 120 poppies to ‘plant’ at Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance in 2013 to honour their fathers’ memory. Wal Beasley (14/32nd Battalion – Australian Imperial Forces) and Stan Knight (Queen’s Own West Kent Regiment – British Army). (https://5000poppies.wordpress.com/about/)

 The 5000 Poppy Project has had art installations on Anzac Day and Remembrance Day at Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance (2017, 2019) and in Canberra at the Australian War Memorial and Parliament House (2017). The 5000 Poppies Project has gone international with an installation at London’s Chelsea Flower Show in 2016. (ttps://www.rhs.org.uk/shows-events/rhs-chelsea-flower-show/2016/articles/a-field-of-poppies-at-chelsea)

Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance with the art installation of 5000 Poppies in 2017 (5000 Poppies)

The 5000 Poppies project has become an international tribute of respect and remembrance to those who have served in all wars, conflicts, peacekeeping operations, their families, and communities. (https://5000poppies.wordpress.com/about/ )

Frances Warner’s Red Poppy Project

Frances Warner has crocheted hundreds of red poppies, sold them for fundraising, and co-ordinated art installations with knitted poppies. All commemorating the memory of local men and women who have served our country in times of conflict and peace.

 Frances said that one red poppy takes around 45 minutes to crochet, and she estimates that she has knitted over 650. She has voluntarily contributed approximately 480 hours of her time, and she is not finished yet by a long way.

Frances says she is very ordinary yet has done an extraordinary job. Frances joins a long list of local women who have volunteered thousands of hours to honour the service of local men and women who have served in conflict and peacekeeping.

Knitted poppies made by Frances Warner (F Warner 2023)
1920s · 1930s · 20th century · Agriculture · Argyle Street · Attachment to place · Belonging · British colonialism · Built heritag · Camden · Camden Story · Collective Memory · Colonialism · Commemoration · Community identity · Country town · Cowpastures · Cultural Heritage · Dharawal · Historical consciousness · Historical Research · Historical thinking · Historiography · History · Legends · Local History · Local Studies · Macarthur · Memorial · Memorialisation · Memorials · Memory · Monuments · Mysteries · Myths · Newspapers · Pioneers · Place making · Regionalism · Ruralism · Sense of place · Settler colonialism · Settler Society · Small communities · Stereotypes · Storytelling · Tourism · Urban growth · Urban history · Volunteering

The Camden Story: the historiography of the history of the country town of Camden NSW

camdenhistorynotes

Journal Article Review

‘Making Camden History: local history and untold stories in a small community’. ISAA Review, Journal of the Independent Scholars Association of Australia. Special Edition, Historiography. Volume 19, Number 1, 2023, pp. 23-38.

The history of telling the story of a small community has been interpreted in different ways at different times in the past by different historians.

This area of study is called the historiography.

This is an aerial image of the country town of Camden in the 1940s with St John’s Church on the ridge overlooking the town and the Nepean River floodplain. The Macarthur family-funded church is the community’s soul and was constructed shortly after the private town was established by the Macarthur family at the river crossing into Camden Park Estate. (Camden Images)

I have recently published an article on the historiography of the small country town of Camden, NSW.

The Camden township is located 65 kilometres southwest of the Sydney CBD and, in recent years, has been absorbed by Sydney’s urban growth.

The main streets are a mix of Victorian, Edwardian and interwar architecture comprising commercial, government and domestic buildings.

The town site was originally the entry point into what became Governor King’s Cowpasture Reserve at the Nepean River crossing, part of the lands of the Dharawal people, which then called Benkennie.

Jill Wheeler argues that while local histories are embedded in a long storytelling tradition, new understandings inform our interpretation in a contemporary context.

The historiography of the history of a small country town demonstrates the shifting nature of storytelling and how different actors interpret the past.

This article seeks to examine some of what Wheeler calls ‘the other’ by looking beyond the conventional history of Camden as found in newspapers, journals, monuments, celebrations, commemorations and other places.

I have written an article about the making of the history of Camden NSW to illustrate and explore these issues.

Click here to learn more

This is the cover of my Pictorial History Camden & District, which tells the Camden story in words and pictures. The book is a brief account of the main events, characters and institutions that were part of the Camden township from its foundation to the present, as well as the Indigenous story in pre-European times and the foundation of the Cowpastures Reserve.