Category: Mid-century modernism

20th century · Architecture · Burragorang Valley · Camden Cottage · Camden High School · Camden Modern · Camden Modernism · Camden Story · Coal mining · Community identity · Heritage · History · History of a house · House history · Housing · Housing styles · Local History · Lost Camden · Mid-century modernism · Modernism · Placemaking · Sense of place · Social History · Uncategorized · Urban development · Urban growth · Urban history · Urban Planning · urban sprawl · Urbanism · USA

Camden modern, the mid-century Camden cottage

camdenhistorynotes

Mid-century modernism

Across the Camden district, many houses were built between the Second World War and the early 1970s.

The period is usually called mid-century modern, mid-century modernist or just mid-century. 

A mid-century brick ranch-style cottage in River Road Elderslie (I Willis 2024)

In Australia, the postwar period was a period with a housing shortage. The Homes to Love website states

While the 1950s was a time of great productivity and a time that saw a boom in the building industry, the war years had taken their toll resulting in a shortage of building materials, skills and equipment. This resulted in many people building smaller, more basic homes, often taking on the work themselves. (Homes to Love)

https://www.homestolove.com.au/1950s-houses-australia-21734

Rachel Griffiths writes in the Architectural Digest that

Influenced by the optimism of the post-World War II boom and by the exploration of a range of materials, including steel, concrete, and newly available insulated glass.

Architectural Digest

Scholars attribute the design style to American architects like Frank Lloyd Wright and designers like Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and LeCorbusier.

The term was coined in 1983 by Cara Greenberg for the title of her book Mid-Century Modern: Furniture of the 1950s (Random House)

Mid-century housing styles

Until 1952, timber houses were restricted to 111.48 m² (12 squares) and brick houses to 116.13 m². Lending institutions were very conservative, only advancing about 50% of the property value. (Lumby, p32)

Mid-century modernism influenced houses in the post-war suburbs of Australia’s large cities. Architects of the mid-century period include Harry Seidler, Hugh Buhrich (Sydney), David Chancellor and William Patrick, Robin Boyd, Sevitt & Petitt (Melbourne), Roy Grounds (Canberra), Robin Spencer (Brisbane) and others. 

Mid-century brick cottage with low-pitch roof in Luker Street Elderslie (I Willis 2024)

Features of the mid-century modern houses

The Australian Homes to Love website states

 Open-plan living was really embraced during the 1950s to encourage easy flow of people and conversation. Homes were often well-oriented and featured expansive windows, low-pitched gable roofs with corrugated iron or steel decking, vertical weatherboards, light coloured brick or cement sheet exterior walls. Minimalist design was embraced for its clean sleek lines and pastel, Scandinavian, and modern colour schemes utilised.

https://www.homestolove.com.au/1950s-houses-australia-21734

Mid-century modern is a period in the mid-20th century in which design that was characterised by

Sleek, cool, clean, sophisticated, functional, colourful, mod, and curvy—those are apt words to describe the mid-century modern design. This term encompasses the trends that influenced architecture and interior design in prosperous, post-war America.(Dengarden)

https://dengarden.com/interior-design/A-Pocket-Guide-to-Mid-Century-Modern-Style
Mid-century brick flats in Purcell Street Elderslie (I Willis 2024)

The mid-century Camden cottage

There are several recognisable residential housing styles in the Camden area across this period. These range from postwar fibro cottages of the 1940s (Edward Street) to the triple-fronted brick veneer cottages (Camden South) of the 1970s, and those in-between like 1950-1960s ranch style houses (Hennings House, Elderslie)

Many houses were a type of simple and low-cost housing to cope with material shortages and demand from buyers,especially in the post-war years. 

What does the mid-century Camden cottage represent?

The mid-century Camden cottage represents a number of changes in the Camden ocal area.

The most important influence in this period was the growth of the town and district from the economic boom generated by the Burragorang coalfields. Mining production increased progressively across this period and created many jobs.

Former Camden mayor Bruce Ferguson made the point at a conference in the Hunter Valley in 1977 that in 1949, a share farming family made around £1/15/- a week, while a miner was making £10 per week, a multiple of six times. (Ferguson)

In 1960, there were 150 mine workers in the Camden and Elderslie area. (Sankey, p29) By 1971, this had increased by 1800 people were employed in the mines, washeries, and the maintenance and administration of coal. (Sankey, p18) In contrast, dairy farmers fell from 109 in 1950 to 90 in 1974. (Sankey, p6A)

Camden’s population grew from 3934 in 1947 to 6377 in 1961, 8661 in 1966, and 11,155 in 1971. (Sankey, p10) A new high school opened in Camden in 1956.

Former Camden High School John Street Camden was established in 1956 (Peter Mylrea/Camden Images 2004)

The mining boom contributed to the end of the Camden the country town based on agricultural services. This challenged community identity and sense of place and contributed to the creation of Camden’s ‘country town idyll’ as Sydney’s urban fringe approached the town and heralded the end of modernism in the local area.

There was a shift from the designation of country town to the metropolitan urban fringe when the 1976-1977 NSW Local Government Grants Commission changed the classification of the Camden LGA from ‘non-metropolitan’ to ‘metropolitan’. (Sankey, p40)

The end of the mid-century period in the Camden area is is book-ended by the release of the 1973 New Cities of Campbelltown, Camden, Appin Structure Plan by the State Planning Authority of New South Wales.  

Examples of the mid-century Camden cottage

The Hennings House, built in 1960 on Macarthur Road, was part of the subdivision of the Bruchhauser vineyards of the Elderslie area. It was an excellent example of a house chosen by a local businessman from a pattern book supplied by a local builder. The house was ranch-style, of which there are a number in the Elderslie area with open-plan rooms to the interior. The house was demolished in 2011.

The Hennings House, built in 1960, was located at 64-66 Macarthur Road Elderslie. It was demolished in 2011. (I Willis, 2011)

  • 110 Lodges Road, Elderslie.

This house is a similar design to the Hennings House and has been approved for demolition.

A mid-century timber ranch-style cottage at 110 Lodges Road Elderslie has been approved for demolition. (CRE 2022)

  • Triple and double-fronted cottage

There are many examples of these styles of homes in the local area, particularly south of the town centre, Elderslie and Narellan.

A mid-century triple-fronted brick cottage in Harrington Street Elderslie (I Willis, 2024)

Jacqui Thompson writes on Domain that triple-fronted houses were

are simple buildings that feature a double or triple staggered façade, with a bedroom at the front that steps back to a lounge room and/or the front door. Brick veneer replaced double brick construction, and mass-produced building materials such as glass and cement tiles were embraced. There are wrought iron railings and fencing painted white and wire mesh screens on doors. There can be interconnecting rooms, lower ceilings, and cheaper materials, e.g., melamine benchtops, linoleum and rubber floors and mass-produced sheet materials on walls.  

https://www.domain.com.au/advice/post-war-double-and-triple-fronted-homes-in-australia/

  • Low-pitched roof style

There are a number of mid-century cottages in the Elderslie and Camden area with low-pitched roof styles. They are a mixture of brick and timber construction. In Elderslie, they were built for the coal mining company executives and were more expensive than other stripped-back designs. This design was influenced by West Coast USA styles of the mid-century period.

A mid-century cottage with a low-pitched roof on Sunset Ave. There are a number of cottages of this style in the Elderslie area. (I Willis 2024)

  • Cottage with gable

There are cottages that have a gable design.

A mid-century gabled cottage in River Road Elderslie (I Willis 2024)

The fibro cottage was seen as a modern and affordable housing style. There are many examples in the local area south of the Camden town centre, Elderslie and Narellan, that were built in the postwar years.

Mid-century fibro cottages in Purcell Street Elderslie (I Willis 2024)

References

Robyn Sankey, Camden and the Coal Industry. MA(Hons) Thesis, University of Sydney, 1984.

Bruce Ferguson, ‘The Coal Mining Industry in Camden’. Paper presented at Coal and A Country Town Seminar, Singleton, 1977 published in proceedings, JE Collins (ed), Singleton Shire Council.

Roy Lumby, ‘Modern Movement Architecture In NSW’, in The Modern Movement In New South Wales A Thematic Study And Survey Of Places. HeriCon Consulting (eds), NSW and the Office of Environment and Heritage, Sydney, 2013.

Jacqui Thompson, ‘Post-war double and triple fronted homes in Australia’. Domain, 15 June 2025. Online @ https://www.domain.com.au/advice/post-war-double-and-triple-fronted-homes-in-australia/

1920s · 1930s · 20th century · Aesthetics · Alan Baker Art Gallery Camden NSW · Art · Art Deco · Artists · Camden · Camden Story · Cultural Heritage · Heritage · Hotel History · Hotels · Interwar · Living History · Local History · Mid-century modernism · Modernism · Mural artwork · Murals · Place making · Poster Art · Public art · Storytelling · The Arts

‘Alan’s Art Deco’ exhibition at Macaria

camdenhistorynotes

Review: ‘Alan’s Art Deco’ Exhibition, Alan Baker Art Gallery, Macaria, 37 John Street, Camden. October 2023-April 2024.

Interwar Art Deco style

A new art exhibition at Camden’s Alan Baker Art Gallery highlights the modernity and cosmopolitanism of the interwar period in an exhibition of artist Alan D Baker called ‘Alan’s Art Deco’.

The interwar period was a vibrant time for Australia following the trauma of the First World War. It was a time of hopes and dreams, new ideas and styles, best expressed by the Sydney Harbour Bridge, an exclamation mark in modernism.

The cover of ‘Alan’s Art Deco’ exhibition catalogue which tells the story of the artist Alan D Baker and his artworks as a commercial artist between the 1930s and 1950s. (I Willis 2023)

In sleepy Camden, cosmopolitanism and modernity appeared in the form of new banking chambers, car dealerships, motor garages and movie palaces that appeared in the town centre from new coal.

Pubs in Camden were modernised. Across the state, the big brewers wanted modernity displayed in their commercial promotions and hired commercial artists like Alan Baker to express this in the Art Deco style.

Art Deco is a style that the exhibition catalogue describes for its

clean shapes and lines, geometric and stylised ornamentation and above all, a celebration of the luxury of modernity, the style influenced every visual medium, from architecture to fine art.

(Catalogue Notes)

The Art Deco style first appeared in the 1925 Paris Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, and then developed over the next 15 years in Western Europe and the USA.

Exhibition

‘Alan’s Art Deco’ exhibition illustrates the artwork of artist Alan D Baker and is spread across four galleries, portraying his work from the 1930s to the 1950s. Baker created a range of artworks that were used as posters, murals, bottle labels, coasters, newspaper and magazine advertising, menus and theatre programs. (Catalogue Notes)

Alan D Baker (1914-1987) left school at 15 and enrolled full-time to study art at JS Watkin Art School in Sydney. Gary Baker, Alan’s son, writes that

Great emphasis was placed on tonal drawing in pencil charcoal , pen and washes and after about 4 years Alan was allowed to paint in oil colour.

https://www.garybaker.com.au/alan-d-baker/

According to Gary Baker, Alan had

a great love of the Australian countryside and enjoyed travelling in his caravan with his family and dog, visiting the Flinders Ranges – South Australia, Central Australia, Queensland – especially Longreach, and Northern and Western New South Wales. On the south coast of New South Wales, at Gerroa, he had a holiday house. This was the source for many of his landscapes and seascapes.

His works are in the New South Wales Art Gallery, the National Gallery – Canberra, Queensland Institute of Technology, the Hinton collection at Armidale, and many private and public collections.

https://www.garybaker.com.au/alan-d-baker/

Exhibition Across Four Galleries

Fittingly, exhibition curator Roger Percy has divided Baker’s career into four galleries, starting with Gallery 1, themed ‘Welcome To The Era’. This gallery displays a series of Baker’s works from the 1930s. These artworks were part of the artist’s life between being a student at JS Watkins Art School and then as an art instructor until 1938 when the school closed on the retirement of John Watkins.

After 1938, Baker turned to commercial art after his return from war service in New Guinea during the Second World War. Themed ‘Black & White’ Gallery 2 displays advertisements that were created using a scratchboard for ‘newspaper image printing’. This fine detail required the artist to use ‘scrap knives to scrape ink off a surface to reveal the white clay beneath’. Originating in 19th century Europe, this was ‘a cheaper and quicker alternative to alternative to other printing methods’ while retaining the fine lines from the artwork.  (Catalogue Notes)

‘The Originals’ displayed in Gallery 3 shows work commissioned by one of Australia’s oldest brewers, Tooth & Co, which tied over 600  hotels to sell its products. The company commissioned artists like Baker to advertise beer and link it to sport, health and cultural sophistication. Baker’s contributions were created using self-portraits, while other works depict his father.

Visitors at the exhibition opening of ‘Alan’s Art Deco’ consulting the catalogue and viewing Alan Baker’s work ‘And KB on the Ice for Supper’. (I Willis 2023)

One of ‘The Originals’ is ‘And KB on the ice for supper!’ and has been described by the Australian Beer Posters website as

 a fantastic Australian brewery poster to compliment any wall [that] are highly collectable and a refreshing way to bring colour and verve onto any wall.

(Australian Beer Posters)

Journalist Stephen Gibbs has written in the Daily Mail Australia that

KB was first brewed in Sydney at Tooth & Co’s Kent Brewery – hence the name – in 1918 and was the dominant packaged beer in New South Wales for much of the 1970s and 1980s.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10175639/KB-Lager-returns-bottle-shops-decade-legendary-beer-disappeared.html
The gates of Tooth & Co Kent Brewery at 26 George Street West, Broadway, Sydney. KB Beer was named after this brewery. The two images are from 1939 and 2005. (CoS)

Gallery 4 is themed as ‘Commercial Print’ and depicts Baker’s original commercial artworks ‘in classic Art Deco scenes with flawless figures, precise draftsmanship and idealised scenes’. (Catalogue Notes)

The exhibition is privileged to be loaned several artworks from the Powerhouse Museum Collection and the Josef Lebovic Gallery in Sydney.

Poster art outdoors

Baker’s poster art for Tooth & Co was often displayed on the outside walls of hotels and is a form of public art.

The exhibition curator, Roger Percy, has followed a similar principle and made some of Baker’s artworks into outdoor posters displayed in prominent locations in and around the Camden town centre, including bus shelters, car park walls, fences and garbage bins.

This poster art of Alan D Baker’s artwork is on public display on the wall of Camden’s Oxley Street Carpark at the rear of the Alan Baker Art Gallery at 37 John Street Camden. Baker created his poster art for Tooth & Co to be on public display on prominent hotel walls around Sydney. (I Willis, 2023)

I think Baker would be pleased that his artwork is on public display for everyone in the general public to view. It is a very democratic approach to public art.

Baker created his artwork for Tooth & Co to be on public display in prominent locations for all to see.

Ringing in the opening

At the official opening, the MC Philippa Percy invited Gary Baker, Alan’s son, to tell his father’s story and then invited Camden Mayor Ashleigh Cagney to ring the gallery bell to officially open the exhibition.

Gary Baker, Alan Baker’s son, tells his father’s story at the opening of the exhibition ‘Alan’s Art Deco’. (I Willis, 2023)

The exhibition is found in Camden’s historic Macaria, a Victorian gentleman’s townhouse designed and built in the Picturesque Gothic Renaissance Revival style in 1860, the Alan Baker Art Gallery home.

The gallery is in the Camden Town Centre’s historic John Street precinct, where you will find next door the former police barracks (1878) adjacent to court house (1857), all opposite the former temperance hall (1867) and school of arts (1866).

This is an enticing exhibition that highlights another aspect of the talent and skill of Alan D Baker as a commercial artist. ‘Alan’s Art Deco’ adds to earlier exhibitions that have demonstrated other aspects of Baker’s art career, for example, the 2021 exhibition FACE to FACE: Live Sittings 1936 – 1972 .

The Alan Baker Art Gallery is located at 37 John Street, Camden. Exhibition entry is free, and the gallery is open Thursday to Sunday from 11am to 4pm. Free off-street is available in Larkin Place, Camden and the Oxley Decked Car Park, Camden, at the rear of the gallery.

The Alan Baker Art Gallery in the historic Macaria building at 37 John Street Camden. (I Willis 2023)
20th century · Aesthetics · Architecture · Attachment to place · Belonging · Biography · Built heritag · Camden Cottage · Camden Story · Campbelltown Art Centre · Collective Memory · Community identity · Cultural Heritage · Cultural icon · Domestic Architecture · Family history · History · History of a house · Hope and loss · House history · Housing · Lifestyle · Living History · Local History · Local Studies · Macarthur · Macarthur region · Memory · Mid-century modernism · Modernism · Peri-urban region · Placemaking · rural-urban fringe · Social History · Stereotypes · Storytelling · Symbolism

‘Fibro Majestic’, a new exhibition at the Campbelltown Arts Centre, a review

camdenhistorynotes

A simple, cheap housing style

Post-war housing domestic architecture in Camden is typified by a simple, cheap utilitarian building called the Camden fibro cottage.

This style of domestic architecture, the fibro cottage, can be found all over Australia and has provided a basic form of housing for thousands of families.

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

Yet it has been derided, rubbished, and scoffed at for decades after initially being heralded as the height of modernism in the early 20th century.

Fibro Majestic exhibition

The simple fibro house is celebrated in a new exciting exhibition at the Campbelltown Arts Centre called Fibro Majestic by renowned Australian artist and sculptor Catherine O’Donnell.

The exhibition by artist Catharine O’Donnell runs from 8 July to 13 August 2023 with free entry.

Promotional flyer for Fibro Majestic at the Campbelltown Arts Centre, Campbelltown (CAC 2023)

Initially conceived for the artist’s survey exhibition ‘Beyond the Shadow’ at the Orange Regional Gallery in partnership with Grafton Regional Gallery, curated by art historian Lucy Stanger in 2022.

At the centre of the exhibition is the imposing spectacle of a 75%-scale replica of a fibro house.

The exhibition promotion states:

‘Catherine O’Donnell: Fibro Majestic’ presents a body of work by O’Donnell that considers the historical and social context of fibro and social housing in Western Sydney and across Australia. O’Donnell grew up in a fibro home in Green Valley, Western Sydney, which at the time was the largest public housing estate in Sydney. The shape and form of the fibro house has long since informed her practice as she explores architecture, social history and the notions of home and memory.    

Cover for the Fibro Majestic Exhibition Catalogue at the Campbelltown Arts Centre, Campbelltown (CAC, 2023)

Exhibition notes state that O’Donnell has taken the floor plans from the New South Wales Housing Commission around the mid-century. They are a type of modernism that has fallen out of favour with the government, the public and the building industry.

A small-scale model of a fibro cottage.
Catherine O’Donnell, ‘Gold leafed house 1’, 2022. Stereolithographic model and gold leaf 13x26x30cm. Campbelltown Arts Centre, Campbelltown. (I Willis, 2023)

Complementing the main sculptural installation is a range of small housing models and intimate drawings that evoke memories of living in a fibro house.

Catherine O’Donnell, ‘Beyond the curtain beats a loving heart’, 2020. Charcoal on paper diptych, 107×50 framed.
Campbelltown Arts Centre Fibro Majestic Exhibition 2023. (I Willis, 2023)

The fibro houses were more than just buildings. They sheltered people’s lives, provided a safe haven, and were a site of family celebrations, birthdays, marriages, anniversaries, and rituals. The curtains also hid many dark secrets, from domestic violence to poverty and unemployment. While there were many dysfunctional families and disrupted lives, there were many happy families with children who grew up and led successful lives.

One of the happy stories with many fond memories is the story of Fiona, who grew up in the Airds Housing Commission Estate in South Campbelltown. with its many fibro homes.

Fiona recalls:

Living in Airds during the late 70s and early 80s, friendships were built, and people stuck together. It was the freedom of riding bikes with friends until the street lights came on, building makeshift cubbies and performing concerts for the neighbours.

I still remember the excitement of walking to the local shops with my sisters to buy a few groceries for Mum. The constant search for ‘bargains’ in the hope there would be twenty cents left over to buy some mixed lollies.

Ugly Australia

According to O’Donnell, fibro cottages ‘were compact, mass-produced, box-like structures’ built across Sydney’s western suburbs.

The simple fibro cottage has characterised Western Sydney and its lifestyle.  The simplicity of the fibro cottage was its attraction and part of its downfall.

Typical of the urban fringe, the simple fibro cottage has been derided and ridiculed by those who are snobbish about Sydney’s outer suburbs.

The fibro cottage is typical of suburbia on the edge. The edge can be marginalised people, the urban fringe, or the perception that it is a type of housing that is unacceptable to some.

The fibro cottage represents a type of Otherness, an ugly Australia. These images have been reinforced by the Sydney press, which labelled Campbelltown an ‘ugly houso wasteland’ in 1975.

According to historian Ian Willis

The humble fibro cottage in Camden in the 1950s and 1960s has been integral to the town’s 20th-century history. The fibro house represents the baby-boomer era, when drive-ins, Holdens, Chiko rolls, black & white TV, rock & roll, and vinyl LPs were the norm. Fibro is evocative of long summer holidays by the beach, with adolescent love, boogie boards, zinc cream and paddle pops.  

This is the essence of Fibro Majestic, a metaphor for mid-century Australia.

Optimism and hope in a compact box

The fibro cottage came to the rescue in the post-war years, when Sydney experienced a housing shortage due to the ‘baby boom’ and increased immigration.

The postwar years were a period of optimism and hope for a better lifestyle. These cottages were cheap and utilitarian and could be erected quickly.

Fibro, as a building materialz, was invented at the beginning of the 20th century and imported into Australia before the First World War. Wartime restrictions resulted in the product being manufactured in Australia by the war’s end.

This is an image of a Camden fibro cottage built in 1920. Chesham Cottage is at 49 Broughton Street, Camden, built by the Camden Voluntary Workers Association following the First World War. (Camden Images)

Leaked heat like a sieve

The fibro cottages of the 1950s leaked heat like a sieve and failed by today’s energy-efficient efficiency standards for housing. According to Lloyd Nicols from the Illawarra Flame retrofit project, these cottages can be made energy efficient to make them sustainable, affordable, and attractive. The project, a joint venture between the University of Wollongong and Wollongong TAFE College, aims for kits to be able to retrofit existing fibro cottages to increase their thermal performance.

Nostalgia and memory

Nostalgia and memory are a big part of the exhibition. Artist Catherine O’Donnell states that the fibro cottage is the architecture of my childhood and an ‘everywhere-everyman example of mid-century developments across Australia’.

The simple fibro shacks littered along the Australian coastline are part of this nostalgia. Wendy Shaw and Lindsay Menday argue

The old beach shacks that dominated seaside fishing villages or isolated holiday surfing spots provided low-cost accommodation for holidaymakers in often remote and low-populated settings with few services. Some of these holiday houses were owner-occupied but remained vacant outside holiday times. Most were available for short-term holiday rental. All were relatively basic.

These fibro cottages straddled the class divide and were easily accessible by the motor car by mid-century. These were egalitarian holiday experiences for Australians.

The Fibro Majestic sculptural installation attracts an audience at the Campbelltown Arts Centre, Campbelltown (I Willis 2023)

Shaw and Menday maintain that

In northern New South Wales, tropes of nature, community, and heritage [around fibro cottages] have been incorporated into a new beachside ‘town’ identity.

These fantasies of bygone days play out in the Fibro Majestic exhibition, which conjures up memories of beach holidays with long lazy days lounging in the sun in a mystical past. All viewed through rose-coloured glasses misty with nostalgia.

O’Donnell maintains that these memories are ‘synonymous with Australian identity’.

Flawed Plans, a commission

In addition to the main exhibition, The Campbelltown Arts Centre has commissioned a site-specific art installation on the stairs and front wall of the gallery amphitheatre called ‘Flawed Plans’.

The Flawed Plans art installation in the forecourt of Campbelltown Arts Centre.
‘Flawed Plans’, 2023. (Campbelltown Arts Centre Amphitheatre). Vinyl, dimensions variable. Commissioned by the CAC. (I Willis, 2023)

The artwork highlights the many layers to the story of the fibro cottage and how perceptions shift and twist.

Where once the fibro house was seen as a saviour as a cheap and effective form of housing, it has become a to be seen as an urban disaster by many.

The artist maintains that as the viewer climbs around the installation, their perception shifts and skews ‘as the viewer climbs, descends or orbits the work’.

Fibro Majestic, a reflection

Fibro Majestic reminds us all how perceptions and memories change over time. Fibro houses were once the height of modernism, yet in later decades, they were derided and rubbished.

The sculptural installation at the Fibro Majestic exhibition at the Campbelltown Arts Centre, Campbelltown.
‘Fibro Majestic’, 2022. Mixed media, common household construction materials, 587x587x220cm. (I Willis, 2023)

The exhibition evokes the fibro heritage of affordable accommodation for the working man and his family in the postwar years when there was a housing shortage for ordinary people.

Fibro was a practical building material that, despite its dangers, could provide a model for the current housing crisis. The fibro cottage was a simple effective housing solution that could be reborn again.

The exhibition Fibro Majestic has captured the essence of nostalgia around this housing style. Baby boomer memories are full of fibro houses and other mid-century Australian lifestyle icons.

The art installation encapsulates the essential elements of the architectural style and is evocative of the lives of those who lived in this utilitarian style of domestic architecture.

More reading

Shaw, W. S., & Menday, L. (2013). Fibro Dreaming: Greenwashed Beach-house Development on Australia’s Coasts. Urban Studies, 50(14), 2940–2958. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098013482507

Jenna Reed Burns 2015, ‘Shacking Up’, Green Magazine, Issue 43, May. https://greenmagazine.com.au/article/shacking-up/

20th century · Aesthetics · Architecture · Built heritag · Camden Modern · Camden Modernism · Collective Memory · Community identity · Cultural Heritage · Domestic Architecture · Elderslie · Heritage · History · History of a house · Housing · Local History · Local Studies · Memory · Mid-century modernism · Modernism · Place making · Sense of place · Storytelling · Urban development · Urban growth · Urban Planning · Urbanism

The Hennings House: lost mid-century modernism in Camden

camdenhistorynotes1 Comment

64-66 Macarthur Road

The ranch-style Henning House was set back high on the ridge in Elderslie across two building allotments and a good example of mid-century modernism.

Fronting Macarthur Road, the prominent position provided an appropriate site for the handsome residence of the Camden business family Peter and Barbara Hennings.

The house’s integrity remained intact until its demolition in 2011 to make way for a preschool.

Built in 1960, the Hennings House was one of the first residences of several houses on the Bruchhauser farm subdivision along Macarthur Road. (Hennings 2010)

The Hennings House, 64-66 Macarthur Road, Elderslie. The integrity of the house was still intact before its demolition in 2011. (I Willis, 2010)

The Hennings House was one of several ranch-style residences in Elderslie.

Ranch style housing

Architect Robert Irving has noted the housing style as an Australian domestic architecture. Parramatta City Council has recognised the housing style of heritage significance. 

The ranch-style house is an example of mid-century modernism.

The original house style came from California and the South-west of the USA, where architects in these areas designed the first suburban ranch-style houses in the 1920s and 1930s. They were simple one-storey houses built by ranchers who lived on the prairies and in the Rocky Mountains. 

The American architects liked the simple form that reflected the casual lifestyle of these farming families. After the Second World War, several home builders in California offered a streamlined, slimmed-down version. They were built on a concrete slab without a basement with pre-cut sections. 

The design allowed multi-function spaces, for example, living-dining rooms and eat-in-kitchen, which reduced the number of walls inside the house. The design was one of the first to orient the kitchen/family area towards the backyard rather than facing the street. 

The design also placed the bedrooms at the front of the house. The marketing of the ranch-style house tapped popular American fascination with the Old West. (Washington Post, 30 December 2006)

The Hennings House

Bracken ferns covered the site when the Hennings bought the two blocks and then filled the site to provide the house with an elevated position with a stone batter to the garage end of the house.

The wide frontage ranch-style house was set back on the double block in a high position, which is uncommon in Elderslie, although typical of this style elsewhere in Sydney (Parramatta Development Control Plan 2005).

Peter Hennings has always been interested in design and was careful in selecting the plans for the house. The couple were in their early 20s when they built the house.

The front of The Henning House, 64-66 Macarthur Road, Elderslie. The house’s integrity had not been compromised before its demolition in 2011. (I Willis, 2011)

The builder, Ron McMillan and Sons of Camden, had a catalogue, and the Hennings chose the house design from amongst those. 

According to Peter Hennings, the design of the house was considered relatively modern. (Hennings 2010)

The house was an open-planned three-bedroom double-brick ranch-style residence. The house had 10-foot ceilings, a stone fireplace, timber sash windows and a separate bathroom and toilet.

This image shows the detail of the timber-sash windows, front door and verandah of The Hennings House, 64-66 Macarthur Road, Elderslie. (I Willis, 2011)

There was a detached garage completed after the house was built. 

The lounge room had two pairs of ¼ inch-bevel glass doors and two single glass bevel doors. 

The site’s street frontage had a 1960 front fence of Chromatex bricks, and several mature trees added to the site’s aesthetic quality. (Hennings 2010)

The Hennings sold the house in 1980 to Dr Charles McCalden, who had a medical practice in Hill Street, Camden. He moved away from Camden in the mid-1980s.  

In recent years (1999-2009), the house was owned by school principals Joan and Frank Krzysik. 

The 1960 front fence of Chromatex bricks in original condition on the Macarthur Road frontage of the Hennings House, 64-66 Macarthur Road, Elderslie. (I Willis, 2011)

Kalinda, a Whiteman house

The state government’s 2000 Elderslie Urban Release Area plan resulted in the demolition of Kalinda, another ranch-style house. The timber-constructed home was located off Lodges Road Elderslie and owned by Andrew Whiteman. 

The Whiteman House Kalinda was high on the ridge with a pleasant outlook facing west over the Narellan Creek floodplain. Visitors approached the house from Lodges Road by driving up to the ridge’s top along a narrow driveway. The Whiteman family owned a general store in Camden that operated for nearly a century.

The same ridge was the site of Tarn House, a ranch-style house owned by surgeon Dr Gordon Clowes on Irvine Street, off Lodges Road.

 Other Elderslie mid-century homes

The 1960s Elderslie land releases produced some houses that were an expression of mid-century modernism. The house designs were usually taken from a book of project homes of the day, for example, Lend Lease, and were quite progressive. Some of these homes were built by the miners who worked in the Burragorang coalfields.

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

Two blocks of flats on Purcell Street use decorative wrought iron railings. Sunset Avenue in Elderslie is a mix of 1960s modern low-pitched roof open-planned houses interspersed with New South Wales Housing Commission fibro construction homes.

The New South Wales Housing Commission built fibro houses in Elderslie, some located on Burrawong Crescent. Architects, including Robin Boyd, were expressing Australian modernism elsewhere in Australia. Housing developers like Lend Lease commissioned these architects to design their housing estates.  One such development was the Lend-Lease Appletree Estate at Glen Waverley in Melbourne. Another Lend Lease land release and show homes were at their 1962 Kingsdene Estate in Carlingford.

Demolition of The Hennings House

The demolition of The Henning House took place in 2011 in preparation for the preschool construction.

Demolition of The Hennings House at 64-66 Macarthur Road, Elderslie in preparation for the construction of a preschool (I Willis, 2011)

I lodged an objection to the demolition of The Henning House in 2010 Camden Council, which approved the DA for the preschool on the site.

The objection to the demolition was the first time there had been any formal recognition of the heritage value of a post-World War Two domestic architecture style in the Camden LGA.

Peter Hennings said he would have been happy for the house to be preserved. (Macarthur Chronicle, 23 March 2010)

Newspaper article with my image and telling the story of The Hennings House (Macarthur Chronicle, 23 March 2010)

References

Peter & Barbara Hennings, 2010, Camden, Interview, February.

1920s · 1930s · 1932 · 20th century · Adaptive Re-use · Aesthetics · Architecture · Argyle Street · Attachment to place · Belonging · Built heritag · Business History · Camden Story · Camden Town Centre · Collective Memory · Colonial Camden · Community identity · Cultural Heritage · Cultural icon · Design · Economy · Governor Macquarie · Historical consciousness · History · Interwar · Local History · Local Studies · localism · Macarthur region · Mid-century modernism · Modernism · Place making · Placemaking · Sense of place · Storytelling · Streetscapes · Town planning · Uncategorized · Urban growth · Urban history · Urbanism

 The former Bank of New South Wales building in the country town of Camden

camdenhistorynotes1 Comment

A Camden interwar banking chamber

In central Camden is an empty bank building of understated significance at the intersection of John and Argyle Streets. This building was the premises of Westpac, formerly the Bank of New South Wales, and was the second banking chamber on that site. Constructed in the 1930s by a prominent firm of local builders and designed by one of Sydney’s top award-winning architects. It is a building of much architectural merit, and few know its history. 

The former Bank of New South Wales building was built in 1936, designed by Sydney architects Peddle, Thorp & Walker and constructed by Harry Willis & Sons (I Willis, 2009)

First bank in Camden

The Bank of New South Wales was the first bank in Camden. The bank initially occupied 23 Argyle Street, a colonial-style brick building with corrugated iron gable and brick chimneys. This banking chamber opened in 1865. These premises were used by Wilkinson & Sons as a plumbing and tin smithing business. A funeral parlour currently occupies it. (Willis, 2015)

The Bank of New South Wales at 23 Argyle Street Camden in 1865. (Camden Images/JB Mummery)

The oldest bank in Australia

The Bank of New South Wales is the oldest bank in Australia and was established in 1817 when Governor Macquarie signed its charter of incorporation. It was set up to provide financial stability in Sydney’s military garrison but quickly became a South Pacific trading hub. The new bank financed local economic activity and financed overseas trade. The bank eventually merged with the Commercial Bank of Australia in 1982 and became the Westpac Banking Corporation. It is still one of the largest banks in Australia. (DoS)

When the Bank of New Wales moved into Camden, it provided the newly emerging market town with financial stability. It financed the emerging trading activity for the town’s small business sector. In 1873 the original building had outlived its usefulness, and the bank moved west along Argyle Street to its current location at the corner of John and Argyle Streets.

Woolpack Inn (later Crofts Inn)

In 1873 the Bank of New South Wales purchased the former Woolpack Inn (later Crofts Inn) at 121 Argyle Street with its picturesque Victorian verandahs. Licensee Thomas Brennan had purchased the Woolpack site in 1852 and constructed the Victorian-style two-storey building with iron-lace work and outbuildings. Brennan sold the inn to Henry Denton, who sold it to innkeeper Samuel Croft by 1863. (Willis, 2015)

The Bank of New South Wales at 121 Argyle Street Camden c.1900, formerly the Woolpack Inn (Camden Council Library)

The former hotel served the Bank of New South Wales well until the 1930s during the Interwar period when the economic prosperity of the district from the Burragorang coalfields encouraged the bank to build new premises to reflect its status in the town better. (Willis, 2015)

In 1936 Camden Municipal Council ordered the bank to remove the verandah posts on the Argyle Street frontage as part of the modernisation of the town centre. The council orders may have prompted the bank to consider updating its banking chamber on Argyle Street and demolishing the Victorian premises (Camden News, 15 October 1936).

121 Argyle Street

Architect-designed and locally built

The contract for the two-story banking chamber was awarded to Camden builder Harry Willis & Sons and designed by Sydney architects Peddle, Thorp & Walker. These architects were established in Sydney in 1889 and designed Science House, corner Gloucester and Essex Sts, Sydney, which won the inaugural Sir John Sulman Medal in 1932. (PTW; SMH, 14 July 1936))

On the awarding of tenders, the old bank building was demolished. Temporary premises for the bank staff were found in one of WC Furner’s shops opposite the Empire Theatre. Here Mr J Stibbard, the bank manager, assured customers that they would find banking convenient during the building work. (Camden News, 11 June 1936)

Hand-made nails and a cellar

During dismantling, the Sydney Morning Herald reported that hand-made nails had been extensively used in the construction of the former hotel,  made by ‘nail-smiths’ (SMH, 14 July 1936). The nail-smith in the 19th century was probably the local blacksmith, one of the most important trades in the area.

Local timbers had been used extensively throughout the former hotel building and were reported to be in ‘an excellent state of preservation. A long-forgotten cellar was discovered under the bank floor and ‘recalled the existence of an inn on [the] site during the coaching days’. (SMH, 14 July 1936)

Commodious banking chamber

In 1936 the Sydney Morning Herald stated the new building had a ‘commodious banking chamber and offices for the staff’. ‘Textured brick’ was used for ‘facing’ throughout the building ‘relieved by lighter-coloured treatment of the external woodwork. The bank entrance at the splayed angle at the intersection of the two streets will be treated with especially brick architraves and pediment surmounted by a synthetic sandstone ornamental shield. The interior was treated with polished maple woodwork throughout. The Georgian character design will be a colourful and artistic addition to this historic town’s architecture. (SMH, 14 July 1936)

A collage of images illustrating different aspects of the Georgian Revival architectural style that is reflected by the 1936 building of the former Bank of New South Wales (I Willis, 2019)

Georgian Revival

The NSW Heritage Inventory states: ‘The 1936 two-storey glazed and rough brick building with double hung windows and tiled roof. Its detailing includes quoining and multipaned windows, typical characteristics of the Georgian Revival style.’ (HNSW)

Georgian Revival is an architectural style nostalgic for the colonial period in the USA and the early 19th century in the United Kingdom, sometimes called Neo-Georgian. The style has a proportionate symmetry and austere elegance, characterised by proportion and balance. Commonly there is brick construction with a gable or hip roof line and equal placement of windows, generally two storeys and rectangular.

The former Bank of New South Wales building is a high-quality contributor to Camden township’s substantial eclectic fabric and the overall cultural significance of the Camden Town Conservation Area. The building retains its historic integrity and is intact. (HNSW)

Vacant

Westpac closed the Camden branch in 2020, and the building has remained vacant.

Collages of images of the former Bank of New South Wales (I Willis, 2009)

References

Ian Willis, 2015, Pictorial History Camden & District. Kingsclear Books, Sydney.

Dictionary of Sydney staff writer, Bank of New South Wales, Dictionary of Sydney, 2008, http://dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/bank_of_new_south_wales, viewed 06 Feb 2023

Updated 11 July 2023. Originally posted 6 February 2023 as  ‘Interwar Modernism and a Camden banking chamber’.

1920s · 20th century · Adaptive Re-use · Architecture · Attachment to place · Burra Charter · Camden · Camden Council · Camden Historical Society · Camden Story · Camden Town Centre · Colonial Camden · Community identity · Cultural Heritage · Education · Heritage · Historical Research · Historical thinking · History · History of a house · House history · Housing · Lifestyle · Living History · Local History · Local Studies · Macarthur · Mid-century modernism · Modernism · Place making · Sense of place · Storytelling · Town planning · Urban Planning · Urbanism

Camden’s heritage inventory

camdenhistorynotes2 Comments

Camden heritage mysteries solved

In 2015 I posted an item called ‘Camden’s mysterious heritage list’. In it I complained about the travails of trying to navigate Camden Council’s website to find the Camden heritage inventory. I wrote:

Recently I needed to consult Camden’s heritage inventory list for a research project. I also consulted similar lists for Campbelltown and Wollondilly LGAs. They were easy to find. Camden’s list was mysteriously hiding somewhere. It had to exist. The council is obliged to put one together by the state government. But where was it? Do you know where Camden Council’s heritage inventory is to be found? I did not know. So off I went on a treasure hunt. The treasure was the heritage list.

I am very happy to report that many things have changed since 2015.

Camden Council Heritage Advisory Committee

Today Camden Council has a Heritage Advisory Committee which has taken a lead in promoting heritage in a number of areas.

The committee held its first meeting in August 2018 and the minutes of all meetings are located on the committee website.

Committee member LJ Aulsebrook has written about the activities and role of the committee in Camden History, the journal of the Camden Historical Society.

The Camden Historical Society has an ex-officio position on the Heritage Advisory Committee and the president is the nominee of the society.

One of the outstanding activities of the committee was the 2019 Unlock Camden held during History Week run by the History Council of New South Wales. The Camden event was co-ordinated by LJ Aulesbrook.

Cover of 2019 Unlock Camden Flyer for the event (Camden Council)

The aim of the Heritage Advisory Committee are outlined in the Terms of Reference. The ToR states that the HAC aims :

To promote heritage and community education by:
a) Generating a wider appreciation of heritage through public displays,
seminars, participation in the annual National Trust Heritage festival &
history week;
b) Promoting and coordination of heritage open days;
c) Generating a greater understanding and appreciation of Aboriginal
heritage in Camden Local Government Area;
d) Actively encouraging conservation and maintenance of heritage items
and heritage conservation areas to owners and the general public;
e) Investigating grant opportunities;
f) Investigating opportunities for Council run awards/recognition in
response to good heritage work;
g) Developing a register of local heritage professionals and tradespeople;
and
h) Assisting in developing education packages for information, school
education, and best heritage practices.

https://www.camden.nsw.gov.au/assets/pdfs/Planning/Heritage-Advisory-Committee/18-181181-ADOPTED-Heritage-Advisory-Committee-Terms-of-Reference.pdf

What is Camden heritage?

Camden Council defines heritage as

Heritage is something that we have inherited from the past. It informs us of our history as well as giving us a sense of cultural value and identity. Heritage places are those that we wish to treasure and pass on to future generations so that they too can understand the value and significance of past generations.

Heritage makes up an important part of the character of the Camden Local Government Area (LGA). Camden’s heritage comprises of a diverse range of items, places, and precincts of heritage significance. Items, places or precincts may include public buildings, private houses, housing estates, archaeological sites, industrial complexes, bridges, roads, churches, schools, parks and gardens, trees, memorials, lookouts, and natural areas. Heritage significance includes all the values that make that item, place or precinct special to past, present and future generation.

https://www.camden.nsw.gov.au/planning/heritage-conservation/

Camden Heritage Inventory

The Camden Heritage Inventory is found on an easily accessible file on the Camden Council webpage here.

The cover of the Camden Heritage Inventory PowerPoint file (2020)

There are links within the PPT to the New South Wales State Heritage Register, the NSW Department of Planning Portal and NSW primary spatial data.

The State Heritage Register has a complete listing of local items and those of state significance on the State Heritage Register.

List of 15 Camden properties of state significance on the New South Wales State Heritage Register in 2021 (NSW Government)

In addition Camden Council has set out for general environmental heritage conditions on its website here.

Camden Council has recently offered advice on for owners who want to restore their residential properties along heritage lines. The advice covers materials, colours, and finishes for Victorian, Edwardian and Mid-century residential architectural styles in the Camden Town Conservation area.

Camden Council heritage advice fact sheet for residential properties in Camden Town Centre Conservation Area. (2020, Camden Council)

The Camden Town Centre conservation area was proclaimed by the state government in 2008 and is subject to a range of development conditions.

This is a map for the Camden Town Centre Conservation Area that was proclaimed by the New South Wales government in 2008 (Camden Council)
Aesthetics · Agricultural heritage · Art · Artists · Attachment to place · Belonging · British colonialism · Burragorang Valley · Camden · Camden Hospital · Camden Story · Church History · Coal mining · Colonial Camden · Community identity · Cultural Heritage · Cultural icon · Dairying · Dharawal · Farming · Heritage · Historical consciousness · Historical thinking · History · Living History · Local History · Local Studies · Macarthur · Memorial · Memorialisation · Memorials · Memory · Mid-century modernism · Modernism · Monuments · Pioneers · Place making · Public art · Sense of place · Settler colonialism · Settler Society · Social History · Stereotypes · Storytelling · Tourism

Camden Rotary Pioneer Mural: public art, a mural, a memorial wall and a wishing well

camdenhistorynotes4 Comments

Mural art and a memorial wall

Camden Pioneer Mural with the Camden Hospital wishing well and associated landscaping and gardens. (I Willis, 2020)

One of the most important public art pieces in the Macarthur region is the Camden Pioneer Mural. The mural is located on the corner of the Old Hume Highway and Menangle Road, adjacent to Camden Hospital. Thousands of people pass by the mural, and few know its story.

Public art is important to a vibrant community and adds to its cultural, aesthetic and economic vitality. Public art promotes

‘a sense of identity, belonging, attachment, welcoming and openness, and strengthen community identification to place. [It creates] a tangible sense of place and destination’.

The pioneer mural does all these and more. The mural makes a public statement about Camden and the stories that created the community we all live in today.

Murals, according to Stephen Yarrow of the Pocket Oz Sydney  

 reflect the social fabric of communities past and present – visual representations of their dreams and aspirations, social change, the cultural protests of an era, of emerging cultures and disappearing ones.

Public murals have recently gone through a revival in Australia and have turned into tourist attractions. Murals have become an important part of the urban landscape of many cities, including Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney, Launceston and other cities worldwide. Mural art in the bush has been used to promote regional tourism by developing the Australian Silo Art Trail.

The Camden pioneer mural is a visual representation of the dreams and aspirations of its creators.

The creators

The mural was originally the idea of the town elders from the Camden Rotary Club.  The club was formed in the halcyon days of the post-war period (1947) when the club members were driven by a desire for community development and progress.  Part of that vision was for a tourist attraction on the town’s Hume Highway approaches and a wishing well that would benefit the hospital.  (Clowes, 1970, 2012)

Camden Pioneer Mural with the ceramic artwork completed by Byram Mansell in 1962 (I Willis, 2020)

 

The next incarnation of the vision was a mural with a ram with a ‘golden fleece’ to ‘commemorate the development of the wool industry by the Macarthurs’.  The credit for this idea has been given to foundation Rotary president Ern Britton, a local pharmacist. (Clowes 1970, 2012)   

Club members were influenced by the mythology around the exploits of colonial identity and pastoralist John Macarthur of Camden Park and the centenary of his death in 1934. Macarthur was a convenient figure in the search for national pioneering heroes. The ‘golden fleece’ was a Greek legend about the adventures of a young man who returned with the prize, and the prize Macarthur possessed was a merino sheep.

The ‘golden fleece’ was seared into the national psyche by Tom Roberts’s painting The Golden Fleece (1894), the foundation of the petrol brand in 1913 and Arthur Streeton’s painting Land of the Golden Fleece (1926).  

The Camden mural project gained momentum after the success of the 1960 Camden festival, ‘The Festival of the Golden Fleece’,  celebrating the 150th anniversary of wool production in Australia.

By 1962 the project concept had evolved to a merino sheep and a coal mine after the Rotary presidencies of Burragorang Valley coal-baron brothers Ern and Alan Clinton (1959-1961)  (Clowes, 2012)

The plaque on the mural wall commemorates the official opening in 1962 (I Willis, 2020)

 

The artist

Club secretary John Smailes moved the project along and found ceramic mural artist WA Byram Mansell. (Clowes, 2012)

Mansell, a well-known artist and designer, held exhibitions of his work in Australia and overseas and commissioned mural works for businesses, local councils and government departments. (ADB) He adopted what the Sydney Morning Herald art critic called a form of realism that synthesises traditional European styles and ‘the symbolic ritual and philosophy of the Australian Aboriginal’. Mansell’s work was part of what has been called ‘Aboriginalia’ in the mid-20th century ‘, which largely consisted of commodities made by nonindigenous artists, craftspeople and designers who appropriated from Aboriginal visual culture’.  (Fisher, 2014)

Mural themes

The scope of the mural project had now expanded and included several themes: the local Aboriginal tribe; local blackbirds – magpies; First Fleet arriving from England; merino sheep brought by the Macarthur family establishing Australia’s first wool industry; grapes for a winemaking industry; dairy farming and fruit growing; and development of the coal industry. (Clowes, 2012)

Mansell created a concept drawing using these historical themes. (Clowes, 2012) The club accepted Mansell’s concept drawings, and he was commissioned to complete the mural, creating the ceramic tiles and firing them at his studio. (Clowes, 2012)

The mural concept seems to have been an evolving feast, with Mansell refusing to supply the Rotary Club with his interpretation of his artwork. (Clowes, 1970)

The plaque with the inscription from the official programme of the opening in 1962. (I Willis, 2020)

 

The artist and the meaning of the mural

 To understand the meaning of the artist’s intended design, this researcher has had to go directly to Mansell’s own words at the 1962 dedication ceremony.

 Mr Mansell said,

‘I was happy to execute the work for Camden and Australia. We are a great land, but we do not always remember the early pioneers. But when I commenced this work there came to me some influence and I think this was the influence of the pioneers.

Mr Mansell said,

‘The stone gardens at the base is the symbol of the hardships of the pioneers and the flowers set in the crannies denote their success.’

‘The line around the mural, represents the sea which surrounds Australia.

‘To the fore is Capt Cook’s ship Endeavour and the wheel in the symbol of advancement. The Coat-of-Arms of the Macarthur-Onslows, pioneered sheep, corn, wheat, etc are all depicted as are the sheep which were first brought to this colony and Camden by John Macarthur.

‘Aboriginals hunting kangaroos are all depicted and so on right through to the discovery of coal which has been to us the ‘flame of industry’. Incorporated in the central panel is the Camden Coat-of-Arms, and the Rotary insignia of the wheel highlights the panel on the left.

‘Colours from the earth have been used to produce the unusual colouring of the mural.  (Camden News, 20 June 1962)

Further interpretation

According to Monuments Australia, the mural ‘commemorates  the European pioneers of Camden’, and the Australian Museums and Galleries Online database described the three panels:

There is a decorative border of blue and yellow tiles creating a grape vine pattern. The border helps define the triptych. The three panels depict the early history of Camden. The large central panel shows a rural setting with sheep and a gum tree in the top section. Below is a sailing ship with the southern cross marked on the sky above. Beside is a cart wheel and a wheat farm. There are three crests included on this panel, the centre is the Camden coat of arms bearing the date 1795, on the proper right is a crest with a ram’s head and the date 1797, and on the proper left is a crest with a bunch of grapes and the date 1805. The proper right panel of the triptych, in the top section depicts an Aboriginal hunting scene. Below this is an image miner’s and sheafs of wheat. The proper left panel depicts an ornate crest in the in the top section with various rural industries shown below. (AMOL, 2001)

Specifications

The mural has three panels and is described as a ‘triptych’ constructed from glazed ceramic tiles (150mm square). The tiles were attached to the wall of sandstone blocks supported by two side columns. The monument is 9.6 metres wide and 3 metres high, and around 500mm deep. There is a paved area in front of the mural 3×12 metres, associated landscaping works and a wishing well. (AMOL, 2001; Clowes, 1970)

The memorial wall is made of sandstone blocks salvaged from the demolition of St Paulinas’s Catholic Church at Central Burragorang in the Burragorang Valley. The total weight is 150 tons. The demolition of the church was part of the clearing of the Burragorang Valley due to the construction of Warragamba Dam. (The District Reporter, 5 March 2004)

The official programme from the opening and dedication of the mural in 1962. (Camden Museum)

Tourists visit mural

Tourists would stop in front of the mural and have their picture taken as they travel along the Hume Highway.

The pioneer mural was a local tourist attraction, and visitors stopped and had their pictures taken in front of the artwork. Mary Tinlin of Kurri Kurri stands in front of the mural and fountain. Mrs Tinlin is standing on the side of the Hume Highway that passed through Camden township. The nurses’ quarters are the prominent building at the rear on the right. Immediately behind the mural wall is Camden District Hospital before the construction of the Hodge building in 1971. (George & Jeannie Tinlin, A Kodachrome slide, 1964)

Updated 3 November 2023. Originally posted on 1 December 2020 as ‘Camden Rotary Pioneer Mural: public art, a mural and memorial wall’.

1968 Sydney Region Outline Plan · 1973 New Cities Campbelltown Camden Appin Structure Plan · 20th century · Aesthetics · Architecture · Attachment to place · Brutalist Architecture · Built heritag · Campbelltown · Campbelltown Council · Campbelltown Modernism · Campbelltown Municipal Council · Community identity · Cultural Heritage · Cultural icon · Engineering Heritage · Heritage · Historical consciousness · Historical Research · History · Landscape · Landscape aesthetics · Living History · Local History · Local Studies · Macarthur · Memory · Mid-century modernism · Modernism · Place making · Placemaking · Sense of place · Storytelling · Sydney's rural-urban fringe · Town planning · Urban growth · Urban history · Urban Planning · urban sprawl · Urbanism

Campbelltown City Council office extension 1982 – a brutalist addition

camdenhistorynotes

The confidence of brutalist office extensions

On 18 September 1982, the Governor of New South Wales, His Excellency Air Marshal Sir James Rowland AC, KBE, DFC, AFC, opened the new brutalist style office extensions for Campbelltown City Council.

Gosford architects Grenfell, Fraser, and Associates designed the office extensions and, when combined with the 1964 building, created one of the most important modernist precincts in the Macarthur region.

Campbelltown Council Admin Building Open 1982Sept16 Cover lowres
The cover of the official programme at the opening of the new administration building in 1982. (CCC)

Unprecedented growth

Mayor Thomas stated at the official opening that the city had undergone ‘unprecedented’ growth and embraced ‘enormous changes’ since 1964. (Official programme)

The city’s population growth had grown from 24,000 (1963) to 43,000 (1974), and by 1980 was 120,000.

The council’s administration was ‘strained to the limit’, and there was a risk of fragmentation of council departments. The architects recommended a new single building to accommodate council staff to avoid this.

The architects presented three sites for the council’s consideration: the existing civic centre site, Camden Road opposite the Campbelltown Catholic Club, and the Macarthur Regional Growth Centre.

Campbelltown Council Admin Buildings 1964 & 1982 Photographer John Nobley CCL 1983
The Campbelltown City Council administration buildings. The 1964 Modernist tower is on the left, and the 1982 Brutalist extension is on the right. The image shows how the architects integrated the design of the 1982 extension on the civic centre site. This image was photographed from Campbelltown Railway Station by John  Nobley in 1983. (CCL Fairfax Collection)

Moral obligation

After considering the three options, the council felt it had a ‘moral obligation’ to the existing Queen Street commercial precinct to remain at the civic centre site.

The new office building would act as an ‘anchor of confidence’, and the site would remain as the northern gateway to the commercial precinct. It would set a standard for future development in the area. (Official programme, 1982)

The council requested the architects design a ‘four-storey administrative building’ of around  2000m2 with an associated pedestrian plaza, landscaping and parking within the civic centre precinct.

In 1980 the civic centre precinct consisted of the 1966 single-floor community hall, the 1971 single-storey library building, a single-story women’s rest centre, a service station, the former fire station and a two-storey ambulance station. (Official programme, 1982)

The council needed to acquire the service station on the corner of Queen and Broughton Streets to complete the project.

Campbelltown Council Admin 1982 Extension9 2020 IW (2) lowres
Campbelltown City Council 1982 brutalist administration building showing the architectural detail and exposed concrete exterior finish to the building. (I Willis, 2020)

Dominant form

The primary design constraint on the civic centre site was the 1964 office tower of 1400m2  containing the council chambers and the administration offices.   (Proposed Civic Centre Development, Grenfell, Fraser and Associates, 1980)

The building completely dominated the precinct and was ‘considered as the major visual element in any design’ because of its height’. The architects described it as a “high rise” curtain wall construction with external sun shading’.  (Proposed Civic Centre Development, Grenfell, Fraser and Associates, 1980)

Architects Grenfell, Fraser and Associates felt that the new building extension had to integrate with the 1964 office tower in a functional and aesthetically pleasing fashion.

Campbelltown Council Admin 1982 Extension7 2020 IW (3) lowres
The architectural detail of the Campbelltown City Council 1982 administration building shows the exposed concrete finish to the exterior of the building. (I Willis, 2020)

The spirit of the past

The architects stated that the design of the new building extensions and its ‘scale, proportion and detailing’ recognised ‘the legacy of the district’ :

‘The “colonial” pitched roof on the new extensions reflects the graceful simplicity of colonial architecture, and the simple proportions, “depth” façade detailing and pitched roof echo the features of “old” Campbelltown buildings’. (Official programme, 1982)

Campbelltown Council Admin 1982 Extension12 2020 IW (2) lowres
A perspective of the Campbelltown City Council 1982 administration building with the pedestrian plaza in front of the building. The roofline is visible on the top level of the building. (I Willis, 2020)

The building design inspired Mayor Thomas to draw on the past and ‘old Campbelltown’ as an inspiration for his address.

The new building was a metaphor for the area’s pioneering spirit.

The mayor stated that the new building illustrated how the spirit of the Campbelltown pioneers had not ‘suppressed the basic community character of Campbelltown’s early days’.

‘The spirit of the hardy pioneer bred of early settlers is woven into the fabric of our history and community life of today’, he said.

‘The City of Campbelltown has an ancient heritage in terms of the nation’s history, and this is being matched by a vital modern record of achievement’, said the mayor.

Mayor Thomas said

The wisdom and vision of another progressive Governor of this State, Lachlan Macquarie, almost 160 years ago, formed the nucleus of the closely-knit community which continues to grow in size and stature. The spirit of the hardy pioneer breed of early settlers is woven into the fabric of our history and community life of today. (Official programme)

Scale, proportion and detailing

The new office building was set at the rear of the civic centre site and kept a ‘lower profile to Queen Street, consistent with the general two-storey nature of the older buildings’.  This design provided ‘an intermediate scale’ to help its integration with the existing higher 1964 building.   (Official programme, 1982)

The building materials for the project ensured that the external finish blended ‘aesthetically with existing buildings and landscape and are architecturally pleasing’, and the ‘finishes are dignified, tastefully chosen and dignified’. (Official programme, 1982)

The proposed building used reinforced concrete as the main structural element, with ‘precast concrete with exposed aggregate finish’ to the exterior walls with anodised aluminium window frames.  The internal walls were concrete blockwork with cement rendering.

The new design ‘provide[d] a building of similar bulk possessing a horizontal fenestration opposed the vertical nature of the existing building’ to act as a ‘counterfoil’ to the 1964 office tower. (Proposed Civic Centre Development for Campbelltown City Council feasibility study. Grenfell, Fraser and Associates, 1980)

At the end of the design phase, the architects believed the proposed scheme was both ‘aesthetically and materially adequate’ and ‘integrated functionally and aesthetically’ with the civic auditorium. (Proposed Civic Centre Development for Campbelltown City Council feasibility study. Grenfell, Fraser and Associates, 1980)

Campbelltown Council Admin 1982 Extension5 2020 IW (2) lowres
Campbelltown City Council 1982 administration building showing the architectural detail and the exposed concrete exterior finish. (I Willis, 2020)

Brutalist style

The monolithic presentation of the office building extension with a rigidly geometric style and large-scale use of poured concrete was representative of brutalist-style architecture.

Brutalism grew out of the early 20th-century modernist movement that is sometimes linked with the dynamism and self-confidence of the 1960s. The characteristics of the style are straight lines, small windows, heavy-looking materials, and modular elements with visible structural elements and a monochromic colouring.

The brutalist style appeared in the post-war years in the United Kingdom and drew inspiration from mid-century modernism. The style represented the new town movement and appeared in modernist UK cities like Milton Keynes. Brutalism was common in the Sydney area in the late 1960s and 1970s and an integral part of the 1973 New Cities of Campbelltown, Camden, Appin Structure Plan.

The New Cities Plan 1973[1]
The cover of The New Cities of Campbelltown, Camden, Appin Structure Plan 1973 (The State Planning Authority of New South Wales)

Consequently, the Campbelltown area has several brutalist-style buildings, including Airds High School (1974), Glenquarie Shopping Centre (1975), Campbelltown TAFE College (1981), Macarthur Square (1979), Campbelltown Hospital (1977), and Campbelltown Mall (1984).

Conclusion

The new 1982 office extension reflected how the winds of change from population growth had reshaped the Campbelltown area since the construction of the 1964 modernist office tower.

Campbelltown Council Admin 1982 Extension4 2020 IW (3) lowres
Campbelltown City Council 1982 Administration building showing the exposed concrete exterior. (I Willis, 2020)

Acknowledgements

The author would like to acknowledge the assistance the local studies librarians at the Campbelltown City Library provided in completing this blog post.

Updated on 8 May 2023. Originally posted on 10 June 2020.

1968 Sydney Region Outline Plan · 1973 New Cities Campbelltown Camden Appin Structure Plan · Aesthetics · Architecture · Attachment to place · Business · Campbelltown · Campbelltown Council · Campbelltown Modern · Campbelltown Modernism · Campbelltown Municipal Council · Community identity · Cultural Heritage · Cultural icon · Economy · Heritage · Historical consciousness · Historical Research · Historical thinking · History · Living History · Local History · Local Studies · Macarthur · Mid-century modernism · Modernism · Place making · Placemaking · Sense of place · Storytelling · Urban growth · Urban history · Urban Planning · urban sprawl · Urbanism

Campbelltown Council administration building, a mid-century symbol of progress

camdenhistorynotes1 Comment

  A new administration building

In 1964, the Campbelltown-Ingleburn News ran a banner headline on its front page: SYMBOL OF PROGRESS. The newspaper announced the opening of a new council administration building as part of a proposed civic centre precinct in the town centre.

The newspaper headline was a statement of faith in the confidence of Campbelltown and its planned declaration as a satellite city by the state government.

The eight-storey office building was the tallest structure in the town centre and was visible from all parts of the area. The top floors provided a ‘bird’s eye’ view over central Campbelltown and completely dominated its surroundings.

The Campbelltown Council office building is an outstanding example of a mid-century modernist high-rise office tower in the Macarthur region. Unfortunately, the hopes and dreams of local decision-makers who approved its construction were dashed in later decades.

Campbelltown Council offices 1967 CCL
View of Campbelltown Council administration building from Campbelltown Railway Station in 1967 showing its prominence in the town centre. (CCL)

A metaphor for a community on the move

The new administration building was a metaphor for Campbelltown’s growing confidence in the 1960s and the town’s future.

The building symbolised the hopes and dreams of planners and administrators and the immense changes that were to engulf Campbelltown over the following decades.

At the official opening on 28 November 1964, Campbelltown Mayor TK Fraser felt that the town was on the verge of something special. He said,

At the threshold of the most dynamic period in the history of its area, Campbelltown Municipal Council, imbued with a strong sense of purpose and complete confidence in the future, has provided this imposing Administrative Building’.

The building, the first stage of a Civic Centre which will cater for the needs of a rapidly expanding community, stands as a practical demonstration of the confidence with which Council faces the future convinced that this area, steeped in history, at present of unsurpassed rural charm, will develop, in the near future, into a thriving Satellite City. (Official programme)

Campbelltown Council Chambers 1960s Geoff Eves
A view of the modernist Campbelltown Council administration building in the mid-1960s, which was officially opened in 1964. This image was taken by local Campbelltown photographer Geoff Eves and shows the clean lines and minimalist style. (G Eves)

The administration building was developed under the guidelines of the County of Cumberland Scheme. It was part of an existing Campbelltown civic precinct that included the ambulance station and courthouse and was adjacent to the police station and railway station.

Alderman Percival, the vice-chair of the council Civic Centre committee, maintained that the building’s design catered to the anticipated administration of the council as a satellite city. The status of a satellite city was part of the proposed decentralisation by the County of Cumberland with Campbelltown’s projected population to grow to 200,000.  (Construction, 11 September 1963)

Planning for the new office building had begun in 1961 when the school of arts building provided inadequate to accommodate council staff. Initially housed in the old town hall, council staff had moved out into the school of arts after the 1948 amalgamation with Ingleburn Municipal Council.

‘The move into the new 1964 building was not without criticism’, said Alderman Percival. He argued that the council’s progression with the project was a ‘considerable moment’ for the municipality.

He said, ‘It was a necessary demonstration of confidence in the municipality by Council’. (Campbelltown Ingleburn News, 1 December 1964)

The architects agreed and said that the size, height and position of the building emphasised ‘the importance and dignity of Local Government function in the affairs of the city’. The two-storey atrium in the vestibule added greater emphasis to the building’s importance because of its aesthetic features, including ‘sculptured central column, cascades and pool’. (Construction, 11 September 1963)

‘Campbelltown’s future assured’, says Deputy Premier at the official opening

The New South Wales Minister for Local Government and Deputy Premier PD Hills officially opened the building on 28 November 1964.

Minister Hills reassured the council that the state government was about to make Campbelltown a self-contained satellite city beyond the Green Belt of the Cumberland Plan.

Mr Hills said, ‘Campbelltown is a thriving urban centre set in rural surroundings, but so close to Sydney metropolis that it largely acts as a dormitory-area for a workforce which finds its employment in the metropolitan area’.

‘It will be necessary to create accommodation within or close to the County of Cumberland, but outside the Green Belt, for an additional 300,000 people every eight years’, he said.

‘This means that we must have beyond the Green Belt but within 30 to 50 of Sydney a series of satellites which will be self-contained in the local sense but yet regionally associated with the metropolis’.

The minister said, ‘In the selection of sites for such development, the Campbelltown area is an obvious choice’. (Campbelltown-Ingleburn News, 1 December 1964)

Campbelltown Plaque Commemorating Opening Campbelltown Council Office 1964 H Neville 2020 lowres
Campbelltown Council Office Building foundation stone 29 February 1964 (H Neville 2020)

Storm clouds gather on the planning horizon

The decision by Campbelltown Municipal Council to build the new office accommodation was based on the direction and security provided by the state government’s County of Cumberland plan.

Unfortunately for the council, the New South Wales had abolished the County of Cumberland in December 1963 twelve months before the opening of the new building.

The state government had removed the security of the existing planning framework on which the council had initially based its decision to proceed with the new building.

Yet the minister continued to reassure Campbelltown Council of its position at the opening of the administration building in November 1964. (Campbelltown-Ingleburn New, 1 December 1964)

The New South Wales state government’s  State Planning Authority Act 1963. replaced the County of Cumberland with The State Planning Authority (SPA)  in December 1963. The SPA explicitly abandoned the Cumberland scheme’s green belt and satellite cities and devised a Sydney Region Outline Plan 1970–2000 A.D.

The state government proceeded with the development of the 1968 Sydney Region Outline Plan and then followed up with the  1973 New Cities Structure Plan Campbelltown, Camden and Appin.

The New Cities of Campbelltown Camden Appin Structure Plan 1973 was prepared by The State Planning Authority of New South Wales as part of the 1968 Sydney Region Outline Plan.

The rosy future of Campbelltown spoken about by the minister and the mayor was not quite as secure as they might have presented it to the community.

Upbeat statements by the mayor and minister encapsulated the elements that eventually foreshadowed dark clouds gathering on the Campbelltown planning horizon.

In the end, the storm clouds that gathered around the planning processes rained down on the Campbelltown area in the late 1970s and early 1980s, creating much angst for many in the community.

An important local icon

While the contested nature of the planning regime gave many in Campbelltown severe heartburn in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the city was left with an iconic mid-century modern marvel.

Designed by Sydney architects Davey, Brindley and Vickery in an Internationalist style the office building is a rare intact example in the area of this type of architecture in the local area.

Campbelltown Council office 1966 CIPP
A view of Campbelltown Council administration building from Campbelltown Railway Station in 1966 (CCL)

The building retains much of its 1964 integrity with its clean lines and minimalist, non-maintenance finish and functional design with the use of concrete, brick, glass and aluminium materials.

The office building is an essential marker of  mid-20th century Campbelltown and a statement of intent by a council that felt that the town had a secure future as a Sydney satellite city.

A modernist architectural gem

Sydney architects Davey, Brindley and Vickery stated that the ‘sharp vertical lines’ of the eight-storey building had a steel-encased frame and was built on piles with reinforced concrete floors connected by two high-speed lifts.

The International modernist design style had steel, glass, and mass-produced materials as its main characteristics. The rooms had the full expanse of the width of the building, with clean lines supported by dull and shiny surfaces. (Campbelltown Ingleburn News, 1 December 1964)

Campbelltown Council Admin Bldg Op Mtg Rm1982Sept16 Cover_0001
An image of the Campbelltown Council Administration Building from the official programme given to dignitaries at the opening in November 1964 (CMC)

A feature of the building was the entrance vestibule with a two-storey open atrium, which contained a floating stairway over an indoor garden. On the east side of the vestibule was a cast bronze multiplane historical mural by Bim Hilder mounted on a highly exposed aggregate wall. (Campbelltown Ingleburn News, 1 December 1964)

The north wall of the foyer was faced with black marble with contrasting white marble door jamb and scag-terrazzo floor. The architects noted that the two primary colours were black and white, which compared with the red cedar-lined ceiling under the mezzanine level. (Campbelltown Ingleburn News, 1 December 1964)

The stairs to the first level were black scag-terrazzo with a black anodised aluminium balustrade with clear glass panels. On the first floor, the panelled cedar walls contrasted with contrasting black and white colouring. (Campbelltown Ingleburn News, 1 December 1964)

The architects stated that the building was finished with non-maintenance materials. The exterior charcoal colouring of the building contrasts with a black anodised aluminium building. The sun blades were heavy baked enamel with infill walls of dark brick. (Campbelltown Ingleburn News, 1 December 1964)

The 1964 International modernist building created quite a precedent in the small country town of Campbelltown, where the local community leaders confidently predicted a bright future.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the Local Studies Librarians at Campbelltown City Council Library for their assistance in the completion of this post.

Updated on 18 January 2024. Originally posted on 28 May 2020 as ‘A symbol of progress – mid-century modernism and a new administration building’.

1968 Sydney Region Outline Plan · 1973 New Cities Campbelltown Camden Appin Structure Plan · Aesthetics · Airds · Architecture · Attachment to place · Campbelltown · Collective Memory · Community identity · Cultural Heritage · Cultural icon · Economy · Heritage · Historical consciousness · Historical Research · Historical thinking · History · Housing · Landscape · Lifestyle · Living History · Local History · Local Studies · localism · Lost Sydney · Macarthur · Macarthur Growth Centre · Malls · Memory · Mid-century modernism · Modernism · Myths · Place making · Placemaking · Retailing · rural-urban fringe · Sense of place · Shopping · Stereotypes · Storytelling · Streetscapes · Supermarkets · Sydney · Town planning · Urban development · Urban growth · Urban history · Urban Planning · urban sprawl · Urbanism

Airds Shopping Mall: The retail centre hope forgot

camdenhistorynotes1 Comment

The sad side of mid-century Modernism

Recently I came across an article about the future of the Airds shopping mall in the Macarthur Chronicle headed ‘Dilapidated centre set to be transformed’. It stated:

A wrecking ball could be swinging towards a dilapidated shopping village. The grand plans propose to demolish Airds Village shopping centre, on Riverside Drive, and replace it with a $21 million centre.

Airds Shopping Centre redevelopment Macarthur Chroncile 2020Apr1

 

A story of decay and neglect

The imminent demolition of the decaying and neglected Airds shopping mall is a sad indictment of the dreams of many and the ultimate demise of the 1970s Macarthur Growth Centre.

The shopping mall is an example of urban decay in the middle of our local suburbia. It is a failure of modernism and the town-planning utopia of city-based decision-makers.

The decay at Airds is not unusual and symbolic of more significant trends in global retail where shopping malls are declining.

The current dismal state of affairs hides the issue that in the mid-20th century, Campbelltown’s civic leaders had great hope and optimism for the area’s development and progress.

Airds Shopping Centre Frontage from Walkway underpass 2020 IW lowres
The front view of the Airds Shopping Centre framed by  the underpass at Riverside Drive Airds (I Willis, 2020)

Progress, development, and Modernism

There were grand plans for Campbelltown as a satellite city within the New South Wales state government’s County of Cumberland Plan.

Local confidence saw the construction of the 1964 modernist council chambers and, in 1968, the declaration of city status, electrification of the railway and the announcement of the Sydney Region Outline Plan by the state government.

Influenced by the British New Town movement, the city was incorporated in the State Planning Authority of NSW’s 1973 New Cities of Campbelltown Camden Appin Structure Plan.  This later became the Macarthur Growth Centre, administered by the Macarthur Development Board.

Airds Shopping Centre Front from footpath with grass 2020 IW lowres
The unkempt state of the surrounds at the Airds Shopping Centre in Riverside Drive Airds (I Willis 2020)

Radburn – a ‘foreign country’

Airds was one of several ‘corridor’ public housing suburbs following the American Radburn principles.  The Airds shopping centre was built as part of the 1975 Housing Commission of New South Wales subdivision of ‘Kentlyn’, renamed Airds in 1976.

The Radburn principles were applied to five public housing estates developed by the Housing Commission of New South Wales in the Campbelltown area between 1972 and 1989. The other four estates were Macquarie Fields, Claymore, Minto and Ambervale.

The design concept originated from Radburn in New Jersey in 1928 and reflected the optimism of American modernism around the motor car and consumerism.

Houses were developed ‘back-to-front’ with a front-facing walkway or green open space and the back door facing the street. This meant a separation of pedestrians and cars, with a large communal open area centred on the walkways between the rows of houses. This resulted in a streetscape with rows of high blank fences enclosing backyards.

Travis Collins from the University of New South Wales argues that the Radburn principles were initially designed for aspirational upper-middle-class areas and their desire for a garden suburb where pedestrian walkways and common areas linked across the estate. These areas were expected to be the centre of neighbourhood life without needing a car.

Airds Shopping Centre Interior Signage 2020 IW lowres
The interior walkway into the middle of the Airds Shopping Centre (I Willis 2020)

Radburn watered down

The suburb of Airds, and other Campbelltown public housing estates, started off with grand plans that evaporated over time due to: changes of government; cost-cutting; abolition of government instrumentalities; and neglect. This resulted in a ‘watered down’ Radburn vision.

The public housing estates did have extensive open space, which was true to Radburn principles. Yet there were compromises, and the Housing Commission built townhouses, that were counter to the  Radburn concept.

The tracts of open space became wastelands of neglect and vandalism that were poorly provisioned and maintained by the Housing Commission, with a lack of privacy and security. The back lanes and streets were isolated, lacked security and resident surveillance and were sites characterised by dumped rubbish and graffiti.

The estates were populated with single-parent families, who suffered from high levels of social exclusion, unemployment, and low incomes.

Airds Shopping Centre Interior2 2020 IW lowres
The interior space of the Airds Shopping Centre (I Willis 2020)

Radburn failures

Collins argues that the Radburn principles were a failure, and contributing factors included: poor surveillance of the street by residents because of high rear fences fronting the street, anti-social behaviour along the walkways and open space areas, and the low socio-economic status of residents.

The failure of the Radburn scheme was finally recognised by the authorities in the early 2000s. They acknowledged that: the design was unsuitable for concentrated public housing estates; they created confusing neighbourhoods with unsafe walkways, poor car access, and poor surveillance of open space; the poorly constructed housing stock became run down and dilapidated; the housing stock was infested with termites. These issues were reflected in Airds and the shopping mall from the mid-1970s.

Airds Shopping Centre Frontage from Walkway 2020 IW lowres
Approaching the front of the Airds Shopping Centre from the underpass at Riverside Drive Airds (I Willis 2020)

Memories of hope

In the 1970s, I taught at Airds High School, adjacent to the shopping mall, and my memories are mixed. Young people, who came from dysfunctional backgrounds, yet their resilience allowed them to rise above it, grow and mature into sensible young adults. This process is supported by the life experience of former Airds resident Fiona Woods (Facebook, April 2020), who grew up in Airds in the 1970s and 1980s. She says:

I have the best memories of Airds, especially that shopping centre. Riding our bikes to buy lollies.  Growing up in Airds in the 70s was very communal. I loved it. I arrived at Airds in 1977 when I was 3 and lived there until 1984. I went to John Warby [Public School]. There was such a strong sense of community. My mum met her best friend when they moved into their new houses in Airds. They have been friends for over 40 years and still speak daily.

Fiona tells the story of her sister, who taught at Airds High School in the 1990s. She found the teaching experience challenging, as I did 20 years earlier, yet the youngsters were confident, grounded and without airs and graces.

Similarly, I found Airds’ school children had a refreshing unsophisticated innocence generated by difficult circumstances. They were unpretentious, and you quickly knew where you stood with them teaching in a classroom that was always full of unconfined energy. You always had classroom ‘war stories’, and this is where I did my ‘missionary work’.

Bogans galore and more

The Airds shopping mall is a metaphor for what happened to Campbelltown between the 1970s and the present. It represents the collision of modernism and neoliberalism in place. The optimism of the 1960s contrasted with the despair of the 1980s.

The shopping mall is a metaphor for the stereotypes linked with the geographical term ‘Western Sydney’ and the use of terms like ‘bogan’ and ‘westie’. Typified by Sydney’s latte line where city-based decision-makers dealt with suburbs west of the latte line as a foreign country. In 2013 Campbelltown journalist Jeff McGill took exception to the ‘bogan’ characterisation of the Campbelltown area by the Sydney media.

Gabrielle Gwyther put it this way:

Derogatory labeling of residents of western Sydney was aided by the social problems and cheap aesthetic of large-scale, public housing estates developed in the 1950s at Seven Hills, followed by Green Valley and Mount Druitt in the 1960s, and the Radburn estates of Bonnyrigg, Villawood, Claymore, Minto, Airds and Macquarie Fields in the 1970s.

Airds Shopping Centre Gate Entry 2020 IW lowres
The side security gates at the Airds Shopping Centre Riverside Drive Airds (I Willis 2020)

De-Radburnisation

These failures were acknowledged in 1995 with the state government’s public housing renewal projects and their de-Radburnisation through the Neighbourhood Improvement Program.

At Airds, this is partly responsible for the re-development of the shopping centre as outlined in the Macarthur Chronicle.

Sources

Nathan Collins, Renewing Minto, An Analysis of the Minto Renewal Project. Undergraduate Thesis, Bachelor of Planning, UNSW, 2006. Online at https://www.be.unsw.edu.au/sites/default/files/upload/pdf/schools_and_engagement/resources/_notes/5A3_1.pdf

Kristian Ruming, MOSAIC urban renewal evaluation project: urban renewal policy, program and evaluation review. City Futures Research Centre UNSW,  Research Paper No.4 May 2006. Online at https://cityfutures.ada.unsw.edu.au/documents/29/researchpaper4.pdf

Gwyther, Gabrielle, Western Sydney, Dictionary of Sydney, 2008, https://dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/western_sydney

Updated 26 April 2024; Originally posted 11 April 2020