In the garden at the front of the Camden Civic Centre, there are two sculptures many people have forgotten about. The artists won prizes at the annual Camden Art Prize held at the Camden Civic Centre.
The Camden Art Prize is an important local festival which has been running since 1974. The inaugural prize was initiated under the direction of Camden Municipal Art Festival Committee Chairman, Mayor Bruce Ferguson. The acquisitive award was established with the aim of creating the Camden Municipal Art Collection. (Catalogue, 44th Camden Art Prize 2019)
‘Crossroads’ by Diego Latella (1977)
Diego Latella is a painter, sculptor, teacher and printmaker who studied in Sydney, New York and Italy. He arrived in Australia from Italy in 1955 and held his first solo exhibition in 1973. He has won several awards in Australia and overseas for his art, including the Camden Art Prize in 1977 for his sculpture ‘Crossroads’. (https://www.aasd.com.au/artist/15269-diego-latella/)
The sculpture ‘Crossroad’ by Diego Latella won the 1977 Camden Art Prize. The artwork is installed in the front garden at the Camden Civic Centre (I Willis, 2023)
‘Space’ by Irene Carroll (1994)
Irene Carroll is a painter, sculptor, photographer and printmaker from Farmborough Heights on the NSW South Coast, and works in a variety of mediums, including mediums wood, metal, concrete, bronze, mosaics, and silk. Born in Holland, she studied in Australia.
Carroll states in her biography:
My work evolves from the materials available and the space and time I am in. It pays homage to the struggle to find identity. I develop and explore, creating unity, harmony and balance in the materials I work with. I rarely plan, working instinctively allowing the materials to guide the final result.
Carroll’s work ‘Space’ won the 20th Camden Art Prize in 1994.
The sculpture ‘Space’ by Irene Carroll won the 1994 Camden Art Prize. The artwork is installed in the front garden at the Camden Civic Centre (I Willis, 2023)
Updated 23 December 2023. Originally posted on 22 December 2023.
The 2007 Camden Library and Camden Museum redevelopment project resulted in a community collaboration to create a mix of public artworks.
The collaboration process was led by Camden Council Cultural Development Coordinator Angela Pasqua. Participants included school children, TAFE students, artists and sculptors.
The artworks were commissioned by Camden Council..
The efforts have been documented in a pamphlet called ‘The Walls Have Words’ originally published by Camden Council.
Public artworks at the Camden Library and Museum on the old fire station and original temperance hall forecourt. Created by sculptor Benjamin Gilbert and titled Chaise Lounge Ensemble, they were aimed at introducing a ‘feminine touch’ in a previously male-dominated domain. (I Willis, 2023)
Public artworks on the forecourt of the Camden Library and Museum at 40 John Street Camden. The sculptures are called the Chaise Lounge Ensemble. (I Willis, 2023)
The Camden Library and Museum John Street frontage. The Chaise Lounge Ensemble is shown on the forecourt of the former fire station. (I Willis 2023)
Redevelopment of Camden Library and Camden Museum
The aim of the 2007 redevelopment project was to integrate three former historical buildings, fire station, school of arts and council offices, into a contemporary functional space for the use of the Camden community using the adaptation principles outlined by the Burra Charter (2013). The former school of arts was occupied by Camden Library, while the Camden Museum was located in the former Camden Council offices.
The state government and Camden Council spent around $2.5 million to bring Camden Library up to contemporary library floor space requirements. This was achieved by enclosing a laneway between the former fire station and school of arts (library) buildings.
The works enclosed the laneway using a glass roof to create a galleria that has been used for a variety of public events for the library and museum.
The galleria space was created by the enclosure of the former laneway between the former fire station and library buildings. (CHS 2022)
2023 Australian Institute of Landscape Architects Award
One of the newest facilities at the Australian Botanic Gardens Mount Annan, the National Herbarium of New South Wales, has won a top architecture award.
Designed by Australian architects and design studio Architectus the building was inspired by the seed pod of the waratah, the floral symbol of NSW.
The National Herbarium of New South Wales at the Australian Botanic Gardens Mount Annan. (2023, I Willis)
The citation for the award states:
The landscape design expresses a unique perspective of the nature of an herbarium: this place is not only dedicated to researching the science of plants and their ecosystems, but also making this knowledge accessible to the community. In a fluid and bespoke language, the design makes use of the site’s microclimates and topography to imbue ecosystems diversity and experiential richness with an holistic clarity. It beautifully dissembles the institution’s scientific remit to encourage visitor awareness of plants, ecology, and landscape.
The front profile of the National Herbarium of New South Wales at the Australian Botanic Gardens Mount Annan. The shape of the roofline was influenced by the seed pod of the waratah. (2023, Desmond Chan & Levi Pajarin)
Opening in 2022, the AILA website states:
The National Herbarium of NSW houses more than 1.1 million plant specimens. Lacking the requisite environmental controls to maintain the collection and outgrowing its historic location, the Herbarium relocated to the Australian Botanic Gardens Mount Annan. With deep insulated walls protecting and preserving valuable plant specimens for future generations. Complementing the building’s aspirations, a bespoke landscape showcases significant and meaningful plants from the collection in living form. Reinforcing connection to Country, this offers a place for reconciliation and gathering and a celebration and living showcase of the collection’s diversity.
Problems at the herbarium at Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney
Before relocating the National Herbarium to the ABG Mount Annan, the plant collection was located in the Robert Brown building at the Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney. The collection faced several issues, including pest control.
The Robert Brown Building at the Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney that housed the herbarium collection had several problems that endangered the plant collection. The plant collection was moved to the new herbarium building at Australia Botanic Gardens Mount Annan in 2022. (RBG Sydney, 2020)
The National Herbarium website states that the existing Robert Brown Building at the RBG Sydney was constructed in 1982.
The website continues:
the Herbarium’s storage capacity in the Robert Brown Building will also be exhausted by 2022. It is time critical that we create a new facility to fix these deficiencies and ensure our collection can grow and be utilised by other Herbaria around the world.
Relocation of herbarium to the Australian Botanic Gardens Mount Annan
In 2013 the garden trustees (RBG&DT) engaged RP Infrastructure to consult and develop a business case for a new facility and proceed as project managers. In 2015 Sydney architects Sam Crawford was hired to conduct a feasibility study on the relocation from RBG Sydney to ABG Mount Annan.
The state government supported the movement of move from the Sydney site to Mount Annan. The website states:
To safeguard the growing collection, which also includes a significant amount of historical plant specimens collected in 1770, the State Government supported the construction of the new state-of-the-art Herbarium facility with a $60 million investment in 2018.
The public entry to the foyer display area of to the National Herbarium of New South Wales at the ABG Mount Annan (I Willis, 2023)
New building
The herbarium building has six protective vaults that are environmentally controlled and provides new labs, equipment, and quarantine facilities.
The collection was moved to the ABG Mount Annan in 2021 and digitised as part of the project. The collection can be accessed online.
The exterior forecourt of the National Herbarium of New South Wales at the ABG Mount Annan and the location of the art installation Life Blood (I Willis, 2023)
History of herbarium plant collection
The collections of the National Herbarium of New South Wales date from 1770, made by botanists Sir Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander on Captain James Cook’s first voyage to the Pacific. By 1900, the Herbarium contained 15,000 named species – almost all the species then known in NSW.
A small herbarium and botanical museum was first established in 1853 when botanist Sir Charles Moore was the director of the RBG Sydney (1848-1896).
The number of botanical specimens grew significantly under the next director of the RBG Sydney, Joseph Maiden.
The first dedicated herbarium building was opened in 1901. By 1970 the herbarium held over 1 million specimens spread across five buildings.
The herbarium collection has grown to incorporate several other institutional collections, and they have included,
Collections from the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences (now the Powerhouse Museum), Hawkesbury Agricultural College, the University of New South Wales moss collection, the NSW Forestry wood collection, and more recently collections from the John Macarthur Agricultural Institute.
James 2018
An aerial view of the National Herbarium of New South Wales at ABG Mount Annan. The PlantBank is on the RHS rear of the Herbarium, and the nursery greenhouses are on the left rear of the image. This view clearly shows the herbarium roof line and the influence of the shape of the waratah seedpod (2023, Desmond Chan & Levi Pajarin)
‘Jewel in the crown’
The herbarium collection is currently,
valued at $280 million…More than 8000 new plant specimens [are] being added to the Herbarium every year. The world-renowned collection underpins vital scientific research and is essential for informing decisions about the conservation of our natural environment.
In 2020 the Herbarium became part of the Australian Institute of Botanical Science that
consists of the physical and virtual scientific collections, research, services and facilities, and our staff at the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney, Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan and the Blue Mountains Botanic Garden Mount Tomah.
A jewel in the crown of the Macarthur region the National Herbarium at the Australian Botanic Gardens at Mount Annan is a valuable addition to the scientific international status of the gardens.
Keep your eyes open in central Campbelltown for inspiring public art installations that brighten up dull spaces around the town.
The Campbelltown Arts Centre, in conjunction with Campbelltown City Council and the NSW Government, have a program to re-invigorate the city centre using public art.
A screenshot of the public art webpage on the website of the Campbelltown Arts Centre. Each of the seven public art projects has a dedicated webpage with detailed descriptions of the artworks, what the artist was trying to achieve and the installation specifications. (CAC, 2023)
Public art positively affects the community and people’s self-esteem, self-confidence and well-being. Campbelltown Arts Centre has created a public art website to assist people in this process and shows several murals around the Queens Street precinct.
This blog has promoted the benefits of public art in and around the Macarthur region for some time now. There are lots of interesting public artworks around the area that are hidden in plain sight. This blog has highlighted the artworks and other artefacts, memorials and monuments that promote the Cowpastures region.
The public art program of the Campbelltown Arts Centre and Campbelltown City Council is creative, innovative and inspirational. It is playful yet takes a serious approach to a contemporary problem, urban blight.
These urban planning decisions came from the 1968 Sydney Regional Outline Plan of the NSW Askin Coalition Government.
Sydney-based planning decision created tensions between Campbelltown City Council and the Macarthur Development Board around what constituted the city centre. The Queen Street precinct, supported by the council, gradually declined in importance as a retail area as newer facilities opened up.
Queen Street could not compete with the new shopping mall Macarthur Square opened in 1979 by the Hon. Paul Landa, Minister for Planning and Environment in the Wran Labor Government.
High-value-added retailing deserted the Queen Street precinct and became populated by $2-shops and op-shops.
Campbelltown’s sense of place and community identity has taken a battering in the following decades.
Reinvigoration of the Queen Street precinct
The public art program at the Campbelltown Arts Centre is trying to ameliorate the problems of the past through community engagement in art installations.
The murals would enhance the local streetscape and make the area more welcoming to residents and visitors.
“The first mural is located at one of the entrances to the CBD and will add a new element to our public domain,” Cr Greiss said.
“It’s important that works to the Queen Street precinct enhance the current amenity to build pride among residents and make the area more attractive to people visiting our city,” he said.
The mayor referred to an art installation created by Campbelltown street artist Danielle Mate ‘Raw Doings’ in Carberry Lane. The Arts Centre website states:
This vibrant and bold artwork comprises many shades of blue and purple, and is inspired by aerial views of Country and the Australian landscape.
The mural ‘Raw Doings’ by street artists Danielle Mate was commissioned by Campbelltown City Council in 2022 (Document Photography/CAC 2022)
In 2022 the Campbeltown City Council commissioned ‘Breathing Life / Bula ni Cegu / Paghinga ng Buhay’ by artists and designers Victoria Garcia and Bayvick Lawrance.
‘Breathing Life’ is a celebration of Campbelltown’s thriving Pacific community, and the extensive connections between people, plants, animals and all living things.
The mural ‘Breathing Life’ by artists Victoria Garcia and Bayvick Lawrance in 2022 and was commissioned by Campbelltown City Council (Document Photography/CAC 2022)
In 2012 Campbelltown City Council commissioned a mural board across the bus shelters at Campbelltown Railway Station supervised by Blak Douglas in Lithgow Street called ‘The Standout’. The art installation is the work of 28 artists across 70 panels with a full length of 175 metres.
The Standout pays homage to the Dharawal Dreamtime Story of the ‘Seven Eucalypts’, and Douglas’ previous photographic series of deceased gums standing alone within landscapes and casting shadows within urban facades.
The ‘Stand Out’ mural by Blak Douglas is located in Lithgow Street Campbelltown along the bus shelters outside Campbelltown Railway Station. The work was commissioned by Campbelltown City Council in 2012. (Black Douglas/CAC 2012)
The public art installation ‘Three Mobs’ by Chinese-Aboriginal artist Jason Wing was commissioned by Campbelltown City Council in 2022. The mural is located on Dumersq Street and Queen Street, the south side of the 7Eleven wall, and features a rainbow serpent as an intersection of cultures.
Aboriginal culture reveres the rainbow serpent as the creator of all things on Earth. Chinese culture understands serpents to be a symbol for luck and abundance, and a highly desired zodiac sign.
Defined as any artistic work or activity designed and created by professional arts practitioners for the public domain, Public Art may be of a temporary or permanent nature and located in or part of a public open space, building or facility, including façade elements provided by either the public or private sector (not including memorials or plaques).
Public art can….
make art an everyday experience for residents and visitors
take many forms in many different materials and styles, such as lighting, sculpture, performance and artwork
be free-standing work or integrated into the fabric of buildings, streetscapes and outdoor spaces
draw its meaning from or add to the meaning of a particular site or place.
Public art humanizes the built environment and invigorates public spaces. It provides an intersection between past, present and future, between disciplines, and between ideas.
The paper maintains that public art has the potential to reinvigorate public spaces and add to their vibrancy. It states:
Throughout history, public art can be an essential element when a municipality wishes to progress economically and to be viable to its current and prospective citizens. Data strongly indicates that cities with an active and dynamic cultural scene are more attractive to individuals and business.
The statue of Elizabeth Macquarie by artist Tom Bass in Mawson Park in the Campbelltown CBD on Queen Street. The statue was commissioned by Campbelltown & Airds Historical Society in 2006 and cost $75,000. (Wikimedia)
Public art can express community values, enhance our environment, transform a landscape, heighten our awareness, or question our assumptions. Placed in public sites, this art is there for everyone, a form of collective community expression. Public art is a reflection of how we see the world – the artist’s response to our time and place combined with our own sense of who we are.
associationforpublicart.org/what-is-public-art/
Public art can be found in the most unusual places. In this case, this is a statue of a boy at Emerald Hills Shopping Centre Leppington. The statue memorialises the St Andrews Boys Home that once was located on the Emerald Hills land release site. (I Willis 2021)
To continue the story of Campbelltown, this is an excellent overview by local author Jeff McGill with many fascinating images of past and present times. (Kingsclear Publication, 2017)
Updated 17 May 2023. Originally posted on 16 May 2023 as ‘Public art at Campbellton brightens up a dull space’.
The Cowpastures was a vague area south of the Nepean River floodplain on the southern edge of Sydney’s Cumberland Plain.
The Dharawal Indigenous people who managed the area were sidelined in 1796 by Europeans when Governor Hunter named the ‘Cow Pasture Plains’ in his sketch map. He had visited the area the previous year to witness the escaped ‘wild cattle’ from the Sydney settlement, which occupied the verdant countryside. In 1798 Hunter used the location name ‘Cow Pasture’; after this, other variants have included ‘Cow Pastures’, ‘Cowpasture’ and ‘Cowpastures’. The latter will be used here.
John Hunter, Second Governor of New South Wales 1795-1800 and Royal Navy Officer (Wikimedia)
Governor King secured the area from poaching in 1803 by creating a government reserve, while settler colonialism was furthered by allocating the first land grants in 1805 to John Macarthur and Walter Davidson. The Cowpastures became the colonial frontier, and the dispossession and displacement of Indigenous people inevitably led to conflict and violence. The self-styled gentry acquired territory by grant and purchase and created a regional landscape of pseudo-English pastoral estates.
This is a portrait of Governor Phillip Gidley King, the third governor of the British colony of New South Wales from 1800-1806. He saw service in the British Navy with the rank of captain. (SLNSW)
Collective memories
According to Kate Darian-Smith and Paula Hamilton, collective memories are ‘all around us in the language, action and material culture of our everyday life’,[1] and I often wondered why the cultural material representative of the Cowpastures appeared to have been ‘forgotten’ by our community.
The list of cultural items is quite an extensive include: roads and bridges, parks and reserves; historic sites, books, paintings, articles; conferences, seminars, and workshops; monuments, memorials and murals; community commemorations, celebrations and anniversaries.
Material culture
This material culture represents the multi-layered nature of the Cowpastures story for different actors who have interpreted events differently over time. These actors include government, community organisations, storytellers, descendants of the Indigenous Dharawal and European colonial settlers, and local and family historians. Using two case studies will illustrate the contested nature of the Cowpastures memory narrative.
Case Studies
1995 Cowpastures Bicentennial
Firstly, the 1995 Cowpastures Bicentennial celebrated the finding of the ‘wild cattle’ that escaped from the Sydney settlement by a party led by Governor Hunter in 1795.
Following the success of the 1988 Australian Bicentenary and the publication of histories of Camden and Campbelltown,[2] local officialdom decided that the anniversary of finding the ‘wild cattle’ deserved greater recognition. Camden Mayor HR Brooking stated that the festival events’ highlight the historic and scenic significance of the area’. A bicentenary committee of local dignitaries was formed, including the governor of New South Wales as a patron, with representatives from local government, universities, and community organisations.
In the end, only 10% of all festival events were directly related to the history of the Cowpastures. Golf tournaments, cycle races and music concerts were rebadged and marketed as bicentenary events, while Indigenous participation was limited to a few lines in the official programme and bicentennial documentation.[3] The legacy of the bicentenary is limited to records in the Camden Museum archives, a quilt, a statue, a park and a book.
The Camden Quilters commissioned a ‘story quilt’ told through the lens of local women, who took a holistic approach to the Cowpastures story. It was the only memorial created by women, and the collaborative efforts of the quilters created a significant piece of public art. Through the use of applique panels, the women sewed representations of the Cowpastures around the themes of Indigenous people, flora and fauna, ‘wild cattle’, agriculture, roads and bridges, and settlement.[4] The quilt currently hangs in the Camden Library.
A postcard produced in 1995 at the time of the Cowpastures Bicentennial of the Cowpastures Quilt produced by the Camden Quilters. (1995, Camden Museum)
Statue of Governor Hunter
In the suburb of Mount Annan, there is a statue of Governor Hunter. The land developer AV Jennings commissioned Lithgow sculptor and artist Antony Symons to construct the work to coincide with a residential land release. The statue has a circular colonnade, supporting artworks with motifs depicting cows, settlement, and farming activities.
According to Alison Atkinson-Phillips, three trends in memorial commemoration have been identified since the 1960s, and Hunter’s statue is an example of a ‘representative commemoration’ – commemorating events from the past.
The statue of Governor Hunter in the suburb of Mount Annan. Land developer AV Jennings commissioned Lithgow sculptor and artist Antony Symons (1942-2018) in 1995 to construct the work. Officially opened by the Mayor of Camden, Councillor FH Brooking, on the 6th April 1995. (I Willis, 2022)
Two other types of memorialisation identified by Atkinson-Phillips have been ‘participatory memorialisation’ instigated by ‘memory activists’ and place-based memorials placed as close as possible to an event.[5]
On the northern approach to the Camden town centre is the Cowpastures Reserve, a parkland used for passive and active recreation. The reserve was opened by the Governor of NSW on 19 February 1995 and is located within the 1803 government reserve, although the memorial plaque states that it is ‘celebrating 100 years of Rotary’.
The NSW Department of Agriculture published Denis Gregory’s Camden Park Birthplace of Australia’s Agriculture in time for the bicentenary. The book covered ‘200 years of the Macarthur dynasty’. It demonstrated the ‘vision and determination’ of John and Elizabeth Macarthur to make ‘the most significant contribution to agricultural development in the history of Australia’. Landscape artist Greg Turner illustrated the work with little acknowledgement of prior occupation by the Dharawal people.[6]
Commemoration of the 1816 Appin Massacre
Secondly, commemorating the 1816 Appin Massacre has created a series of memorials. The massacre represents a more meaningful representation of the Cowpastures story with the loss of Indigenous lives to the violence of the Cowpastures’ colonial frontier. The commemoration of these events is part of Atkinson-Phillip’s ‘participatory memorialisation’ and includes a place-based memorial.
European occupation of the Cowpastures led to conflict, and this peaked on 17 April 1816 when Governor Macquarie ordered a reprisal military raid against Aboriginal people. Soldiers under the command of Captain James Wallis shot at and drove Aboriginal people over the cliff at Cataract Gorge, killing around 14 men, women and children[7] on the eastern limits of the Cowpastures.
Governor Macquarie (SLNSW)
The Winga Myamly Reconciliation Group organised a memorial service for the Appin Massacre in April 2005 at the Cataract Dam picnic area.[8] By 2009 the yearly commemorative ceremony attracted the official participation of over 150 people, both ‘Indigenous and Non-Indigenous’. Attendees included the NSW Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and representatives from Wollondilly Shire Council and the NSW Police.[9]
In 2007 Wollondilly Shire Council and the Reconciliation Group commissioned a commemorative plaque at the picnic area. According to Atkinson-Phillips, plaques are often overlooked and analysing the words gains insight into the intent of those installing them.[10] The inscription on the Cataract memorial plaque leaves no doubt what the council and the reconciliation group wanted to emphasise, and it states:
The massacre of men, women and children of the Dharawal Nation occurred near here on 17 April 1816. Fourteen were counted this day, but the actual number will never be known. We acknowledge the impact this had and continues to have on the Aboriginal people of this land. We are deeply sorry. We will remember them. Winga Mayamly Reconciliation Group. Sponsored by Wollondilly Shire Council.
The plaque at the Cataract Dam picnic area. The memorial was placed at the picnic area in 2007, jointly organised by Winga Myamly Reconciliation Group and Wollondilly Shire Council, following the memorial service started in 2005 by the Reconciliation Group. (Monuments Australia, 2010)
In 2016 the Campbelltown Arts Centre held an art exhibition with an international flavour commemorating the bicentenary of the Appin Massacre called With Secrecy and Dispatch. The gallery commissioned new works from ‘six Aboriginal Australian artists and four First Nation Canadian artists’ that illustrated ‘the shared brutalities’ of the colonial frontier for both nations.[11]
Appin Massacre Cultural Landscape
In 2021 an application was made to Heritage NSW for consideration of the Appin Massacre Cultural Landscape, the site of the 1816 Appin Massacre, for listing on the State Heritage Register. The Heritage NSW website states that the Appin Massacre was ‘one of the most devastating massacre events of First Nations people in the history of NSW’. It is ‘representative of the complex relationships between First Nations people and settlers on the colonial frontier’.[12]
In conclusion, these two case studies briefly highlight how the contested meaning of memorials commemorating aspects of the Cowpastures story varies for different actors over time. At the 1995 bicentenary, only European voices were heard telling the Cowpastures story emphasising the cattle, Governor Hunter, and settlement.
Voices of Indigenous Australians
In recent years the voices of Indigenous Australians have been heard telling a different story of European occupation emphasising the dire consequences of the violence on the colonial frontier in the Sydney wars.[13]
Endnotes
[1] Kate Darian-Smith & Paula Hamilton (eds), Memory and History in the Twentieth-Century Australia. Melbourne, Oxford, 1994, p 4.
[2] Alan Atkinson, Camden, Farm and Village Life in Early New South Wales. Melbourne, Oxford, 1988. Carol Liston, Campbelltown, The Bicentennial History. Sydney, Allen & Unwin, 1988.
[3]Cowpastures Review and 1995 Calendar, Bicentennial Edition. Vol 1, 1995, p3
[4]Cowpastures Review and 1995 Calendar, Bicentennial Edition. Vol 1, 1995, p2
[5] Alison Atkinson-Phillips, ‘The Power of Place: Monuments and Memory’ in Paul Ashton & Paula Hamilton (eds), The Australian History Industry. North Melbourne, Australian Scholarly Publishing, 2022, p.126.
[6] Turner, Greg. & Gregory, Denis. & NSW Agriculture, Camden Park, birthplace of Australia’s agriculture. Orange, NSW, NSW Agriculture, 1992.
[10] Alison Atkinson-Phillips, ‘The Power of Place: Monuments and Memory’ in Paul Ashton & Paula Hamilton (eds), The Australian History Industry. North Melbourne, Australian Scholarly Publishing, 2022, p.127.
I was walking through the Narellan Library Elyard Street Plaza recently and noticed a Cowpastures Monument.
On investigation, I have found that the artwork was jointly commissioned in 2006 by Camden Council and Narellan Rotary Club.
This image shows the sculpture by Johnson and Topolnicki called Cowpasture Story jointly commissioned by Camden Council and Narellan Rotary Club in 2006 as part of the development of Narellan Library. The project was supervised by Guppy & Associates. (I Willis, 2022)
The artwork is called Cowpasture Story and was created by Blue Mountains artists and sculptors Philippa Johnson and Henryk Topolnicki from Art Is An Option. The artist’s website describes the artwork as ‘Sculptural Mobiles & Screen’.
Artist Philippa Johnson trained at the East Sydney Technical College and the University of Sydney and describes herself as an installation artist, sculptor and painter. Sculptor and artist Henryk Topolnicki are described as ‘a sculptor, furniture maker and public artist who works principally in metals’.
The artwork is a series of leaves forming an arch over the path that leads to the front of the Narellan Library. The leaves have a variety of figures representing the settlement of the Cowpastures in early colonial New South Wales. There are depictions of the settler society with cows, settler housing and farms.
The leaves and elements of the Cowpastures Story monument in the Narellan Library Pedestrian Plaza which was commissioned in 2006 by Camden Council and Narellan Rotary Club (2022 I Willis)
The artworks were part of the 2006 Narellan Library development that was designed by Sydney architect GSA, and built by Richard Crookes Construction with art consultants Guppy & Associates.
On the rear of the artwork panels, there are stories about the Cowpastures and the history of the Narellan Rotary Club.
The transcript of the Cowpasture story is located on the back of one of the panels of the artwork. (2022, I Willis)
The story is located on the back of one of the panels.
The elements of the Cowpastures Story monument in the Narellan Library Pedestrian Plaza which was commissioned in 2006 by Camden Council and Narellan Rotary Club (2022, I Willis)
A Brief History of the Cowpastures and its importance to the Narellan/Camden Area
Transcription
The history of the Cowpastures shows the importance to this area of the straying colonial cattle as their discovery led to the early surveying and settlement of the area by the Macarthurs and other colonial landholders. The Cowpastures was ‘discovered’ in 1795, just 7 years after the foundation of the colony.
The Narellan/Camden area was penetrated by white men as far back as 1795. The loss of the early colony’s cattle forms part of the history of New South Wales. These beasts that strayed from Farm Cover led to the discovery and settlement of the Narellan/Camden area. Seven years elapsed after the report of the loss of the cattle before rumours came to Sydney Cove’s settlement of the whereabouts of the missing stock. Governor Hunter dispatched a party under Henry Hacking to confirm or deny the reports of the rumoured cattle.
The results of this party’s investigation so impressed Governor Hunter that he determined to visit the locality to see the cattle and country for himself. With a small party he left Parramatta on the 18th November 1795. After travelling a few days they crossed the Nepean River at a spot where the Camden Cowpasture Bridge now stands and there came across this fine herd.
The name ‘Cowpastures’ by which the locality became known is due to Governor Hunter, for he marked it on a map drawn by himself and dated the 20th August 1796.
In 1802 explorer Barallier journeyed through the area noting the country the cattle had settled in and on the 7th November 1802 passed a swamp called ‘Manhangle’ by the aboriginals. It was this locality that John Macarthur selected land for his future home and for rearing sheep.
In December 1803 Governor King and Mrs King visited the Cowpastures and viewed the straying cattle. The governor instructed that the cattle were to be preserved after attempts were made to cull some of the wild bulls. To bring about the preservation of the cattle a hut was built at Elderslie near the ford of the Nepean River on the southern side. This was the first house in the district and was officially feferred [sic] to as ‘Cowpastures House’. Constables Warby and Jackson were installed there making this not only the first house, but the first police station in the Macarthur District.
Several of the colonial gentry took excursions to see the country so attractive to the cattle and this lead them to acquire property and settle in the area.
The track to the Cowpastures led from Prospect. On the 17th September 1805 James Meehan, under the instruction from the Governor, surveyed the track from Prospect to the Nepean Crossing and a rough road followed. This became the Cowpasture Road, some of which formed part of the old Hume Highway to Camden.
The transcript of the history of Narellan Rotary Club on the back of one of the artwork panels (2022, I Willis)
What is Rotary?
Brief History of the Rotary Club of Narellan Inc.
Transcription
The Rotary Club of Narellan Inc in District 9750, was chartered on the 27th October 1992.
This enabled local business and professional leaders to join a worldwide service organisation to provide social, financial and physical support to the local and international community.
The Rotary Club of Narellan focuses on the Four Avenues of Service in Club, Community, Vocational and International Service and gained recognition within the community as an excellent service club. It has been involved in fundraising for charitable organisations, support of local youth in educational and development program, fostering high ethical standards in business and professions and supporting other charitable organisations.
In fundraising the club raised in excess of $1,000,000 for charities, medical research (in particular Rett Syndrome), international programs and local causes such as Lifeline, Kids of Macarthur Health Foundation and the Salvation Army.
Rotary International has been responsible for the eradication of Polio through a worldwide campaign to which the club has been a major contributor. The Rotary Foundation supports vocational visits between countries and scholars throughout the world, of which the club has regularly hosted.
The elements of the public artwork the Cowpasture Story in the Narellan Library Pedestrian Plaza (2022 I Willis)
Hidden out of the way in the back streets of Mount Annan is a memorial to Governor Hunter.
This memorial is located in the Governors Green reserve in Baragil Mews, Mount Annan.
The view of the entrance off Baragil Mews to Governors Green Heritage Park at Mount Annan with the statue of Governor Hunter in the distance. The park is set in a bush reserve adjacent to residential housing. (2022 IW)
This is another hidden and largely forgotten memorial to the Cowpastures in the local area.
A bronze statue of Governor Hunter is at the centre of a circular colonnade with artworks celebrating the Cowpastures.
The land developer AV Jennings commissioned Lithgow sculptor and artist Antony Symons (1942-2018) in 1995 to construct the work.
The view of the statue of Governor Hunter as you approach it from Baragil Mews. The statue is at the centre of a circular colonnade with other parts of the artwork on the fencing. (IW 2022)
Governor Hunter and the Cow Pastures
The story of the Cowpastures begins in 1787 with the First Fleet and HMS Sirius, which collected 4 cows and 2 bulls at the Cape of Good Hope on the way out to New South Wales. After they arrived in the new colony, the stock escaped within 5 months of being landed and disappears.
In 1795 the story of the cattle is told to a convict hunter by an Aboriginal, who then tells an officer and informs Governor Hunter. Hunter sends Henry Hacking, an old seaman, to check out the story. After confirmation Governor John Hunter and Captain Waterhouse, George Bass and David Collins headed off from Parramatta, crossing the Nepean River on 17 November 1795. They find good farming land covered with good pasture and lagoons with birds. After climbing a hill (Mt Taurus), they spotted the cattle and named the Cowpastures.
Governor John Hunter marked area on maps ‘Cow Pasture Plains’ in the region of Menangle and elsewhere on maps south of Nepean. The breed was the Cape cattle from the First Fleet, and the district was declared out of bounds to all by 1806; the herd had grown to 3,000.
British colonialism and a settler society
Governor Hunter was part of the settler society project and the country’s dispossession of First Nations people. Hunter was a representative of British imperialism and how it implemented its policies on the colonial frontier of New South Wales.
The Cowpastures was a site of frontier violence and the displacement and dispossession of Indigenous land in the early 19th century.
Governor Hunter Statue
The statue of Governor Hunter in Governors Green Reserve at Mount Annan. The statue was commissioned by land developer AV Jennings and Lithgow sculptor Antony Symons was engaged to complete the artwork in 1995. (2022, I Willis)
Plaques below the Governor Hunter statue
The plaque on the plinth at the base of the Governor Hunter statue celebrates the reserve’s opening in 1995. (2022, I Willis)
Plaque inscription
Governor’s Green Heritage Park was presented to the people of Camden by AV Jennings and was officially opened by the Mayor of Camden Councillor FH Brooking on the 6th April 1995 in celebration of the centenary year of the discovery of the herd in 1795 at Cowpastures Camden.
Camden Mayor Frank Brooking
Frank Brooking served as Camden’s mayor from 1993 to 1997. Mr Brooking was a motor dealer whose business was located on the corner of Cawdor Road and Murray Streets and sold Morris and Volkswagon brands. Frank was a community-minded person who volunteered for the Rural Fire Service, Camden Rotary Club, Camden Show Society, Camden Area Youth Service and other organisations. He died in 2013 aged 74.
Plaque Governor Hunter statue
A plaque highlighting the history of the decision of Governor Hunter in 1795 to name the Cowpastures. The naming of the site was an act of dispossession of Dharawal country. Hunter was an agent of the British Colonial Office and its imperial interests in the settler society project of New South Wales. (2022, I Willis)
Plaque inscription
Governor John Hunter (1737-1821), Governor of New South Wales September 1795 – November 1799.
‘On the evening of my arrival…, I was directed to the place where the herd was feeding,… we ascended a hill, from which we observed an herd…feeding in a beautiful pasture in the valley I was now anxious to ascertain of what breed they were, whether natives… or the descendants of those we had so long lost, but in this attempt we were disappointed by being discovered and attached most furiously by a large and very fierce bull, which rendered it necessary for our own safety, to fire at him. Such as his violence and strength, that six balls were fired through, before any person dared approach him. I was now satisfied that they were the Cape of Good Hope breed…. offspring of these we had lost in 1788, at this time we counted sixty-one in number, young and old. They have chosen a beautiful part of the country to graze in…
Historical Records of Australia, Governor Hunter to the Duke of Portland, 21st December 1795.
AV Jennings.
Other elements of the artwork
Artwork by Antony Symons of a horned cow located on the collonaded surroundings of the Governor Hunter statue (2022, I Willis)
Artwork by Antony Symons of the Cowpastures on the colonnade surrounding the statue of Governor Hunter. The artwork comprises a settlers slab hut, Cumberland Woodland, and a farmer’s cart. The cart carries the artist’s signature. (2022 I Willis)Artist Antony Symons’s signature is located at the bottom of the cart on the colonnade fencing. (I Willis, 2022)
A regal-looking Governor Hunter in full naval uniform. Hunter held the rank of Vice-Admiral of the Royal Navy and succeeded Arthur Phillip as the second Governor of New South Wales, serving from 1795 to 1800. The artwork was commissioned by land developer AV Jennings who engaged Lithgow sculptor Antony Symons. (I Willis, 2022)
Updated on 21 May 2023. Originally posted on 13 June 2022 as ‘Cowpastures memorial at Mount Annan’
In 1963 the Sir John Sulman Medal was awarded to Sydney architect Philip Cox and Ian McKay for their Presbyterian St Andrews Boys Home design at Leppington.
The boys’ home was closed in the mid-1980s and demolished around 2015 to make way for a housing estate.
The story of the home is commemorated in a local park using public art, including statues and sculptures supported by information boards. The commemoration site is called Bell Tower Park, located at 100 Emerald Hills Boulevard, Leppington.
The buildings were designed by Philip Cox and Ian McKay and they were the recipient of the Sir John Sulman Medal for Architectural Excellence in 1963. (Information board)
The Bell Tower Park storyboard has images of the St Andrews Boys Home designed by Philip Cox in 1963. (I Willis, 2021)
The significance of the St Andrew’s Boys Home buildings was best summarised by Archaeological and Heritage Management Solutions (AHMS) in a 2013 heritage study. The report stated:
“The former St Andrew’s Home for Boys is a significant example of the Sydney School architectural style of the mid twentieth century, which was an influential style in its era and was practised by notable Australian architects. The former St Andrew’s Home for Boys was awarded the Sulman Medal (in 1963), the highest award for architecture available in NSW.
Sydney architect Philip Cox
Sydney architect Philip Cox designed the home complex with Ian McKay in 1962. Cox is a renowned architect, and St Andrews Boys Home was his first project. Author Tom Holland writes that this project was one of several Cox’s projects.
“The career of Philip Cox spans an era that was the making of modern Australia,” writes Bingham-Hall.
“As the 1960s progressed Australia did wake up, slowly and cautiously, in what might be described as a very Australian way, without recrimination and rancour, without fervour or foment, and without any overt display of neediness or self-reflection,” he adds.
“This survey of the work of Philip Cox treats the post-1950s emergence of modern Australia as its framework, as its posts and beams, and for this most public of architects, it is obliged to demonstrate how his work reflects that narrative, an insofar as it is possible for architecture, the extent to which it symbolised the nature of a national awakening.” (Holland 2020)
Bell Tower Park has three playful bronze sculptures of boys reminiscent of the young boys accommodated at St Andrew’s Boys Home. There are also several bronze sculptures of boys in the garden area of Emerald Hills Shopping Centre. (I Willis 2021)
“St. Andrews Boys Home was designed as a country retreat for adolescent boys committed to institutions for juvenile offenders. It was built on pastoral land at Leppington to the South of Sydney, and provides accommodation for a small number of boys in residential dormitories.
The plan of the Home is based on a linear pedestrian spine, linking all the buildings together with a colonade [sic]. Through this extendable quality further expansion is easily accommodated. Each occupant is allocated some personal space in the form of sleeping alcoves grouped together around small courtyards.
The original homestead, “Emerald Hill”, has been retained and restored as the Warden’s residence. The additive quality of the new buildings complement the existing buildings and recall the traditional outbuildings of vernacular settlements. Construction detailing is derived from local vernacular techniques. The building structure is post-and-beam, with exposed roff [sic] trusses and intill panels of brickwork. Rough sawn timber roof trusses and expressed jointing details are drawn from the simple bams [sic] and woolstores of the surrounding countryside. (McMahon 2013)
Former entry to Emerald Hills Farm operated on the former St Andrews Boys Home site before the farm site was developed for housing. (I Willis 2016)
St Andrews Presbyterian Agricultural College Boys Home, Hume Highway, Leppington
At the top of the hill in the suburb of Emerald Hills in Leppington, NSW, is a small park called the Bell Tower Park, with three bronze statues of small boys.
The park commemorates the memory of the St Andrews Boy Home, which closed in 1986, and is now the site of the Emerald Hills housing estate.
The park opened in late 2019 and is a memorial to the memories of the boys who stayed at home.
In an adjacent space is a sculpture representing a bell tower that once existed on the site.
The park storyboards outline the history of the boys’ home with accompanying images of the buildings.
The storyboard in the park states:
Belltower Park and the structures and statues in it celebrate and commemorate the presence of the St Andrews Home for Boys that used to be located on this hilltop.
The Home was established by the Presbyterian Church (now Uniting Church) in 1961 and it closed in 1986. The buildings were designed by Philip Cox and Ian McKay and they were the recipient of the Sir John Sulman Medal for Architectural Excellence in 1963. The Home originally came with a bell tower, from which this Park is named.
More detail on the Home can be found in the Archival Record of the property by Macarthur Developments and lodged with Camden Council.
The St Andrew’s Home for Boys was initially operated by the Presbyterian Church at Manly, NSW. The home was transferred to a 400-acre farm property at Leppington, on the Hume Highway south of Liverpool.
In 1961 the Presbyterian Church commissioned a newly graduated architect from the University of Sydney to design the new boys’ home on the Emerald Hills property at Leppington. The architect was Philip Cox, who collaborated with Ian McKay and set up the firm Philip Cox and Associates in North Sydney. The home was their first commission, and for their efforts, they won the Sir John Sulman Medal for Architectural Excellence in 1963. (McMahon, 2013)
The Leppington home catered for twenty boys aged ten to fifteen years. Residents were generally referred following an appearance before the Children’s Court on a care and protection application or regarding some offence.
Bell Tower Park has a replica bell tower designed by Place Design Group and completed in 2018. The designers note on their website that the tower has a Spiel-Bau Bell Tower play unit. (I Willis 2021)
The boys were admitted to the home following an assessment by a professional social worker. A feature of the program was its strong community links, with residents attending local schools and participating in community activities. Following the inauguration of the Uniting Church in Australia in 1977, the home came under the auspice of the Uniting Church. And together with Burnside Homes, the institution was administered under the Burnside program. (Thinee and Bradford (1998) Online 2007)
The St Andrews complex was controlled by the Burnside Presbyterian Homes for Children (1955), formerly the Burnside Presbyterian Orphan Homes, which first appeared in 1912.
McMahon, S. (2013). PHOTOGRAPHIC ARCHIVAL RECORD, St Andrews Boys Home (Burnside) Leppington, 1050 Camden Valley Way Leppington, Lot A DP 420395. Sydney NSW, Inspire Urban Design & Planning Ply Ltd.
Thinee, K. and T. Bradford ((1998) Online 2007). Guide to Records, A guide to help people separated from their families search for their records. Sydney, NSW, New South Wales Department of Community Services
Updated 2 May 2023. Originally published 2 December 2021.
The first Cowpasture memorial in the Picton region
The Picton Village Square is the first dedicated memorial in the Picton region to the Cowpastures by local sculptor Joan Brown and local school children. (Council 2019)
The memorial has been placed inconspicuously at the front of the rotunda that is easy to miss as you walk to the shops in Argyle Street from the Davison Lane carpark.
The Cowpastures Memorial mural by Joan Brown and a number of school children located in the Picton Village Square (IW 2021)
Information plaque
The information plaque, with the wrong date, has an explanation of the Cowpastures story by the artist and reads:
Cowpastures Memorial
This mural commemorates the early history of our land and pristine waterways, from the Dreamtime beginnings, to the 1895 [sic] discovery of the escaped First Fleet wild cattle in this area. These cattle were later destroyed to make way for the pioneering of the district, the introduction of dairy and beef breeds that formed the basis of a wealthy agricultural industry. The spirit of our early setters lives on through the recording of visual history in this beautiful valley.
By Gifted/Talented History Students from Picton, Camden South, and Mawarra Schools.
M Armstrong, E Bristow, T Clipsham, H Eriksson, S Esposito, L Greco, M Gordon, L Harley, L Mulley, K Parker, P Reynolds, E Savage, C Wotton, N Young.
Bronze Sculptor Joan Brown 2012
Information plaque placed below the Cowpastures Memorial mural. Note: the date should be 1795. (IW 2021)
Terry O’Toole reports that after representations to Wollondilly Shire Council, the date error on the plaque above was corrected in February 2022. A new plaque has been placed in position, replacing the old one in the photograph above. (Terry O’Toole. Facebook Messenger, 7 March 2022)
A new plaque was installed in February 2022 by Wollondilly Shire Council after representations from Terry O’Toole (Terry O’Toole 2022)
Sculptor Joan Brown
Sculptor Joan Brown is a fifth-generation member of a ‘local pioneer family’ growing up on her family property of Abbotsford at Picton. She was surrounded by ‘grazing and dairying properties in the valleys of the Razorback Range’.
Joan is ‘passionate about the preservation of the ethos and heritage of the local area’ and has developed an understanding of the local landscape. She has used local landscapes, historic sites and heritage buildings as subjects of her artworks. (Brown 2021)
Joan was part of the community that initiated the Picton Bicentennial Village Square, where the mural is located, and the restoration of St Mark’s Church and Pioneer Cemetery. (Brown 2021)
Joan has an ongoing passion for the ‘preservation and heritage of the local area’, including the ‘unique heritage village’ of Picton. (Brown 2021)
The Cowpastures Memorial mural is located at the front of the rotunda, which is adjacent to Stonequarry Creek at the rear and Davison Lane carpark. Behind the rotunda is the St Mark’s Church cemetery. (I Willis, 2021)
Public art
The Picton Cowpastures Memorial is one part of the public art scene of the Macarthur region. Other public art installations across the area include:
the Camden Rotary Pioneer Mural created by mural artist WA Byram Mansell which depicts colonial New South Wales and the Cowpastures
3. The statues of local boys celebrating the St Andrews Boys Home at Leppington are located in the gardens at Emerald Hills Shopping Centre and Belltower Park in Emerald Hills Boulevarde.
11. The Cowpasture Cows, Harrington Park Lake, Harrington Park.
The Wedding Knot sculpture by Geoff Duggan at the Australian Botanic Gardens Mount Annan (I Willis 2021)
Public art is an essential part of 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 strengthening community identification to place. [It creates] a tangible sense of place and destination’.
The Cowpastures Memorial mural is a visual representation of the dreams and aspirations of its creator.
Principles of public art
Many local government areas have public art. In the Northern Beaches Council LGA, the aims of public art on their coast walks are:
The need for art to be sympathetic to the natural setting and context.
A need and opportunity for Aboriginal heritage to be better integrated along the Coast Walk.
Art was not always seen as physical and permanent with a desire for temporary and activation based experiences that enhanced the Coast Walk.
Views and vistas are important and they should be preserved or enhanced.
A desire for the Coast Walk to be an educational experience.
Supporting these aims are eight fundamental principles, and they are:
Respect and acknowledge Aboriginal cultural heritage
Celebrate and conserve significant natural and cultural values
Connect places and people along the coast
Foster artistic and cultural expression and encourage creative collaboration
Enrich places through high-quality art and design
Interpret the history and significance of the coast
Value artistic and cultural diversity and be inclusive
Create a distinctive and recognisable Northern Beaches Coast Walk identity.
The Picton Cowpastures Memorial is a metaphor for the settler society and represents the past. The artwork depicts four-horned cows of the Cowpastures Wild Cattle grazing on the steep country around the Razorback Range.
The depiction of the Wild Cattle on Dharawal country hints at the arrival of the colonial frontier in the Cowpastures, the fourth locality of European occupation in the New South Wales colony.(Willis 2018) The horned cattle represent the possession of territory by the Europeans and their settler-colonial project.
The landscape illustrated by the mural is devoid of vegetation, hinting at the environmental desolation caused by European occupation and the dispossession of the Dharawal people. The dead tree depicted in the mural landscape is a sad reminder of European exploitation of the natural resources of the Cowpastures and threats to Cumberland Plain Woodland and other ecological types across the Macarthur region.
The story the mural tells is full of meaning with many layers that can be peeled back to reveal many hidden corners in the narrative of the local area. The stark outline of a dead tree might be regarded as a metaphor for the frontier violence of the early colonial period and symbolic of the Appin Massacre, which took place in the Cowpastures in 1816. (Karskens 2015)
Artist Denese Oates from Australia has created this work called Xerophyte Forest. It is a work in steel presenting the vision of the future. It illustrates peculiar plants living with very little water. This work is a ‘fantastical interpretation of plant form expressed in corten steel, used for its richly rusted colour which links it to the landscape’. Denese studied at the Alexander Mackie CAE. (I Willis, 2018)
The exhibition is in a beautiful setting around the lakes at the front of the Campbelltown WSU campus. The aesthetics of the sculpture landscape provided by the exhibition is simply stunning.
The exhibition showcases major works by significant Australian and international artists who have created sculptures especially for the site.
Looking at the sculpture garden created by the exhibition from the main roadway provides a pleasant enough vista. Once out of your car and on your feet walking the ground, the vistas are marvellous.
The layout placement of the sculpture exhibition has been done with a creative flair that creates a landscape of the imagination. Simply it all works.
This work is called Environment IV and was created by artist Marcus Tatton. The work is ‘a space for reflection and play’. Marcus is described as a ‘public space sculptor who draws comment from where he lives’ in Tasmania. Tatton explores the interplay between natural and man-made environments. This work represents ‘the tendrils’ of ‘our journey through time’ or how man has manipulated the earth. (I Willis, 2018)
The site suits the exhibition. Its expansive space allows the sculptors to create an aesthetic that sets off their work.
Tour and walk guide Monica outlined the trials and tribulations of getting heavy equipment onto the site to set up the artwork was a feat in itself. To the viewers in our party, they were certainly impressed by it all.
Tour guide Monica said that the staff and students have started using the grounds around the lakes since the exhibition and sculpture park were created.
Public art and community well being
Public art positively affects the community and people’s self-esteem, self-confidence and well-being. An article in The Guardian examined the well-being effect of public art on communities and stated:
Alex Coulter, director of the arts advocacy organisation Arts & Health South West believes that: “Particularly when you look at smaller communities or communities within larger cities, [public art] can have a very powerful impact on people’s sense of identity and locality.
Apparently, the participatory side of getting community involvement brings out the positive effects on people.
This is a 2012 work by sculptor Neil Laredo called Fence. Old railway sleepers are used to create an impressive work of art. This is part of the permanent collection of the Western Sydney University Campbelltown Campus. The work was donated to the WSU Art Collection via the Cultural Gift Program in 2012. (I Willis, 2018)
Maybe it is the walking around the picturesque landscape the WSU grounds staff and gardeners provided. Maybe it is the landscape gardening and native vegetation set off by the water features. Maybe it is the quiet and solitude of a busy Campbelltown.
Whatever it is in the sculpture garden, whether provided by the permanent WSU sculpture collection or the exhibition works, the site has a positive serenity that is hard to escape. It certainly attracts the staff and students.
This is a piece by artist Michael Purdy called Gimme Shelter. The work uses radiata pine, wire, sandstone and found objects. This is a powerful work set by its location isolated at the lake’s edge. The sculpture ‘explores the individual’s loss of identity once they become part of the “refugee problem”. Purdy is a landscape architect who uses Sydney sandstone around the city. (I Willis, 2018)
The Eighth Western Sydney University Sculpture Award and Exhibition runs from 4 May to 3 June 2018 at the Campbelltown Campus.
The landscape of lakes at the Campbelltown campus of Western Sydney University is an inspiring setting for this learned institution.. This is the setting for the annual sculpture exhibition mounted by the university and the three prizes awarded each year. The campus provides a picturesque setting for the sculpture park in and around the lakes. (I Willis, 2018)
Updated on 16 May 2023. Originally posted on 28 May 2018 as ‘Sculptures by the Lakes’
![Campbelltown WSU Sculptures 2018[7]](https://camdenhistorynotes.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/campbelltown-wsu-sculptures-20187.jpg)
![Campbelltown WSU Sculptures 2018[4]](https://camdenhistorynotes.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/campbelltown-wsu-sculptures-20184.jpg)
![Campbelltown WSU Sculptures 2018[3]](https://camdenhistorynotes.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/campbelltown-wsu-sculptures-20183.jpg)
![Campbelltown WSU Sculptures 2018[2]](https://camdenhistorynotes.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/campbelltown-wsu-sculptures-20182.jpg)
![Campbelltown WSU Sculptures & Grounds 2018[2]](https://camdenhistorynotes.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/campbelltown-wsu-sculptures-grounds-20182.jpg)
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