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Blue Plaque recognises Camden Red Cross sewing circle in wartime

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Camden Red Cross sewing circles during the First and Second World Wars

The wartime efforts of Camden women have been officially recognised for the first time by the successful nomination for a New South Wales Blue Plaque with Heritage NSW. Camden Red Cross women volunteers thousands of hours of their time and skill to provide requisites for military hospitals for wounded Australian soldiers.

The announcement appeared in the Sydney press with 17 other successful nominations for a Blue Plaque across the state. They include notable people and events in their local area.

The Blue Plaque on the front of the former Camden Town Hall. The plaque celebrates and remembers the service of the Camden Red Cross sewing circles women who donated thousands of hours of their effort and skills to supply hospital requisites for the soldiers and military hospitals in the First and Second World Wars. (I Willis, 2023)

What is being recognised?

The Blue Plaque officially recognised for the first time the Camden Red Cross patriotic wartime sewing circles at the Camden School of Arts (later the Camden Town Hall, now the Camden Library) – 1914-1918, 1940-1946. This is the only recognition of this type of Red Cross wartime activity anywhere in Australia.

The Sidman women volunteer their time and effort during the First World War for the Camden Red Cross. Patriotic fundraising supporting the war at home was significant, raising thousands of pounds. This type of effort was quite in all communities across Australia and the rest of the British Empire. (Camden Images and Camden Museum)

The story of the Camden Red Cross sewing circles

The Camden Red Cross sewing circles were one of Camden women’s most important voluntary patriotic activities during World War One and World War Two. The sewing circles started at the Camden School of Arts in 1914 and, due to lack of space, moved to the Foresters’ Hall on Argyle Street in 1918. At the outbreak of the Second World War, sewing circles reconvened in 1940 at the Camden Town Hall on John Street (the old School of Arts building – the same site as the First World War)

These sewing circles were workshops where Camden women volunteered and manufactured supplies for Australian military hospitals, field hospitals and casualty clearing stations. They were held weekly on Tuesdays, sale days in the Camden district.

Sewing circles were ‘quasi-industrial production lines’ where Camden women implemented their domestic skills to aid the war at home. Camden women cut out, assembled, and sewed together hospital supplies, including flannel shirts, bed shirts, pyjamas, slippers, underpants, feather pillows, bed linen, handkerchiefs, and kit bags. The workshops were lent several sewing machines in both wars.

The sewing circles also coordinated knitting and spinning for bed socks, stump socks, mufflers, balaclava caps, mittens, and cholera belts (body binders). The women also made ‘hussifs’ or sewing kits for the soldiers.  The sewing circles attracted 80-100 women weekly during the First World War. The list of items was strikingly consistent for hospital supplies for both wars, with the only significant addition during the Second World War being the knitted pullovers and cardigans.

The production output of the Camden women was prodigious. Between 1914 and 1918, Camden Red Cross sewing circle women made over 20,300 articles tallied to over 40,000 volunteer hours.  Between 1940 and 1946, during World War Two, women made over 25,000 articles, totalling over 45,000 voluntary hours.

The operation of the sewing circles was fully funded through the fundraising of Camden Red Cross and community donations.  In 1917 alone, over 95% of branch fundraising was dedicated to these activities.

In World War One, other Red Cross sewing circles in the Camden district were at The Oaks, Camden Park, Theresa Park, and Middle Burragorang. During World War Two, other centres across the local area included Bringelly-Rossmore, Menangle, Narellan, and The Oaks. Each group independently funded its activities.

These patriotic voluntary activities by Camden women were part of the war at home and have received little recognition at a local, state or national level. Wartime sewing and knitting have been kept in the shadows for too long. There needs to be a public acknowledgement of the patriotic effort of these women.

The placement of the plaque

The Blue Plaque was installed on the front of the Camden Library building in 2022 at 40 John Street Camden. This building was formerly the Camden Town Hall and the Camden School of Arts. The women of the Camden Red Cross used the town hall as the centre of their sewing effort in the First and Second World Wars to supply hospital requisites for soldiers and military hospitals. (I Willis, 2023)

The Blue Plaque was placed on the front of the former Camden School of Arts – later called the Camden Town Hall (1939-1945),then converted to offices in 1964 and now the Camden Library.

Camden School of Arts from 1866 to 1963 (PReeves/Camden Images)

Camden Museum Library building in John Street Camden, where the Blue Plaque will be located, recognising the efforts of the Camden Red Cross sewing circles in both World War One and World War Two. (I Willis, 2008)

Official recognition is long overdue

The official recognition of the wartime effort and skills of Camden women using their domestic arts and crafts in the patriotic service of Australia has taken over 75 years. This small acknowledgement of the wartime service of the Camden Red tells the story of ordinary women in extraordinary circumstances and has been long overdue.

Acknowledgement by the Member for Camden Peter Sidgreaves MP

This is an article from the newsletter from Peter Sidgreaves MP Member for Camden, where he has given official acknowledgement of the wartime patriotic service of Camden Red Cross women (Newsletter November 2022, Issue 14)

What is a Blue Plaque?

The Heritage NSW website states:

The Blue Plaques program aims to capture public interest and fascination in people, events and places that are important to the stories of NSW.

The Blue Plaques program celebrates NSW heritage by recognising noteworthy people and events from our state’s history.

The aim of the program is to encourage people to explore their neighbourhood and other parts of NSW and connect with people of the past, historical moments and rich stories that matter to communities and have shaped our state.

The program is inspired by the famous London Blue Plaques program run by English Heritage which originally started in 1866, and similar programs around the world.

“Behind every plaque, there is a story.”

The essence of the Blue Plaques program is the storytelling. A digital story will be linked to each plaque.

The Blue Plaques should tell stories that are interesting, fun, quirky along with more sombre stories that should be not be forgotten as part of our history.

English Heritage and Blue Plaques in the United Kingdom

The New South Wales Blue Plaques were based on the English model, and the English Heritage website states:

London’s blue plaques scheme, run by English Heritage, celebrates the links between notable figures of the past and the buildings in which they lived and worked. Founded in 1866, it has inspired many similar schemes in the UK and around the world.

Camden Red Cross Blue Plaque installation

Dr Ian Willis organised the paperwork through the office of the local Member for Camden Peter Sidgreaves MP, for the installation of the Blue Plaque. The competitive process meant only around 17 sites were chosen for plaques from around 70 applications across New South Wales for this round. The installation occurred on 14 October 2022. (I Willis, 2022)

Reference

Ian Willis, Ministering Angels, The Camden District Red Cross 1914-1945. Camden Historical Society, Camden, 2014.

Updated 24 April 2023. Originally posted 18 April 2022.

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Camden, a Macarthur family venture

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The private English-style estate village of James and William Macarthur

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

John Macarthur on the cover of Australia’s Heritage 1970. The original oil painting of John Macarthur is held in SLNSW (I Willis, 2022)

The site of Camden was within the 5000 acres granted to John Macarthur by the 2nd Earl Camden [3.2], the Secretary of State for War and the Colonies, in 1805, while Macarthur was in England on charges for duelling. Macarthur was a fractious quarrelsome self-promoter who arrived in NSW with his wife Elizabeth and family in 1790 as paymaster of the New South Wales Corps. The Corps (sometimes called The Rum Corps) was formed in England in 1789 as a permanent regiment of the British Army to relieve the New South Wales Marine Corps, which had accompanied the First Fleet to Australia in 1788 to fortify the colony of NSW.

The town’s site, as part of the Macarthur grants, was located on some of the finest farming country in the colony in the government Cowpastures reserve on the colonial frontier. The grants were part of the dispossession of traditional lands of the Dharawal people by the British settler colonial project and inevitably led to conflict and violence. Macarthur claimed that the town’s establishment threatened the security of his landholdings at Camden Park and opposed it during his lifetime. On his death in 1834, his sons had a different worldview and moved to establish an English-style estate village dominated by a church.

A fine Gothic-style church

The ridge-top location of St John’s Church (1840) on the southern end of the town meant that it towered over the town centre and had a clear line of sight to the Macarthur family’s Georgian mansion at Camden Park 2.6 miles to the southwest. The fine English Gothic-style church was funded mainly by the Macarthur family and has been the basis of the town’s iconic imagery. There were a number of large gentry estates built on convict labour in the surrounding farmland, the largest being the Macarthur family’s Camden Park of over 28,000 acres.

St John’s Anglican Church in its hilltop location at the top of John Street Camden. This image is by Charles Kerry in the 1890s (Camden Images)

Many immigrant families came to the area under Governor Bourke’s 1835 plan and settled on the gentry estates as tenant farmers, some establishing businesses in Camden. The first land sales in the village occurred in 1841, which stifled the growth of the existing European settlements in the area. The population of Camden grew from 242 in 1846 to 458 in 1856, although the gentry’s estates still dominated the village. Camden Park, for example, had a population of 900 in 1850.

English-style gentry

The English-style gentry practised philanthropy in Camden to maintain its moral tone. Elizabeth Macarthur Onslow, John Macarthur’s granddaughter, encouraged the maintenance of the proprieties of life, moral order and good works, as well as memorialising her family by donating a clock and bells to St John’s Church in 1897. She also marked the memory of her late husband, Captain Onslow, by providing a public park in 1882 named after her husband (Onslow Park), which is now the Camden showground.

Transport hub

Camden became the district’s transport hub at the centre of the road network, primarily set by the pattern of land grants from the 1820s. The earliest villages in the district predated Camden and then looked to Camden for cultural and economic leadership as the district’s major centre. The arrival of the Camden tramway in 1882 meant that silver ore west of the district (1871) was shipped through the Camden railhead to the Main Southern Railway from Sydney.  

The Camden Branch Line Locomotive Crossing the Nepean River Bridge 1900 Postcard (Camden Images)

Progress assured

Combined with rail access to markets, the town’s prosperity was assured by a series of technical and institutional innovations that transformed the dairy industry in the 1890s. In the 1920s, the Macarthur family set up the Camden Vale Milk Company and built a milk processing plant at the eastern end of the main street adjacent to the rail line. Whole milk was railed to Sydney and bottled under its label until the mid-1920s. Milk was delivered daily to the factory by horse and cart until the 1940s from local dairy farms.

Camden Milk Depot, trading as Camden Vale Milk Coop Ltd located at the northern end of Argyle Street adjacent to Camden Railway Station. (Camden Images)

Camden’s progress saw the construction of a new bank (1878), the commencement of weekly stock sales (1883), the formation of the Camden Agricultural, Horticultural and Industrial Society and the first Camden Show (1886), a new post and telegraph office (1898), the foundation of two weekly newspapers (Camden Times, 1879, Camden News, 1880), a new cottage hospital (1898), the formation of a fire brigade (1900), the opening of a telephone exchange (1910), the installation of reticulated gas (1912), electricity (1929), town water (1899) and the replacement of gas street lighting with electric lights (1932), and a sewerage scheme (1939). By 1933 the population of the town had grown to 2394.

First local council

The first attempt at local government in 1843 was unsuccessful. A meeting of local notables formed the municipality of Camden at a public meeting in 1883. Still, it was not until 1889 that the municipality was proclaimed, covering 7,000 acres and including Camden and the neighbouring village of Elderslie. Nine townsmen were elected aldermen at the first election that year, and the first meeting was held at the School of Arts. In 1993 the Camden Municipal Council eventually became the Council of Camden.

In 2014 this is the head office of Camden Council in the former Victorian gentleman’s townhouse built by Henry Thompson. (Camden Images)

Street names

Camden’s 1840 street grid is still intact today, with streets named after members of the Macarthur family – John Street, Elizabeth, Edward Street – and NSW colonial notables – Oxley Street, Broughton Street, Mitchell Street. The main highway between Sydney and Melbourne (the Hume Highway) passed along the main street (Argyle Street), until it was re-routed in 1976. The town’s business centre still has several Victorian and Art Deco shopfronts.   

Some charming Federation and Californian bungalows in the church ridge-top precinct were the homes of the Camden elite in the early 20th century. The precinct is the site of Macarthur Park (1905), which was dedicated to the townsfolk by Elizabeth Macarthur Onslow and contained the town’s World War One cenotaph (donated by the Macarthur family).  

John Street heritage precinct

John Street runs north-south downhill to the floodplain from the commanding position of St John’s church. Lower John Street is the location of the Italianate house Macaria (c1842), St Paul’s Catholic church and the government buildings associated with the Camden police barracks (1878) and courthouse (1857), and Camden Public School (1851). This area also contains the oldest surviving Georgian cottage in the town area, Bransby’s Cottage (1842). Lower John Street has the Camden Temperance Hall (1867), which later served as Camden Fire Station (1916–1993), and the School of Arts (1866), which served as the Camden Town Hall, while the rear of the building was occupied for a time by Camden Municipal Council.

Camden School of Arts located in John Street PReeves c1800s (CIPP)

Volunteerism

Community voluntary organisations have been part of Camden’s life from the town’s foundation. In the late 1800s, they were male-dominated, usually led by the landed gentry, and held informal political power through patronage. James Macarthur sponsored the Camden School of Arts (1865) and Agricultural, Horticultural & Industrial Society (1886), later called the Camden Show Society, while the non-conformists sponsored various lodges and the temperance movement. A small clique of well-off local women established several conservative women’s organisations after Federation. Their social position supported their husbands’ political activities, and the influence of the Macarthur family was felt in these organisations, for example, the Camden Red Cross and Country Women’s Association.

The women of the Camden Red Cross at their weekly street stall in Argyle Street Camden in the 1920s. The women ran the stall for decades and raised thousands of pounds for local and national charities. (Camden Images)

Many men and women from Camden and the district saw military service in the Boer War and later World War One and Two when residents set up local branches of national patriotic funds and civil defence organisations. On the outskirts of the town, there were active defence establishments during World War II, including an airbase, army infantry, and training camps.

Coal mining

Economic prosperity from coal mining in the district’s western part challenged old hierarchies in the postwar years, replacing the old colonially-based rural hegemony. New community organisations like Rotary and later the Chamber of Commerce fostered business networks in the town. The Camden Historical Society (1957) promoted the town’s past and later opened a local museum (1970).

Camden Museum Library building in John Street Camden, where the Blue Plaque with being located, recognising the efforts of the Camden Red Cross sewing circles in both World War One and World War Two. (I Willis, 2008)

Urbanisation

The New South Wales state government decreed that the town would become part of a growth area in the form of ‘new cities’ under the Macarthur Growth Centre Plan (1973), modelled on the British Garden City concept. Increasing urbanisation threatened the town’s identity and the number of community members formed by the Camden Residents’ Action Group (1973).

Mount Annan suburban development, which is part of Sydney’s urban sprawl c2005 (Camden Images)

In 2007 Camden was the administrative centre of the Camden Local Government Area, which had a population of over 51,000 (2006) and an area of 201 square kilometres.  The Camden LGA became part of the state government’s Sydney South West Growth Centre, planned to house 500,000 new residents, and is one of Australia’s fastest-growing urban areas.  

Wave of nostalgia

Increasing levels of Sydney’s urbanisation have continued, threatened the loss of rural landscapes around the town, and awakened a wave of nostalgia. The NSW state government created the Camden Town Conservation Area (2008) based on the mid-20th century country town that aimed at preserving the town’s integrity and material fabric.

Macarthur Regional Tourist Promotion by Camden and Campbelltown Councils

Posted 19 September 2022

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The patriotism of the wartime sock knitter

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Fussing over socks

During the First World War, there was a considerable fuss over socks. Not just any ordinary socks but hand-knitted socks. Camden women hand-knitted hundreds of pairs of socks. So what was going on?

As it turns out there was a good reason for all the fuss.

Soldiers on the Western Front suffered in terrible conditions in the trenches. They were constantly wet and cold. In winter there were freezing temperatures.

First World War Freezing conditions soldier 1914-1918 NLS

Fungal feet

Under these conditions, there was a constant danger of the soldiers getting trench foot. Jenny Raynor at Sydney Living Museum writes that this was

a potentially debilitating fungal infection that thrived in the wet, cold and squalid conditions, and could lead to gangrene and amputation if left untreated.

Soldiers wore stiff leather boots that were poorly insulated with two pairs of socks in freezing winter conditions to keep out the cold and wet.

Authorities recommended that troops change their socks twice a day to avoid trench feet. Reports from New Zealand maintained in 1915 that

a pair of socks lasted no more than two weeks when on active service.

So it was unsurprising that there was a constant shortage of socks.

Shortages from the start

Sock shortages commenced from the outbreak of war and illustrated how the progress of the war completely overwhelmed military authorities with their unrealistic expectations.

At the Liverpool Infantry Camp in November 1914 military authorities were advising that three pairs of woollen socks would be adequate for the duration of the campaign, while new recruits were advised by bring ‘strong boots’ and ‘knitted socks’ because the army could not supply them.

Military supply authorities never really got to grips with the problem of shortages throughout the war. Even the vast US military machine could not supply sufficient numbers of socks to their troops when the US government entered the war in 1917. The U.S. government Committee on Public Information sponsored the  ‘‘Knit Your Bit’’ campaign conducted by the American Red Cross.

Keep knitting

Knitting for the troops was not restricted to the American Red Cross.

Knitting was part of the homefront response to the outbreak of war across all British Empire countries including Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

First World War Sock knitting Cudgewa 1916 SLNSW

Across the globe, millions of knitted items found their way to the trenches on the Western Front.

Socks were only one of a large list of items that women made for the war effort. Other knitted items included cholera belts, scarves, gloves and balaclavas, and this was supplemented by a considerable effort sewing hospital supplies.

Women volunteer to supply socks

Australian women volunteered to supply knitted from the start of the war. Unlike women in the United Kingdom, Australian women did not replace men in their civilian roles during the war.

In Australia, the push for knitted-socks, and other items, was co-ordinated by the Red Cross, the Australian Comforts Fund and other groups including the Soldiers’ Sock Fund.

First World War Sock knitting War Chest 1917 SLNSW

In Queensland, the Governor’s wife, Lady Goold-Adams, established the Queensland Soldiers’ Sock Fund.

Knitted socks were part of the soldier’s bag that Red Cross volunteers signed up to supply on the foundation of branches throughout New South Wales in August 1914. Red Cross knitters in Camden and across Australia supplied thousands of pairs of knitted socks to soldiers.

In Camden, the new Red Cross branch supplied ‘a large number of socks’ in the first weeks of the war’ including supplies to the Australian Light Horse regiment and the 4th Battalion of Infantry. By September 1915 Camden Red Cross workers had supplied 456 pairs of knitted socks to Red Cross headquarters in Sydney amongst a host of other hand-made items.

Annette, Lady Liverpool, the wife of New Zealand Governor Lord Liverpool,

Lady Liverpool instigated ‘Sock Day’, when the women of New Zealand were encouraged to knit enough socks to provide every soldier with two new pairs (around 30,000 pairs in total).

The First World War was not the first time that women volunteers had supplied knitted socks to Australian troops in wartime. In 1900 Camden women supplied 120 pairs of knitted socks to Camden troops in South Africa in the New South Wales Mounted Rifles. These were similar to the activities of British women.

Millions of socks

It has been estimated that Australian women knitted over 1.3 million pairs of socks for the Red Cross and Australian Comforts Fund for the war effort.

Often with a small personal note inside the sock informing the digger who had knitted the garment along with a brief message. (The Conversation 11 August 2014)

Knitting patterns were distributed and cheap wool was made available to knitters.

First World War Cover Knitting Book Aust Comforts Fund Vic 1918 ARC
The cover of the sock knitting pattern book ‘Directions for Standard Socks for Our Men on Active Service’. It was issued by the Australian Comforts Fund in 1918 (ARC)

 

In 2012 volunteer knitter Janet Burningham from Wrap with Love found that it took about a day to knit each sock. She used a rare grey sock pattern and Paton’s 8-ply grey wool and needles. Socks were knitted in the round on double-pointed needles leaving no seams.

First World War Knitted Socks reproduction 2012 Fairfax

The iconic sock knitter

The solo woman sock knitter was one of the everlasting iconic images of the war at home in Australia.

The iconic image of The Sock Knitter is a 1915 painting by Grace Cossington Smith found at the  Art Gallery of NSW. The gallery states

The subject of the painting is Madge, the artist’s sister, knitting socks for soldiers serving on the frontline in World War I. Distinctly modern in its outlook, ‘The sock knitter’ counterpoints the usual narratives of masculine heroism in wartime by focusing instead on the quiet steady efforts of the woman at home.

 

Art AGNSW The Sock Knitter Grace Cossington Smith 1915
‘The Sock Knitter’ painted by Grace Cossington Smith in 1915 (AGNSW)

 

Knitting mediating grief

The action of Camden women and others who became wartime sock knitters was an act of patriotism. They were supporting their boys using one of their traditional domestic arts.

Knitting, sewing, and other domestic arts were unpaid war work and a form of patriotism when women in Australia did not replace men at home in the First World War, unlike the United Kingdom. Historian Bruce Scates has written that women invested a large amount of ‘emotional energy’ in their knitting and sewing.

Women were the mediators of wartime grief and bereavement and knitting and sewing groups were women-only spaces where they could comfort each other and ease the loneliness.

Sock solution

Suzanne Fischer writes that the sock problem and trench foot still existed in the Second World War for American troops stationed in Alaska. She states:

Characteristically, Americans finally reduced their trench foot casualties by throwing more technology at the problem. Thee Shoepac system, introduced in 1944, combined a rubber foot and an impermeable outer leather layer with a felt liner to keep feet dry. These boots were also stylish, which increased their use.

 

Updated 17 April 2020; original posted 10 March 2020.

 

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Crisis relief in wartime and the peace

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Book Review

Ministering Angels, the Camden District Red Cross, 1914-1945.

Author Ian Willis

Publisher: Camden Historical Society

ISBN 978-0-9803039-6-4

Ministering Angels  ‘is an example of innovative and groundbreaking work in local history, and succeeds in demonstrating a new way of linking detailed local studies to larger themes in Australian history’.  Dr Emma Grahame (Editor, Australian Feminism: A Companion, OUP, 1998. Editor, Dictionary of Sydney http://www.dictionaryofsydney.org, 2007-2012)

Ministering Angels, the Camden District Red Cross, 1914-1945 Ian Willis Camden Historical Society Inc ISBN 978-0-9803039-6-4
Book Cover for Ministering Angels (2014)

 

Ministering Angels is a peer-review publication that tells the story of conservative country women doing their patriotic duty in an outpost of the British Empire. From 1914 Camden district women joined local Red Cross branches and their affiliates in the towns and villages around the colonial estate of the Macarthur family at Camden Park.

They sewed, knitted and cooked for God, King and Country throughout the First and Second World Wars, and during the years in-between. They ran stalls and raffles, and received considerable community support through cash donations from individuals and community organisations for Red Cross activities.

 

Using the themes of soldier and civilian welfare, patriotism, duty, sacrifice, motherhood, class and religion, the narrative explores how the placed-based nature of the Red Cross branch network provided an opportunity for the organisation to harness parochialism and localism for national patriotic purposes.

The work shows how a local study links the Camden district Red Cross with the broader issues within Australian history and debates involving local history, philanthropy, feminism, conservatism, religion and other areas, while at the same time illustrating the multi-layered nature of the issues that shape global, national and regional history that can impact rural volunteering.

 

The book delves into the story of how Camden’s Edwardian women, the Macarthur Onslows and others of their ilk, provided leadership at a local, state and national level and created ground-breaking opportunities that empowered women to exercise their agency by undertaking patriotic activities for the first time.

In their wake Camden women created the most important voluntary organisation in district history, a small part of the narrative of the Australian Red Cross, arguably the country’s most important not-for-profit organisation. Their stories were the essence of place, and the success of the district branches meant that over time homefront volunteering became synonymous with the Red Cross.

 

Ministering Angels is a local Red Cross study of volunteering in war and peace that provides a small window into the national and transnational perspectives of one of the world’s most important humanitarian organisations.

Read the book here (free)

For more information contact the publisher:

secretary@camdenhistory.org.au

Secretary, Camden Historical Society Inc. PO Box 566, 40 John St, Camden NSW 2570

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Formidable women from the past

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Camden’s formidable women

A popular TV drama ‘A Place to Call Home’ on Channel 7 has been set in and around the  Camden district. Amongst the characters is the fictional 1950s matriarch of the Bligh family, Elizabeth (Noni Hazlehurst). This figure has a number of striking parallels with Camden’s own 20th century female patrician figures.

Camden’s matriarchs, just like Elizabeth, were formidable figures in their own right and left their mark on the community.  The fictional Elizabeth Bligh lives on the family estate Ash Park (Camelot, formerly Kirkham) in the country town of Inverness during the 1950s.

A Place to Call Home DVD
A Place to Call Home was a hit TV series produced in Australia that premiered in 2013. The series used the John Horbury Hunt designed Victorian mansion Camelot located at Kirkham on the edge of Camden as the location setting for the TV show. (Amazon)

 

Frances Faithful Anderson

Kirkham’s own Elizabeth Bligh was Frances Faithful Anderson, who moved to the Camden area with her husband, William, in the 1890s. She renamed James White’s fairytale castle Kirkham, Camelot, in 1900 after being reminded of the opening verse of Tennyson’s The Lady of Shalott. Frances (d. 1948) lived in the house, with her daughter Clarice, until her death. Both women were shy and retiring and stayed out public gaze in Camden, unlike the domineering fictional character of Elizabeth Bligh. The Anderson women were supporters of the Camden Red Cross, Women’s Voluntary Services, the Country Women’s Association, Camden District Hospital and the Camden Recreation Room during the Second World War (DR, 29/3/13). Clarice willed Camelot to the NSW National Trust, according to Jonathan Chancellor. The NSW Supreme Court rule in 1981 that her mother’s 1938 will took precedence. Frances  wanted the house to become a convalescent home, but this clashed with zoning restrictions.

Camelot House formerly known at Kirkham, Camden NSW
Camelot house, originally known as Kirkham, was designed by Canadian-born architect John Horbury Hunt for James White. The house was built in 1888 on the site of colonial identity John Oxley’s Kirkham Mill. Folklore says that James White financed the house from the winnings of the 1877 Melbourne Cup by his horse Chester. Under White’s ownership the property became a horse-racing stud and produced a number of notable horses. (Camden Images)

 

Elizabeth Macarthur Onslow

Camden’s Edwardian period was dominated by the figure of Elizabeth Macarthur Onslow of Camden Park.  She took control of Camden Park in 1882 when her husband Arthur died. Under her skilful management the family estate was clear of debt by 1890 and she subsequently re-organised the estate. She established the pastoral company Camden Park Estate Pty Ltd, with her children as shareholders.  Heritage consultant Chris Betteridge states that she organised the estates co-operative diary farms, built creameries at Camden and Menangle, orchards and a piggery. Elizabeth was a Victorian philanthropist, a Lady Bountiful figure, and according to Susanna De Vries was a strong supporter of a number of local community organisations including the fore-runner of the Camden Show Society, the Camden AH&I Society. She died on one of her many trips to England and has dropped out of Australian history.

Elizabeth Macarthur Onslow lived at Camden Park house and garden.
This image of Elizabeth Macarthur Onslow is from a portrait painting at Camden Park House. Elizabth was the daughter of James Macarthur. She married Captain Arthur Onslow in 1867 and had 8 children. (Camden Park)

 

Sibella Macarthur Onslow

Elizabeth’s daughter, Sibella, was a larger than life figure during Camden’s Inter-war period and was quite a formidable figure in her own right. She grew up at Camden Park and moved to Gilbulla in 1931, which had been the home of her sister-in-law, Enid Macarthur Onslow. Sibella never married and fulfilled the role of a powerful Camden patrician figure. She was a true female matriarch amongst her brothers who took public positions of power in the New South Wales business community. She was one of the most powerful female figures in New South Wales and her personal contact network included royalty, politicians and the wealthy elite of Sydney and London. Macarthur Onslow possessed strong conservative Christian values and was an active figure in the Sydney Anglican Archdiocese.  She was a Victorian-style philanthropist and was president of the Camden Red Cross from 1927 until her death in 1943.

enid macarthur onslow
Enid Macarthur Onslow (CPH)

 

Rita Tucker

The power vacuum in Camden’s women’s affairs left by the death of Sibella Macarthur Onslow was filled by Rita Tucker of The Woodlands, at Theresa Park. She had a high community profile in 1950s Camden and was well remembered by those who dealt with her. She became president of the Camden Country Women’s Association in 1939 and held the position until her death in 1961. She was a journalist and part-time editor of the North West Courier at Narrabri before she moved to Camden with her husband Rupert in 1929. She was an active member of the Camden Liberal Party in the 1950s, holding a number of positions, and was New South Wales vice-president of the CWA between 1947 and 1951. She was an accomplished musician and played the organ at the Camden Presbyterian Church in the early 1940s.

Rita Tucker, Camden NSW
Rita Tucker, Camden NSW (J Tucker)

 

Zoe Crookston

A contemporary of Tucker was Zoe Crookston, the wife of Camden surgeon, Robert Crookston. A shy retiring type, she lived in grand Victorian mansion at the top of John Street and was the wartime president of the Women’s Voluntary Services. She was a Presbyterian, a liberal-conservative and an active committee member of the United Australia Party in the 1930s. According to her daughter Jacqueline, ‘her mother was a no-nonsense person who always liked to get on with the job at hand’. She was a foundation member of the Camden Red Cross and was actively involved until 1949. Other community organisations occupied her time including being on the committee of the Camden District Hospital Women’s Auxiliary from 1933 to 1945.

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Camden CWA leads way in wartime

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The Camden community was galvanised by the emergency created by the entry of Japan into the Pacific War on 7 December 1941 and the US declaration of war on 8 December.

Wardens and Air Raid Precautions

Stan Kelloway, Camden’s chief warden and mayor, called a public meeting which was held on Tuesday night at the town hall, 18 December 1941. He made an urgent appeal for wardens and volunteers for air raid precaution work in the town area.

CamNetMaking_AWM007671
Australian women making camouflage nets during the Second World War. These volunteering efforts greatly assisted the war effort. (AWM007671) cc

 

Camden women held a joint emergency meeting on the same night at the Camden CWA Rooms in Murray Street. The meeting was chaired by Rita Tucker, with Grace Moore, the secretary of the Women’s Voluntary Service (WVS) acting as the meeting’s secretary.

 

The Camden District Hospital Women’s Auxiliary was represented by its president, Emma Furner, and the CWA Younger Set by Mary Sparkes and Anita Rapley. Apologies were received from Zoe Crookston, Mary Davies, Albine Terry and Hilda Moore. Mary Davies was the treasurer of the Camden Red Cross and the vice-president of the Camden Hospital Women’s Auxiliary, Albine Terry, Camden WVS treasurer and Camden Hospital Women’s Auxiliary vice-president, and Hilda Moore, the secretary of the Camden Red Cross.

Camouflages Nets

There was much discussion at the meeting and a decision was taken to concentrate on making camouflage nets. The CWA and Women’s Voluntary Service, which were conducting separate camouflage netting meetings, decided to combine their separate netting efforts. The combined effort would be located at the CWA rooms on Monday and Tuesday nights, and Friday afternoons.

 

These arrangements were organised so that they did not conflict with existing service commitments, particularly the WVS and Red Cross sewing circles at the town hall. Camden volunteers were requested to bring ‘a hank of string for practice’. The Camden press maintained in December 1941 that ‘anyone who possibl[y] can is urged to take this opportunity of rendering national service in a time of crisis’. The meeting also asked volunteers to fill out forms for the Women’s Voluntary National Register and to cooperate with local wardens of the National Emergency Services.

National Emergency Services

The Camden press maintained in December that the ‘National Emergency Services can provide a job for practically every woman’, and forms for the Women’s Voluntary National Register were obtainable from Nancy Freestone, the assistant secretary of the WVS, at the town hall library.

 

The Women’s Voluntary National Register was established in New South Wales in early 1939. It was part of a federal government scheme to determine how many women would be able to provide ‘manpower’ and national service, if required, when the nation went to war.

 

The most efficient means of doing this was to tap into the pre-existing network of women’s clubs and organizations, and call upon their membership to provide the information. Clubs that affiliated with the register would collect the details of (eligible) volunteers from within their membership base and forward that information to the central register. Women would then be classified according to the type of work available, and the type of work they were suited to do.

 

Women, according to the Australian Women’s Register, who weren’t members of an organization could still volunteer through the state council headquarters, but clearly, ‘outsourcing’ much of the work to the organizations was a cost and time efficient method of operation.

An affair at the CWA

From December 1941 the manufacture of netting in Camden turned into a CWA affair. Reports on netting production from the Camden centre were sent to the state CWA Handicrafts Committee in Sydney, which co-ordinated the state netting effort for the CWA and received all the completed nets from the Camden centre.

 

The central CWA netting centre co-ordinated all organisational details, issued instructions to branches on the packing, despatched nets to Sydney and acted as a clearinghouse for the Army, which supplied all the twine and collected all the finished nets.

Countrywoman of NSW 1941 July CWA Sheepskin Vests
The Countrywoman in New South Wales for July 1941 which was a special handicraft issue with patterns and designs for making soldier comforts. The Countrywoman had lots of advice on wartime activities including instructions on making camouflage nets by local branches. Sheepskin vests were made for servicemen during the winter cold of Europe. (CWA)

 

The New South Wales CWA journal The Countrywoman in New South Wales reported that by January 1942 the handicraft committee was supplying 230 country branches and over 100 suburban circles with twine for making nets.

 

When compared to netting efforts in some other country towns Camden’s output was relatively small. Between February 1941 and February 1944 the Camden netting centre made 578 nets. Una Swan acted as netting secretary and roped all nets, while Mary Poole acted as demonstrator.

 

At Nowra netting centre, which was a joint effort between Nowra CWA and Red Cross, and made 1,320 nets in the 2½ years that their centre was operational from mid-1941 to December 1943. Camden netting centre was never able to sustain the same effort as Nowra.

 

To the end of 1942 the Nowra centre had made 875 nets, while Camden’s centre had manufactured 489 nets. While at the Quirindi CWA local women made 14 camouflage nets in one week in March 1942 and by the end of the war had sent away 565 nets. Most country towns had similar voluntary patriotic projects.

 

The Camden centre was kept abreast of statewide netting activity by the Countrywoman, which issued monthly tallies of nets supplied to the Sydney CWA depot by netting centres, as well as reporting other related, netting information.

Learn more

Read more about the CWA and other conservative women’s organisations in wartime Camden @ UOW research

 

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Australia Day 1918 in Camden

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The first Australia Day in 1915

The first Australia Day was held in 1915 on July 30 as a fundraising for the Gallipoli casualties as they returned to Australia. January 26 had been known as ‘Anniversary Day’, ‘Foundation Day’ and ‘Regatta Day’.

Australia Day was not fixed on January 26 until 1935, when there was agreement of all states and territories and the imminent approach of the 1938 Sesquicentennial celebrations.

Australia Day 1918 was used for wartime fundraising

By 1918, the war had been dragging on into its fourth year. Soldier casualties were large and still growing.  Patriotic fundraising was a major focus for those at home, and the Australia Day fundraisers have been important since their establishment in 1915.

Australia Day 1918 in Camden

In early 1918, Camden Red Cross workers supported the national Australia Day appeal, which aimed ‘to relieve the sufferings of Australia’s men who are suffering that Australia shall be free’. (Camden News, 18 April 1918)

Camden mayor George Furner called a public meeting on 23 March at a not-so-well-attended meeting of the Camden Red Cross sewing circle. An organising committee was formed of the Camden Red Cross and council officers.

The fundraising activities were to include the sale of badges and buttons, a Red Cross drive, a public subscription, a prayer service, a lecture and a door-knock of the town area.

Red Cross Australia Day 1918 fundraising emu Pinterest
A Red Cross button was sold on Australia Day in 1918 for patriotic fundraising for the Australian troops. This button was to raise funds for the Strathalbyn Red Cross branch in 1918. Every little town and village across Australia sold buttons for the same wartime appeal. (Pinterest)

The Australian Day activities started with the united prayer service (2 April) held at the Forester’s Hall in Camden, run by the Protestant clergy. It started at 11.30am with Rev.

Canon Allnutt from St. Paul’s church at Cobbitty, Rev CJ King from St. John’s church in Camden and Rev GC Percival from the Camden Methodist Church.

All businesses in Camden were shut for the duration of the service, and there was ‘an attentive and earnest gathering both town and country’. (Camden News, 4 April 1918)

A public lecture was presented by Senior Chaplain Colonel James Green (8 April) held at the Foresters’ Hall on his experiences on the Somme battlefield in France.  

The Red Cross ‘drive’ started the same week (9 April) and resulted in the sale of Red Cross badges to the value of £54, with only 200 left to be sold before the market day (23 April).

A Red Cross market day was held on 30 April, and the Camden press maintained that ‘with so many gallant sons in the battlefields; her women folk have since the very outbreak of war have nobly done their part of war work’.

Flags and bunting were draped around the bank corner and were supplemented with Allies’ flags and lines of Union Jacks in the ‘finest’ local display and music was provided by the Camden District Band.

The displays were opened by Enid Macarthur Onslow and, in her words, touched a ‘solemn’ note when she spoke of the ‘sacrifices mothers and women’ towards the war effort and the responsibilities of those who stayed at home.

The whole event was a huge success and raised £225, which made a cumulative total of £643 in the appeal to that point.

Red Cross Australia Day 1918 fundraising Vickers Machine Gun Pinterest
A button that was sold on Australia Day 1918 as a patriotic fundraising effort the Australian Red Cross. This button shows an Australian soldier with a Vickers Machine Gun ready for action. (Pinterest)

The Camden Red Cross branch then conducted a raffle, with the first prize being an Australian Flag autographed by Earl Kitchener. The Camden press maintained

that if you haven’t got a ticket in the Kitchener Flag yet you will have one by the end of May unless you hide from the Red Cross ladies in town. They want to sell a lot and they are not going to let you go until they have extracted a two shilling piece from you.

Camden News, 9 May 1918

And the reporter was not exaggerating. The total effort of the Camden Red Cross for the Australia Day appeal came to £748, which also included donations from Sibella Macarthur Onslow of £100,

Mrs WH Faithfull Anderson of £25 and £100 from the Camden Red Cross. (Camden News, April and May 1918) [In today’s worth, that is about $100,000 from a population of around 1700.]

Australia Day at Menangle and Narellan

The Menangle Red Cross decided that ‘a big effort’ was needed, and a garden fete (18 May) was organised by Helen Macarthur Onslow, Enid’s daughter, at her home in Gilbulla.

The fete was opened in front of a large crowd by the wife of the New South Wales Governor, Lady Margaret Davidson.

The New South Wales governor, Sir Walter Davidson, presented two engraved watches to two local returned soldiers. The fete raised a total of £85, and the total Menangle Red Cross collections were well over £100.

The Narellan Red Cross put on a concert at the Narellan Parish Hall (27 April), and tickets were 2/- and 1/- and raised £51.

Together with the sale of Red Cross Drive Badges and donations, the branch raised £80. Out at the Douglas Park Red Cross, the branch ran a social and raised £22. (Camden News, April and May 1918)

Learn more 

Learn more about local Red Cross activities during the First World War.

Cover[3]
The story of the Camden District Red Cross from 1914 to 1945 is told in this book published by the Camden Historical Society. It tells the story of Red Cross branches at Camden, Menangle, The Oaks, Bringelly, Mount Hunter, Oakdale and the Burragorang Valley.

Updated 20 January 2024. Originally posted on 23 April 2018 as ‘Australia Day in Camden 1918’.

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Australia Day 2018 in Camden

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Camden Australia Day 2018

The Camden Australia Day celebrations opened with the awards at the Camden Civic Centre where the winners of the Camden Citizen of the Year were announced for 2018. 

At a national level, there has been a debate about the date and the day. What does it mean? When should it be celebrated? Should it be celebrated at all?

The day, the 26th of January, is the foundation of the military penal settlement at Sydney Cove in 1788 and the anniversary of the coup d’etat against the Bligh colonial administration, popularly known as the Rum Rebellion.

By 1804, according to the National Australia Day Council,  the day was being referred to as Foundation Day or First Landing Day in the Sydney Gazette.

On the 30th anniversary in 1818, Governor Macquarie declared a public holiday. In 1838, the 26th of January was celebrated as the Jubilee of the British occupation of New South Wales and the 2nd year of the Sydney Regatta that was held on the day. The annual Sydney Anniversary Regattas started in 1837.

Sydney Anniversary Regatta 26thJan 1889 SLNSW
Sydney Anniversary Day Regatta yacht race was held on the 26th of January in 1889. The day was cause for great celebration of what had been achieved by the colony of Sydney. Many tried to forget the convict origins of the day. (SLNSW)

On the centenary of the First Fleet’s arrival at Sydney Cove in 1888, the day was known as Anniversary Day or Foundation Day, and festivities were joined by Tasmania, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and New Zealand. In 1915, Australia Day was shifted to the 30th of July to assist in fundraising for the Red Cross and other patriotic funds after the commencement of the Gallipoli campaign.

Aust Day 1915 WW1 AWM
Australia Day 1915 was used for fundraising for patriotic funds following the opening of the Gallipoli campaign. In 1916, Australia Day was held on 28 July. Fundraising included street collections, stalls, sports days, concerts and a host of other events. In Camden, the Red Cross raised over £600 over a three-week period with a host of patriotic activities. (AWM)

It was not until the Australian Bicentennial that all states agreed to celebrate the 26th as Australia Day rather than as a long weekend. At the time, Aboriginal Australians renamed Australia Day ‘Invasion Day’, and there has been debate about it ever since.

In 2018, the Camden town centre was the annual street parade for the Australia Day celebrations with lots of keen participants.

The town crier, Steve Wisby, led the enthusiastic crowd in a rendition of the national anthem and then a rejoinder of Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, OOyy, OOyy, OOyy.

The parade included historical groups, school groups, community groups, a number of local bands, and emergency services.

Aust Day 2018 73rdFootRe-enactment
Australia Day 2018 parade with 73rd Foot Regiment Re-enactment Group passing the enthusiastic crowd at the John Street corner (I Willis)

Aust Day 2018 CHS Ute
Australia Day 2018 parade in Argyle Street Camden here showing the FJ Holden Utility driven by society VP John Wrigley accompanied by Julie Wrigley. Car courtesy of Boardman family (I Willis)

Aust Day 2018 Camden Show Float Miss Showgirl
Australia Day Parade 2018 in Argyle Street here showing the float of the Camden Show Society with Miss Camden Showgirl 2018, Corinne Fulford, sitting atop the hay bails. The Camden Show is the largest festival in the local area, attracting over 30,000 visitors to the town and the Camden Showground. (I Willis)

A large crowd lined Argyle Street to watch the parade organised by the Camden Lions Club and the many community groups and businesses that took part in it.

Aust Day 2018 Crowd John St
Australia Day Parade 2018 in Camden here showing the crowd milling about the John Street corner. John Street had a number of stalls and other entertainment. (I Willis)

Early in the day, celebrations began with the  Camden Australia Day Citizen of the Year. The 2018 Camden Australia Day Citizen of the Year was David Funnell.

David has been a local businessman for many years, and he is a descendant of one of the original European colonial settler families in the Cowpastures area. 

He was a councillor on Camden Council (1977-1980, 2004-2012) and a member of a number of community organisations.

The other Camden Australia Day Award winners were:
Community Group of the Year — Everyone Can Dance Charity and Camden Lioness
Club
Community Event of the Year — The Macarthur Lions Australia Day Parade
Young Sportsperson of the Year — Amy and Natalie Sligar
Sportsperson of the Year — Maddison Lewis
Young Citizen of the Year — Lubna Sherieff.

These people are true local identities who all have stories to tell that become part of Camden’s sense of place and contribute to the development of community identity.

The Camden Museum was open for Australia Day. By the end of the day, hundreds of visitors had inspected the museum and its wonderful collection of local artefacts and memorabilia.

Aust Day 2018 Museum Open Frances&Harry
Australia Day 2018. The Camden Museum was open, and here are two enthusiastic supporters and volunteers for the museum. They are Frances and Harry Warner. These two larger-than-life Camden characters have spent their life devoted to the Camden community. They have lived and worked on Camden Park Estate for decades. (I Willis)

Camden Museum Aust Day 2018 [2]
The Camden Museum was very busy with hundreds of visitors on Australia Day 2018. Here, some visitors are watching a video while others are inspecting the displays. Visitors came from all age groups and enjoyed the museum collection. (I Willis)

The Camden Historical Society volunteer coordinator reports that there were 644 visitors to the museum on the day made up of adults and children.

The visitors were looked after by  10 society volunteers who roamed around the museum, making sure that the day went smoothly and doing a sterling job answering their many questions.

Updated on 20 January 2024, Originally posted on 26 January 2018 as ‘Australia Day in Camden’

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Carrington Centennial Hospital for Convalescents and Incurables, Camden

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A convalescent hospital follows Florence Nightingale’s principles

Fresh air was the order of the day for patients at the newly opened Carrington Centennial Hospital for Convalescents and Incurables at Camden in 1890.

Carrington Convalescent Hospital, Camden, NSW. (Valentine)
Carrington Convalescent Hospital, Camden, NSW. (Postcard 1900s/ Camden Images)

Fresh air was the order of the day for patients at the newly opened Carrington Centennial Hospital for Convalescents and Incurables at Camden in 1890. The hospital followed the latest methods in medical practice and building architecture from Victorian England based on the writings and approach advocated by Florence Nightingale.

Victorian England hospitals

By the late 19th century, Victorian England had over 300 Convalescent hospitals. They were one of a variety of specialist hospitals in Victorian England. They included consumptive hospitals, fever hospitals, ophthalmic hospitals, lying-in hospitals, venereal disease hospitals, orthopaedic hospitals, lunatic asylums, fistula infirmaries, invalid asylums, as well as those catering to different groups of people, for instance, seamen’s hospitals, German hospital, children’s hospitals and others.

British historian Eli Anders states that in  England, convalescent homes were built at the seaside or in the countryside, away from the dirty, polluted cities. They would be places of rest, nourishment and recuperation with plenty of fresh and healthy air. Medical practices dictated that fresh air and exercise were the order of the day.

Camden’s fresh country air

The location of Carrington fitted this model. It was in the picturesque countryside with views over the Nepean River floodplain on a hill to catch fresh country air. Camden was considered a healthy site away from the pollution and evils of industrial Sydney and the increased public health risks of the urban environment and sanitation issues.

Florence Nightingale Wikimedia
Florence Nightingale (Wikimedia)

Florence Nightingale

Carrington Hospital was New South Wales’s first central convalescent facility, following design principles espoused by Florence Nightingale. Historian Eli Anders states that Nightingale wrote in her Notes on Nursing and Hospitals that she advocated for ventilation and proper site selection. She promoted the ‘healthfulness’ of convalescent hospitals in the countryside and on the edge of towns where they took advantage of fresh country air. Similar advantages could be achieved by a seaside location.

Miasma

At the heart of this idea was the miasma theory, which stated that diseases such as cholera, chlamydia or Black Death were caused by ‘bad air’. The theory stated that epidemics were due to a miasma that started from rotting organic matter. The theory originated from the ancients in places like China, India and Europe and was only displaced by germ theory in the 1880s, which stated that germs caused diseases. Despite this, popular culture retained a belief in ‘bad air’ and stated the urban areas had to clean up waste and eliminate bad odours. These ideas encouraged Florence Nightingale’s activities in the Crimean War, where she worked to make hospitals sanitary and fresh smelling. These ideas also significantly influenced Sydney and the Black Death (bubonic plague) outbreak in 1900 after the urban renewal process that followed in suburbs like The Rocks and Millers Point.

William H Paling (Camden Museum)
William H Paling (Camden Museum)

WH Paling

Convalescent homes were often built by philanthropists and charitable organisations. Carrington Hospital was built by Sydney philanthropist and businessman WH Paling (1825-1895), who immigrated with his family to Sydney in 1853. Paling ran a music business importing pianofortes and sheet music and was an entertainment promotor and composer during the heyday of the gold rushes. His business success allowed him to pursue his political and philanthropic interests. Paling was an alderman on Petersham Municipal Council and mayor, a member of the Royal Society and a Mercantile Mutual Insurance Company director. The Australian Dictionary of Biography states

His far-sighted preoccupation with questions of sanitation, health and hospital accommodation culminated in his presentation to the colony on 23 April 1888 of his 450-acre (182 ha) model farm Grasmere at Camden, valued at £20,000, to be used as a hospital for convalescents and incurables; he also donated £10,000 for the erection of suitable buildings. A public committee led by Sir Henry Parkes raised a further £15,000 for equipment and development at the Carrington Convalescent Hospital on the site.

The hospital site was purchased in 1881 from Camden Park by a syndicate of WH Paling, AH McCullock, Benjamin James Jnr and W Stimson, containing 5100 acres. It was part of the North Cawdor Farms sale, including several Camden Town blocks. The sale had several conditions and was not finalised until 1888. In the meantime, Paling developed his Grasmere Estate farms. He established a Deed of Gift in 1888 with Lord Carrington as president of the hospital, chair of the general committees, and himself as vice president.

The hospital was named after Lord Carrington, Governor of New South Wales (1885-1890), who served from the centenary of the colony’s foundation.

Carrington Convalescent Hospital Illustrated Sydney News 1889
Carrington Convalescent Hospital (Illustrated Sydney News 1889)

Late Victorian Queen Anne Revival

The 89-bed hospital (49 male, 40 female) was designed by Sydney architect HC Kent and constructed by building contractor P Graham. The NSW State Heritage Inventory states:

It is representative of a late Victorian institutional building and is also representative of hospital building techniques (including setting) of the time. Main building of late Victorian eclectic style is brick on concrete foundations with cement dressings in the super structure and tower.

The main building is an excellent example of a Late Victorian Queen Anne Revival style. There were also additional buildings, including a gardeners cottage, Masonic cottage, morgue, and Grassmere Cottage. There were extensive landscape gardens in a general Victorian layout with a carriage loop and flower bed.

In England, convalescent facilities were excellent and were better than home life conditions for many poor people. The idea with the convalescent hospital was that the patients spent weeks recovering away from their homes. Rich people who hired their own doctors to treat them during illness or convalescence. They paid to recuperate in a seaside health resort or travel to a spa centre.  Convalescent homes were seen as superior to hospitals because they differed from dreary wards. Supporters advocated their calming and home-like qualities with libraries, games, and sitting rooms.

Ventilation and fresh air

The Illustrated Sydney News stated that the Carrington Hospital is located on a hill overlooking Camden to take advantage of ‘fresh air’ with ‘ventilation in the sleeping and living rooms’. The ventilation in the buildings was planned by Sir Alfred Roberts and based on Prince Alfred Hospital. The convalescence patients can ‘sit outside and enjoy the lovely view and balmy health-giving air’. The garden had ‘comfortable shady seats, where patients can wander about and rest at will, is of great importance, as well as the verandahs where they can exercise in wet weather, and the large sitting or day rooms’. There is the pleasant ‘park-like appearance’ of the countryside around Camden which ‘is very English in its character’. Patients will be able to recuperate for ‘two or three weeks’ rest and proper food, which would mean so very much to them just at this stage…They are free to revel in the country scenes and sounds and rest awhile from life’s bustle.

The Sydney Press stated that the aims of the hospital

 are, that persons recovering from acute illness may benefit by a short residence in the healthful climate of Camden, and a plentiful use of the farm products from the estate ; and further, that persons suffering from incurable diseases may have their lives prolonged and their sufferings alleviated by the above-named advantages. (Illust Syd News)

NSW Governor at Carrington Hospital Laying Foundation Stone Illustrated Sydney News 1889
NSW Governor at Carrington Hospital Laying Foundation Stone (Illustrated Sydney News 1889)

Lord Carrington lays the foundation stone

The Governor of New South Wales, Lord Carrington, laid a foundation stone in February 1889 in front of a crowd of over 2000 people. A special train from Redfern was met at Camden Railway Station by well over 1000 people. The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River Gazette reported that Camden Station was ‘gaily decorated’ with a string of flags. Lord Carrington arrived by train from Moss Vale and he was met at the home by Sydney signatories who were members of the management committee and trustees. The report noted that hot and cold running water would be laid on throughout the building.

Carrington Convalescent Hospital opened on 20 August 1890 and the first matron was Miss McGahey, who resigned in 1891 to take a position as matron at Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney. She was followed by Matron Kerr, then Matron Blanche Bricknell in 1897, who served until 1907.

Annual reports

The 1898 7th annual report in the Camden News stated that the hospital had treated 1153 in the previous 12 months, with the annual cost of each bed being £35/8/9d. The meeting discussed the reluctance of patients to contribute to the cost of their stay. During the year, Sister Elenita Williams was succeeded by Sister Edith Carpendale. Nurses Bertha Davidson and Eva Thomson were succeeded by Nurses Lily BanfieId and Theresa Richardson. Subscribers elected Mr JR Fairfax and Major JW Macarthur Onslow to the management committee.

Carrington Convalescent Hospital c1890s Camden Images
Carrington Convalescent Hospital c1890s (Camden Images)

The 1900 annual report in the Camden News stated that the hospital had treated 1040 patients the previous year, with the average number of patients being 75. The average patient stay was 28 days and cost £2/10/11d. The hospital shut its emergency section when the Camden Cottage Hospital opened during the year and Camden medical officers acted in an honorary capacity.

First major convalescent hospital

Carrington Hospital was the first major convalescent hospital in New South Wales and its surrounding buildings and gardens are listed on the Camden Local Environment Plan Heritage Inventory (Item 118). Carrington Hospital is significant in that it is, along with Thomas Walker Convalescent Hospital, one of only two remaining functional purpose-built late 19th-century convalescent hospitals in New South Wales.

Read more

Read more on types of hospital in Victorian London

Read more on Eli Anders, Locating Convalescence in Victorian England

Read more on William H Paling (ADB)

Read more on the State Heritage Inventory entry for Carrington Hospital

Read more on the Carrington Hospital in the Illustrated Sydney News 24 May 1890

Noel Bell Ridley Smith, Carrington Nursing Home, Heritage Curtilage Assessment, McMahon’s Point, 2006. Online at Pt 1 and Pt 2 

Noel Bell Ridley Smith, Carrington Nursing Home Conservation Management Strategy, McMahon’s Point, 2006.

Carrington Hospital 7th Annual Report Camden News  3 March 1898.

Carrington Hospital 9th Annual Report Camden News 28 June 1900

Updated 27 April 2023. Originally posted on 25 January 2018.

Attachment to place · Camden · Community identity · History · Local History · Philanthropy · Place making · Sense of place · Volunteering

Volunteers Have a Night of Thanks

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The CHN blogger was out and about at the 2017 Camden Council’s Volunteer Thank You Reception at the Camden Civic Centre.

This is an annual event put on the Camden Council and the mayor Lara Symkowiak. This years those attending volunteers were welcomed by the soulful tunes provided by saxophonist Will from Camden Council.

 

Camden Volunteers Night Will Saxophone 2017.
Those attending the 2017 Camden Council’s Volunteer Thank You Reception were welcomed by the soulful sound of saxophonist Will who is part of council staff (I Willis)

 

The event MC was Sarah from Camden Council, which also supplied eats and drinks a plenty for the assembled throngs of volunteers. A number of council staff and councilors attended the evening.

There were over 220 representatives from 53 voluntary groups present from Oran Park, Narellan, Camden, Gregory Hills, Cobbitty, Macarthur, Harrington Park and Catherine Fields.

 

Camden Volunteers Night GeneralView 2017.
The assembled volunteers were treated to a sumptuous supper and entertainment for all their efforts at the 2017 Volunteer Thank You Reception at the Camden Civic Centre (I Willis)

 

Mayor Lara Symkowiak addressed the audience and said, ‘volunteers make a difference in the community and that the evening was a thank you by council’.

The mayor said, ‘It was an opportunity for volunteers to be served rather than serve’.

 

Camden Volunteers Night Mayors Notes 2017.tif
Thank you note attached to the gift for volunteers from Camden Council attending 2017 Volunteers Thank You Reception

 

One volunteer thanked the mayor for the recognition and the evening. She replied, ‘It is better that the council put on a thank you evening rather than a ball which would only compete with balls by other organisations’.

 

Camden voluntary sector

The Camden community has a long history of volunteering. Voluntary organisations go back to the mid-19th century  and one of the first was the Camden Farmers’ Club and General Improvement Society  set up in 1857. It became the Camden School of Arts in 1858 which centred on the provision of a library and reading room.

 

Camden School of Arts PReeves c1800s CIPP
Camden School of Arts b.1866 at 40 John Street Camden where there was a reading room and library. This image taken by local identity P Reeves around mid-1880s (Camden Images)

 

The Camden community voluntary sector was very active during the First and Second World Wars and supported the war at home through patriotic fundraising and other events. Their efforts can be seen at the Camden Museum.

 

Red Cross Sidman women work for Red Cross causes 1917
The Sidman women volunteer their time and effort during the First World War for the Camden Red Cross. Patriotic fundraising supporting the war at home was a major activity and raised thousands of pounds. This type of effort was quite in all communities across Australia and the rest of the British Empire. (Camden Images and Camden Museum)

 

Current community organisations in the Camden Local Government Area are listed in the Camden Community Directory which has a number of categories of organisations. They include: Accommodation and Housing; Animal Services; Community Facilities; Conservation and Environment; Education; Employment and Business; Equipment; Financial Support and Low Cost Goods and Services; Government; Health and Wellbeing; Information Services;  Law and Justice; Sport and Leisure; Transport; and Volunteering.

 

Benefits of volunteering

Studies have shown that volunteering is good for a person’s well-being and health. It reduces risk of depression, provides a sense of purpose, provides mental and physical activity, reduces stress levels, provides the ‘happiness effect’, and provides opportunities for overseas travel.

Volunteering builds social capital by encouraging social interaction, social networks and networking opportunities between people and strengthen personal and emotional support, choice (sovereignty) and power. Volunteering builds community resilience and community cohesion and strengthens the local community.

Volunteering is a form of active citizenship and allows citizen participation in our democracy. This in turn strengthens our democracy.

In Australia according to the Queensland University of Technology there are around 600,000 voluntary organisations which made up over 3.5% of Australian GDP in 2012 with an annual growth rate of 6% per annum. The sector employed around 9% of the Australian workforce which total over 1 million people and it made up of the top 5 sectors which are social services, education and research, culture and recreation, health and environment. These organisations have nearly 3 million volunteers across the country.

According the PrivacySense.net the voluntary sector is

 The Voluntary Sector is usually comprised of organizations whose purpose is to benefit and enrich society, often without profit as a motive and with little or no government intervention.

Unlike the private sector where the generation and return of profit to its owners is emphasized, money raised or earned by an organization in the voluntary sector is usually invested back into the community or the organization itself.

One way to think of the voluntary sector is that its purpose is to create social wealth rather than material wealth.

Although the voluntary sector is separate from the public sector, many organizations are often tightly integrated with governments on all levels to support it in the delivery of programs and services.

 

Night finishes up

To say thank you to Camden volunteers the council gave those attending two small gifts, a succulent from Little Miss Succulent with funds going to Turning Point and a boiled Christmas cake from the Campbelltown Uniting Church.

Council provided entertainment for volunteers attending with music, a magician, an artist and a photo booth.

 

Camden Volunteers Night PhotoBooth 2017.
A photo booth was provided for volunteers Ian, Marilyn and Katherine to entertain themselves along with a host of others at the 2017 Volunteer Thank You Reception at the Camden Civic Centre (Photobooth)

 

Music was supplied by Will on Saxophone on arrival, while Theo and Bel provided vocals and guitar on the main stage for enjoyment of all the attendees.

 

Camden Volunteers Night Theo&Bel 2017.
Music was provided by the pleasant sounds of Theo and Bel from the stage of the civic centre at the 2017 Volunteer Thank You Reception (IWillis)

 

The evening ended with mayor drawing out the lucky door prize. The fellows from the Men’s Shed seemed to score most of the prizes but then again they had the largest group attending the evening.

A good evening was had by all.

 

So what is the take out of all this?

If you are thinking of volunteering for anything just do it.

Sometimes folk who want others to volunteer their valuable time really do not understand the needs of volunteers. They do not understand that volunteers time is valuable. Most people are happy to volunteer if they have a reason. Volunteers need to understand the reason they are volunteering. Ad-hoc volunteering is OK and often time is more valuable than money.

Volunteering is productive and good for you so get to it. What ever it is. What ever takes your fancy will all of the community.