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.
When you enter the administration building of Camden Council at Oran Park, you pass an exciting sculpture along a wall adjacent to the entry.
The art installation extends from the entry to the end of the building. It is called The Tree of Life by sculptors Gillie and Marc celebrating the Camden White Gum.
The Tree of Life art installation by sculptures Gillie and Marc was commissioned by Camden Council for the opening of the administration building in 2016 (I Willis, 2023)
The artwork dimensions are described as ‘lifesize’, and the medium is corten steel. Corten or weathered steel is used in outdoor construction and artwork. The steel is designed to eliminate painting and will develop a rusted appearance if left exposed to the elements.
This image shows the situation of the art installation ‘The Tree of Life’ adjacent to the entry of the Camden Council office building. (I Willis, 2023)
Gillie and Marc describe the style of the artwork as contemporary sculpture, silhouette and botanical.
The information plaque tells the story of The Tree of Life adjacent to the art installation on the Camden Council administration building. (I Willis 2023)
The Tree of Life information plaque states:
The Tree of Life is to bring nature into the urban space and raise awareness about the Camden Whilte Gum that symbolises growth and vitality. It represents the passing of time and marking of the landscape. The tree’s branches mirror the branching out and emergence of the diverse social and cultural communities both of the past and present. The Camden White Gum (Eucalyptus benthamii) known as the Nepean River Gum is a threatened native tree, occurring along the Nepean River and its tributaries in Camden.
Camden Council administration building, 70 Central Ave, Oran Park.
The Camden White Gum is an endangered species and can be found along the Nepean River in the Camden area, Bents Basin, and the Kedumba Valley in the Blue Mountains.
The Camden White Gum, Eucalyptus benthamii, along the Nepean River. (Wikimedia, 2005)
The Gillie and Marc website describes the art installation, The Tree of Life, on the Camden Council office building this way:
A combination of steel and nature, trees and architecture. This is the relief for the Camden Council. Proudly displayed on the outside of their headquarters, this relief shows how a community can stay strong. There is a need for steel and strength, building infrastructure that will stand the test of time and keep people safe. But it is also important to not forget the natural world, combining the man-made with the organic qualities of the earth to keep us happy and healthy. Only then can we thrive.
British and Australian artists, Gillie and Marc have been called “the most successful and prolific creators of public art in New York’s History” by the New York Times. Creating some of the world’s most innovative public sculptures, Gillie and Marc are redefining what public art should be, spreading messages of love, equality, and conservation around the world. Their highly coveted sculptures and paintings can be seen in art galleries and public sites in over 250 cities. They’re Archibald Prize Finalists and have won the Chianciano Biennale in Italy, together with winning 2 years in a row People’s Choice Award in Sydney’s Sculpture by the Sea, among many other notable awards and accolades.
Gillie and Marc are based in both Sydney and London, sharing their time between their two countries of birth.
The artwork was commissioned by Camden Council for the opening of the new administration building in 2016 at 70 Central Avenue, Oran Park.
The plaque commemorating the opening of the Camden Council administration building in 2016 (I Willis 2023)
The plaque at the opening of the council administration building in 2016 with members of the official party Chris Patterson MLA, Mayor Lara Symkowiak, Minister Paul O’Toole MLA, Tony Perich (2016 A McIntosh)
This image shows the Camden Council administration building (right) adjacent to the library. The artwork ‘The Tree of Life’ is on the RHS of entry at the centre of the office building at the end of the walkway. (I Willis, 2023)
The Tree of Life sculpture complements the art installations in the council library building commissioned by the council. The library building was opened at the same time as the administration building in 2016.
Updated on 18 July 2023. Originally posted on 17 July 2023 as ‘Public art at Camden Council Administration Offices’.
The Oran Park Library has several public artworks that commemorate the former Oran Park motorway on the site. These extraordinary public art installations celebrate the memories of the Oran Park Raceway, which closed in 2010.
Oran Park Library 2019 at night (I Willis)
The commissioning of the artworks was a collaboration between Guppy Art Management & Camden Council.
The Artworks
Moto Caelifera Eclectica by James Corbett
James Corbett describes himself as a car part sculptor and is based in Brisbane, Queensland.
James Corbett created these works in 2018, and he describes this installation as a ‘challenging commission’ on his blog. He writes:
to create two large racing grasshoppers in double quick time for the new Oran Park library near Camden in western Sydney. This used to be a rural area, but was known to me since I was a child for just one reason. It had a car racing track. All the big names raced there, and I used to rabidly read all about their exploits in my eagerly awaited, latest copy of ‘Racing Car News.’ I couldn’t get enough of that stuff when I was twelve years old.
The track is gone and the pastures are disappearing under houses, but there are still just enough paddocks of dry yellow grass about to give a feel for the history of the district. I wanted to pay tribute to both, that soon to be gone rural feel, and the rich racing history. Those dry grassy areas make me think of grasshoppers, flies, locusts and Hereford cattle. And Insects seem sort of mechanical, and built for a purpose. Form following function, like racing cars. Well the ones I like anyway.
Corbett created two works as part of the installation. He calls one ‘The Green Kawasaki Grasshopper’ and it is attached to the wall. In constructing the works, he writes:
The Formula cars of the era had riveted aluminium sheet chassis, and I wanted to reflect that. Hence the riveted abdomens. I wanted them to look like they could work like machines. I cut up a yellow Hyundai and found a green I liked on a Daihatsu. When I found a Kawasaki engine for the green one, it had to be given the late Greg Handsford’s race number 2.
‘The Green Kawasaki Grasshopper’ by James Corbett 2018 (I Willis, 2022)
The second hanging artwork Corbett calls ‘Beechy Grasshopper’ and it has a 4.8-metre wingspan with wings made of ‘glass car windows’. More information about the installation can be found on Corbett’s website.
‘Beechy Grasshopper’ by James Corbett 2018 (I Willis, 2022)
Tracks by Danielle Mate Sullivan 2018 (I Willis, 2022)
Mr Rev Head The Local by Freya Jobbins
Freya Jobbins is a Sydney-based contemporary Australian multidisciplinary artist whose art practice includes assemblage, installation, video, collage and printmaking.
‘Mr Rev Head the local’ by Freya Jobbins 2018 (I Willis 2022)
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Information Label for ‘Mr Rev Head the local’. (I Willis, 2018)
Speedster by Justin Sayarath
Sydney-based artist Justin Sayarath has several installations around the metropolitan area where he ‘combines both his technical skill of visual arts and graphic design to create and collaborate in the public and commercial domains’.
‘Speedster’ by Justin Sayarath 2018 (I Willis 2018)
The official opening in 2018
The mingling crowd at the opening of the Oran Park Library on 30 June 2018 with the grasshopper on the wall above the visitors. (I Willis, 2018)
Updated on 2 May 2023. Originally posted 5 September 2022.
On a recent evening in Camden, there was the launch of a new exhibition at the Alan Baker Art Gallery in the heritage-listed building Macaria in John Street.
The exhibition, FACE to FACE: Live Sittings 1936 – 1972, celebrates Alan Baker’s achievement of entering the Archibald Prize 26 times with 35 artworks between 1936 and 1972. Despite his persistence, he never won a prize.
The cover of the FACE to FACE Live Sittings 1936-1972 Exhibition programme at the Alan Baker Art Gallery held in Macaria, John Street, Camden. (ABAG)
The exhibition programme states that Alan Baker was studying at JS Watkins Art School alongside future Archibald winners Henry Hanke in 1934 with his Self Portrait, William Pidgeon, who won in 1958, 1961 and 1968, and his brother Normand Baker in 1937 with his Self Portrait.
The programme provides a timeline of Baker’s paintings with images that illustrate his works.
the exhibition will feature Baker’s first 1936 Archibald Prize entry painted at the age of 22, a self-portrait study painting by Normand Baker for his 1937 winning Archibald Prize entry, and Baker’s 1951 portrait of Australian Filmmaker Charles Chauvel (courtesy of the Royal Geographical Society of Queensland).
The feature wall in the entry of the Alan Baker Art Gallery in Macaria, John Street Camden for the FACE to FACE Live Sittings 1936 -1972. The image was taken on the opening night of the exhibition on 17 April 2021. (I Willis)
The Archibald
The Archibald Prize is one of the pre-eminent portraiture prizes in Australia, held yearly at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. First awarded in 1921, this prestigious art prize is a sought-after award by artists generating publicity and public exposure. Traditionally, portraitists were mostly restricted to public or private commissions.
The Art Gallery of NSW states that:
The Archibald Prize is awarded annually to the best portrait, ‘preferentially of some man or woman distinguished in art, letters, science or politics, painted by any artist resident in Australasia’.
The Archibald has never been far from controversy, and turning points were William Dobell’s prize-winning portrait of fellow artist Joshua Smith in 1943 and, in 1976, Brett Whiteley’s winning painting Self portrait in the studio.
Macaria, the gallery building
The Alan Baker Gallery website outlines a short history of the Macaria building.
An exterior view of Macaria shows the Gothic influence in the roof line and window detail. The verandah was an addition to this style of building in the Australian colonies. (I Willis, 2018)
The website states:
Macaria was originally built in 1859-1860 as a school house by Henry Thompson, the building has since been used for many things; including a private home; the Camden Grammar School; the residence and rooms of doctors and dentists including popular local physician Dr Francis West. In 1965 Macaria was purchased by Camden Council and used as Camden Library and later, offices for the Mayor, Town Clark and staff.
Macaria is a fine example of an early Victorian Gentleman’s Townhouse. Designed and built in the PicturesqueGothic, Renaissance Revival style, Macaria features gabled windows, high chimneys, stone trims and a wooden porch. Sympathetically renovated and restored in 2017, the historical features including the oregon timber flooring, Australian cedar architraves and mahogany skirting boards have been retained.
Macaria is a substantial Victorian gentleman’s townhouse and residence from the mid-Victorian period that was influenced by the Picturesque movement and Gothic styling. The building is now the home of the Alan Baker Art Gallery. (I Willis, 2017)
Updated 20 October 2023. Originally posted on 18 April 2021 as ‘a new exhibition at Alan Baker Art Gallery’.
Moviemakers have always had an eye on the Camden district’s large country houses, rustic farm buildings, quaint villages and picturesque countryside for film locations.
From the 1920s the area has been used by a series of filmmakers as a setting for their movies. It coincided was an increasing interest in the area’s Englishness from poets, journalists and travel writers. They wrote stories of quaint English style villages with a church on the hill, charming gentry estates down hedge-lined lanes, where the patriarch kept contented cows in ordered fields and virile stallions in magnificent stables. This did not go unnoticed in the film industry.
One of the first was the 1921 silent film Silks and Saddles shot at Arthur Macarthur Onslow’s Macquarie Grove by American director John K Wells about the world of horse racing. The film was set on the race track on Macquarie Grove. The script called for a race between and aeroplane and racehorse. The movie showed a host good looking racing blood-stock. There was much excitement, according to Annette Onslow, when an aeroplane piloted by Edgar Percival his Avro landed on the race course used in the film and flew the heroine to Randwick to win the day. Arthur’s son Edward swung a flight in Percival’s plane and was hooked on flying for life, and later developed Camden Airfield at Macquarie Grove.
Camden film locations were sought in 1931 for director Ken G Hall’s 1932 Dad and Dave film On Our Selection based on the characters and writings of Steele Rudd. It stars Bert Bailey as Dan Rudd and was released in the UK as Down on the Farm. It was one the most popular Australian movies of all time but it was eventually shot at Castlereagh near Penrith. The movie is based on Dan’s selection in south-west Queensland and is about a murder mystery. Ken G Hall notes that of the 18 feature films he made between 1932 and 1946 his film company used the Camden area and the Nepean River valley and its beauty for location shooting. The films included On Our Selection (1936), Squatter’s Daughter (1933), Grandad Rudd (1934), Thoroughbred (1935), Orphan of the Wilderness (1936), It Isn’t Done (1936), Broken Melody (1938), Dad and Dave Come to Town (1938), Mr Chedworth Steps Out (1938), Gone to the Dogs (1939), Come Up Smiling (1939), Dad Rudd MP (1940), and Smith, The Story of Sir Charles Kingsford Smith (1946).
Camden Airfield 1930s Camden Images
The Camden district was the location of two wartime action movies, The Power and The Glory (1941) and The Rats of Tobruk (1944). The Rats of Tobruk was directed by Charles Chauvel and starred actors Chips Rafferty, Peter Finch and Pauline Garrick. The story is about three men from a variety of backgrounds who become mates during the siege at Tobruk during the Second World War. The movie was run at Camden’s Paramount movie palace in February 1945. The location for parts of the movie were the bare paddocks of Narellan Vale and Currans Hill where they were turned into a battleground to recreated the setting at Tobruk in November 1943. There were concerns at the time that the exploding ammunitions used in the movie would disturb the cows. Soldiers were supplied from the Narellan Military Camp and tanks were modified to make them look like German panzers and RAAF Camden supplied six Vultee Vengeance aircraft from Camden Airfield which was painted up to look like German Stuka bombers. The film location was later used for the Gayline Drive-In. Charles Chauvel’s daughter Susanne Carlsson who was 13 years old at the time reported that it was a ‘dramatic and interesting time’.
The second wartime movie was director Noel Monkman’s The Power and The Glory starring Peter Finch and Katrin Rosselle. The movie was made at RAAF Camden with the co-operation of the RAAF. It is a spy drama about a Czech scientist who discovers a new poison-gas and escapes to Australia rather than divulges the secret to the Nazis. Part of the plot was enemy infiltration of the coast near Bulli where an enemy aircraft was sighted and 5 Avro-Anson aircraft were directed to seek and bombed the submarine. The Wirraway aircraft from the RAAF Central Flying School acted as fighters and it was reported that the pilots were ‘good looking’ airmen from the base mess. There was a private screening at Camden’s Paramount movie theatre for the RAAF Central Flying School personnel.
Camden Park was used as a set for the internationally series of Smiley films, Smiley made in 1956 and in 1958 Smiley Gets a Gun in cinemascope. The story is about a nine-year-old boy who is a bit of rascal who grows up in a country town. They were based on books by Australian author Moore Raymond and filmed by Twentieth Century Fox and London Films. Raymond set his stories in a Queensland country town in the early 20th century and there are horse and buggies and motor cars. The town settings were constructed from scratch and shot at Camden Park, under the management of Edward Macarthur Onslow. The movies stars included Australian Chips Rafferty and English actors John McCallum and Ralph Richardson. Many old-time locals have fond memories of being extras in the movies. Smiley was released in the United Kingdom and the United States.
In 1999 Camden airfield was used as a set for the television documentary The Last Plane Out of Berlin which was the story of Sidney Cotton. Actor Geoff Morrell played the role of Cotton, who went to England in 1916 and became a pilot and served with the Royal Naval Air Service during the First World War. He is regarded as the ‘father of aerial photography’ and in 1939 was requested to make flights over Nazi Germany in 1939. Camden Airfield was ‘perfect location’ according to producer Jeff Watson because of its ‘historic’ 1930s atmosphere.
In 2009 scenes from X-Men Origins: Wolverine was filmed at Camden and near Brownlow Hill.
In 2010 filmmaker Sandra Pyres of Why Documentaries produced several short films in association for the With The Best of Intentions exhibition at The Oaks Historical Society. The films were a montage of contemporary photographs, archival footage and re-enactments by drama students of the stories of child migrants. The only voices were those of the child migrants and there were many tears spilt as the films were screened at the launch of the exhibition.
In 2011 scenes from director Wayne Blair’s Vietnam wartime true story of The Sapphires were filmed at Brownlow Hill starring Deborah Mailman, Jessica Mauboy and Chris O’Dowd. This is the true story of four young Aboriginal sisters who are discovered by a talent scout who organises a tour of American bases in Vietnam. On Brownlow Hill, a large stage was placed in the middle of cow paddock and draped with a sign that read ‘USC Show Committee presents the Sapphires’ and filming began around midnight. The cows were herded out of sight and the crew had to be careful that they did not stand of any cowpats. Apparently, Sudanese refugees played the role of African American servicemen of the 19th Infantry Division.
Camelot House early 1900s Camden Images
The romantic house of Camelot with its turrets, chimney stacks and gables, was built by racing identity James White and designed by Horbury Hunt was the scene of activity in 2006 and 2007 for the filming of scenes of Baz Luhrman’s Australia, starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman. The location shots were interior and exterior scenes which involved horse riding by Kidman and Jackman. The film is about an aristocratic woman who leaves England and follows her husband to Australia during the 1930s, and live through the Darwin bombing by the Japanese in the Second World War.
Camelot was a hive activity for the filming of the 1950s romantic television drama A Place to Call Home produced by Channel 7 in 2012. Set in rural Australia it is the story of a woman’s journey ‘to heal her soul’ and of a wealthy family facing changes in the fictional country town of Inverness in the Bligh family estate of Ash Park. Starring Marta Dusseldorp as the mysterious Sarah and Noni Hazlehurst as the family matriarch Elizabeth, who has several powerful independently wealthy women who paralleled her role in Camden in time past on their gentry estates. The sweeping melodrama about hope and loss is set against the social changes in the 1950s and has close parallels to 1950s Camden. The ‘sumptuous’ 13 part drama series screened on television in 2013 and according to its creator Bevin Lee had a ‘large-scale narrative’ that had a ‘feature-film feel’. He maintained that is was ‘rural gothic’, set in a big house that had comparisons with British television drama Downton Abbey.
The 55-room fairytale-like mansion and its formal gardens were a ‘captivating’ setting for A Place to Call Home, according to the Property Observer in 2013. Its initial screening was watched by 1.7 million viewers in April 2013. The show used a host of local spots for film sets and one of the favourite points of conversation ‘around the water-cooler’ for locals was the game ‘pick-the-place’. By mid-2014 Channel 7 had decided to axe the series at the end of the second series. There was a strong local reaction and a petition was circulating which attracted 6000 signatures to keep the show on the air. In the end, Foxtel television produced a third series with the original caste which screened in 2015.
Camden airfield was in action again and used as a set for the Australian version of the British motoring television show Top Gear Australian in 2010. Part of the show is power laps in a ‘Bog Standard Car’ were recorded on parts of the runways and taxiways used as a test track.
Camden Showground became the set for Angelina Jolie’s Second World War drama Unbroken in 2013. The main character Louis Zamperini, a former Olympic runner, and Onslow Park were used as part of the story of his early life as a member of Torrance High School track team. The movie is about Zamperini’s story of survival after his plane was shot down during the Pacific campaign. The filming caused much excitement in the area and the local press gave the story extensive coverage, with the showground was chosen for its historic atmosphere. Camden mayor Lara Symkowiak hoped that the movie would boost local tourism and the council was supportive of the area being used as a film set. The council had appointed a film contact officer to encourage greater use of the area for film locations.
Edwina Macarthur Stanham writes that Camden Park has been the filming location for several movies, advertisements and fashion shoots since the 1950s. They have included Smiley (1956), Smiley Gets a Gun (1958), Shadow of the Boomerang (1960) starring Jimmy Little, My Brilliant Career (1978) was filmed in Camden Park and its garden and surrounds, and The Empty Beach (1985) starring Bryan Brown, House Taken Over (1997) a short film was written and directed by Liz Hughes which used lots of scenes in the house. In the 21st century, there has been Preservation (2003) described a gothic horror movie starring Jacqueline Mackenzie, Jack Finsterer and Simon Bourke which used a lot of the scenes filmed in the house.
In 2005 Danny De Vito visited Camden Park scouting for a location for a movie based on the book “The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle”. In Sleeping Beauty (2010) an Australian funded film was shot at Camden Park and the short film La Finca (2012). In September 2014 Camden Park was used as a location in the film called “The Daughter” starring Geoffrey Rush. Extensive filming took place over 3 weeks and members of the family and friends and Camden locals played the role of extras.
In September 2014 Camden Park was used as a location in the film called “The Daughter” starring Geoffrey Rush. Extensive filming took place over 3 weeks and members of the family and friends and Camden locals played the role of extras.
The Daughter Movie Set Camden Park 2014 E Stanham
In 2015 the Camden Historical Society and filmmaker Wen Denaro have combined forces to telling the story of the Chinese market gardeners who settled in Camden in the early twentieth century. The project will produce a short documentary about the Chinese market gardeners who established vegetable gardens along the river in Camden and who supplied fresh product to the Macarthur and Sydney markets.
In 2015 an episode of the Network Ten TV show of The Bachelor Australia was filmed at Camden Park in August 2015. They showed scenes of the Bachelor Sam Wood taking one of the bachelorette Sarah on a romantic date to the colonial mansion Camden Park. There were scenes of the pair in a two-in-hand horse-drawn white carriage going up and down the driveway to the Camden Park cemetery on the hill overlooking the town. There were scenes in the soft afternoon sunlight of the couple having a romantic high-tea on the verandah of Camden Park house with champagne and scones and cupcakes. In the evening there were floodlit images of the front of Camden Park house from the front lawn then scenes of the couple in the sitting room sitting of the leather sofa sharing wine, cheese and biscuits in front on an open fire and candles. Sarah is gobsmacked with the house, its setting and is ‘amazed’ by the house’s colonial interior.
In 2018 a children’s film Peter Rabbit was been filmed in the Camden district. The movie is based on Beatrix Potter’s famous book series and her iconic characters. The special effects company Animal Logic spent two days on the shoot in Camden in January 2017. The first scene features the kidnap of the rabbit hero in a sack, throwing them off a bridge and into the river. For this scene, the Macquarie Grove Bridge over the Nepean River was used for the bridge in the movie. According to a spokesman, the reason the Camden area was used was that it fitted the needed criteria. The movie producers were looking for a location that screamed of its Englishness. Camden does that and a lot more dating back to the 1820s. The movie is set in modern-day Windermere in the English Lakes District. The location did not have to have too many gum trees or other recognisable Australian plants. John and Elizabeth Macarthur would be proud of their legacy – African Olives and other goodies. Conveniently the airport also provided the location for a stunt scene which uses a bi-plane. The role of the animators is to make Australia look like England.
In August 2018 the colonial Cowpastures homestead of Denbigh at Cobbitty was the set for popular Australian drama series Doctor Doctor. The series is about the Knight family farm and the show star is Roger Corser who plays doctor Hugh Knight. He said, ‘
The homestead is a real star of the show. The front yard, the dam and barn brewery on the property are major sets – I don’t know what we would do without them.
The show follows the high-flying heart surgeon and is up to season three. Filming lasted three months and the cast checked out the possibilities of the Camden town centre. Actor Ryan Johnson said that Denbigh ‘made the show’.
Denbigh homestead was originally built by Charles Hook in 1818 and extended by Thomas and Samuel Hassell in the 1820s.
Denbigh Homestead Open Day 2015 has been used as a film set in 2018 for the TV series Doctor Doctor (I Willis)
In late 2018 the TV series Home and Away has been using the haunted house at Narellan known as Studley Park as a set for the program. The storyline followed three young characters going into the haunted house and staying overnight. They go into a tunnel and a young female becomes trapped. Tension rises and the local knock-about character comes to their rescue and he is a hero. The use of the set by the TV series producers was noted by Macarthur locals on Facebook.
Spooky Studley Park House is claimed to be one of the most haunted locations in the Macarthur region. The TV series Home & Away on 3 & 4 October 2018 certainly added to those stories by using the house as a set location. (CN Advert)
Studley Park has recently been written up in the Camden-Narellan Advertiser (4 August 2017) as one of the eight most haunted places in the Macarthur region. Journalist Ashleigh Tullis writes;
Studley Park House, Camden
This impressive house was originally built by grazier William Payne in 1889. The death of two children has earned the house its haunted reputation.
In 1909, 14-year-old Ray Blackstone drowned in a dam near the residence. His body is believed to have been kept at the house until it was buried.
The son of acclaimed business man Arthur Adolphus Gregory died at the house in 1939 from appendicitis. His body was kept in the theatrette.
Denbigh Homestead Open Day 2015 IWillis
In 2019 movie-making in the area continues with the 4th series of Doctor Doctor. Wikipedia states of the plotline:
Doctor Doctor (also known outside of Australasia as The Heart Guy[1]) is an Australian television drama that premiered on the Nine Network on 14 September 2016.[2] It follows the story of Hugh Knight, a rising heart surgeon who is gifted, charming and infallible. He is a hedonist who, due to his sheer talent, believes he can live outside the rules.
Camden was used as one location along with the historic colonial property of Denbigh. Mediaweek stated in 2016 (Sept 9):
The regional setting for the series has proven to be a benefit for narrative and practical production reasons. While all of the hospital scenes were filmed in a hospital in the Sydney inner-city suburb of Rozelle, exterior shooting took place in Mudgee, with filming of Knight’s home was shot in Camden. In addition to $100,000 worth of support from the Regional Filming Fund, the regional setting delivers a unique authenticity to the series that it would otherwise lack.
Sometimes the local area is used a set for an advertising campaign by a fashion label or some other business. The owners of Camden Park House posted on Facebook in August 2019 that the house and garden were used as a set by the Country Road fashion brand.
Country Road fashion shoot at Camden Park House. Have a peek at Camden Park House at the Country Road page and visit us on 21/22 Sept on our annual Open Weekend. (Camden Park House)
While no specific details about plotlines or particular actors were given away, the spokesman said the production was filming on August 7 at the Narellan Jets Football Club and Grounds, Narellan Sports Hub.
In 2020 the movie release of Peter Rabbit 2 highlights part of our local area. Press reports state that the production team were impressed with the local area for Peter Rabbit and they came back for the sequel. Visual effects supervisor Will Reichelt said that the Macarthur region resembled an ‘English country vista’.
Onset: Domnhall Gleeson and Rose Byrne (picture here filming a different scene) were on set in Brownlow Hill for the production of Peter Rabbit 2. Picture: Sony Pictures Australia/Wollondilly Advertiser 2020Mar13
The show is an immersive experience for participants and observers alike in the real smells, sounds and sights of a sample of the farm in rural Australia.
The 2019 Camden Show provided an immersive experience for participants and observers alike in a host of farming activities. The authentic sights, sounds and smells of the show ring and surrounds enlightened and entertained in a feast for the senses. (I Willis, 2019)
The show represents the authentic real life of country people. It is a performance bringing history to life by storytelling through a host of demonstrations, events and displays.
The show is historical representation of the past in the present illustrating a host of aspects of rural heritage through experiential learning.
Living history reveals layers from the past
The show reveals itself in a multi-layered story of continuity and change on the edge of the Camden township. What was once a small isolated rural village at the Nepean River crossing and is now a thriving Sydney suburb on the city’s metropolitan fringe.
Competitive sections of the show have come and gone with changes in the farming economy. Livestock, produce, craft and cooking sections each tell a story of different aspect of rural life. What was once an integral part of the rural economy is now a craft activity and completely new sections have appeared over the decades.
Camden resident and artist Sandra D entered her creation in the Bush Cuppa Tray competition and won first prize. Her entry provided a feast for the sense with scones, cup of tea, a copy of the Bulletin magazine, a story of painting ‘en plein air’ in the 1890s, gum leaves. All this activity taking place on 21 December 1889 at Montrose in Victoria. (I Willis, 2019)
Where once rural artisans were part of the local economy their activities are now demonstrations of heritage and lost trades. Show patrons once used to arrive in a horse and cart today’s show-goers watch competitive driving of horse and sulkies in the show ring.
This excited first timer won second place for a group of zucchinis in the produce section of the 2019 Camden Show. Marilyn Judith W grew her entry on her plot at the Camden Community Garden where a number of other gardeners also entered their produce. Marilyn had an immersive experience at the show and volunteered her time at the community garden stall giving away seedlings to adults and children alike. (I Willis, 2019)
Sideshows and carnies continue show traditions that have their origins in English village fairs and carnivals of the past and even a hint of the Roman Empire and their circuses.
The success of the show illustrates a yearning by those attending to experience and understand elements of the traditions of a rural festival in the face of urban growth and development.
History
The Camden Show is a rural festival that is part of the modern show movement that emerged from the Industrial Revolution. The first series of agricultural shows in the early 19th century demonstrated modern British farming methods and technology.
The first agricultural shows in New South Wales were in the early 19th century and the first Camden Show in 1886. The 19th century agricultural show movement set out to demonstrate the latest in British Empire know-how and innovation in farming.
The site of the show on the Nepean River floodplain is one of the first points of contact between European and Indigenous people and the cows that escaped from the Sydney settlement in 1788 former the Cowpasture Reserve in 1795. For living history it is material culture which grounds the audience in time and place.
All good farmers had a reliable truck to cart stock and hay to the market from the farm and to take trips into town. This one dates from the mid-20th century at Bringelly NSW on display at the Camden Show with a friendly passenger. (I Willis, 2019)
The local church is a centre of placemaking in most communities and has a special significance in building community identity and supporting an emotional attachment to place.
St Pauls Anglican Church Bankstown, a ‘sacred place’, under threat
There is trouble brewing for the Sydney Anglican Diocese at Bankstown over the future of the site of St Paul’s Anglican Church.
This 2015 image shows St Paul’s Anglican Church, 459 Chapel Street, Bankstown. (Wikimedia)
A fuss has erupted recently around the proposed heritage listing of St Pauls’s Anglican Church at Bankstown that would potentially stop the redevelopment of the church site.
The church parishioners are concerned the site would be converted into a high-rise development.
The church rector claims that a heritage listing will result in the church’s eventual closure due to the maintenance costs.
Local activism led to the Save St Paul’s Bankstown group, which claims that the church is a ‘sacred place‘.
Protests by the Sove St Paul’s Bankstown group in May 2023 outside the church. (SSPB)
The Anglican Church acquired the site in 1914 and constructed a timber building. A brick church was built in 1938. The brick church building was designed by architect Norman Wellard McPherson and a rectory was added in 1945. McPherson also designed churches at Mosman, Narooma and Bathurst.
Quandray for church redevelopment
The redevelopment of church property raises ethical dilemmas. Asset-rich churches have tax-exempt status in Australia and profit-making developments, like those at Bankstown, raise serious questions of equity for the community, according to NSW upper house Greens MP Sue Higginson.
Local community buy their local church
Out at Carcoar, the local community stepped up to the mark and purchased their local church, St Paul’s Anglican Church, when it was put up for sale.
St Paul’s Anglican Church, Carcoar, NSW. (Wikimedia, 2011)
the diocese decided to sell the site [of St Pauls Anglican Church] to pay the bills for the sins of the fathers following the Royal Commission investigation that uncovered crimes by the clergy on young children.
So to save the church, the community raised $450,000 to buy the church.
Camden’s St Johns Church
In Camden, non-churchgoers have resisted the sale by the Anglican Church of a horse paddock between St John’s Anglican Church and the former Rectory, all part of the St John’s Church precinct.
Community angst has been expressed at public meetings, protests, placards, and in articles in the press.
St Johns Church Camden around 1900 (Camden Images)
Sale of church property
What is going on? Why do non-churchgoers feel so invested in an unused church building or the sale of church property? What is it about the local church to the broader community?
This blog post aims to unravel some of the broader issues underpinning community angst around the sale of church property.
The post will examine the case study of the sale of churches in Tasmania and the resultant community anxiety.
The local church in place
The local church is an integral part of the local community. It has a host of meanings for both churchgoers and non-churchgoers alike.
The local church is a central part of the construction of place and people’s attachment to a cultural landscape and locality.
Place is about a sense of belonging and a sense of groundedness. It is expressed by cultural heritage, memory, nostalgia, customs, commemorations, traditions, celebrations, values, beliefs and lifestyles.
Belonging is central to placeness. It is home. A site where there is a sense of acceptance, safety and security. Home as a place is an important source of stability in a time of chaos. Home is part of a community.
LM Miller from the University of Tasmania states that people are involved fundamentally with what constitutes place, and places are involved fundamentally in constructing persons. Place wraps around and envelopes a person. People are holders of place (Miller: 6-8)
A shared sense of belonging exists in a community where being understood is essential and part of a beloved collection. A sense of belonging is an all-encompassing set of beliefs and identities. It enriches our identity and relationships and leads to acceptance and understanding.
A church is one of these communities.
This Charles Kerry Image of St Paul’s Anglican Church at Cobbitty is labelled ‘English Church Cobbitty’. The image is likely to be around the 1890s and re-enforces the notion of Cobbity as an English-style pre-industrial village in the Cowpastures (PHM)
The local church’s closure, sale and de-consecration threaten a person’s sense of place.
When a person’s sense of place is threatened, their sense of self, identity, safety, stability, and security are challenged.
When there is a loss of a person’s sense of place and belonging to a place, they go through a grieving process.
Local churches are part of a community’s cultural heritage.
Cultural heritage consists of two parts. Firstly, tangible heritage is made up of, for example, buildings, art, objects and artefacts.
Secondly, intangible cultural heritage includes customs, practices, places, objects, artistic expressions and values. This can include traditional skills and technologies, religious ceremonies, performing arts and storytelling.
Churchgoers and a sense of place
The link between local churches and a community’s sense of place has been explored by Graeme Davison in The Use and Abuse of Australian History. He says that churchgoers are often faced with unsustainable maintenance costs for a church. Eventually, when churchgoers are forced to sell their property they:
‘often seemed less reluctant to give up their church than the rest of the community…and faced with the prospect of its loss, [the non-churchgoers] were often prepared to fight with surprising tenacity to save it.’ (Davision:149)
(Davision:149)
The Enmore Church of Christ Tabernacle in the early 20th century, where Frank and Ethel were married in 1925. (Jubilee Pictorial History of the Church of Christ)
These churches have a strong emotional attachment to their communities. These churches are loved places for their community, and Davison suggests:
It is in losing loved places, as well as loved persons, that we come to recognise the nature and depth of our attachment to our past. (Davison: 150)
(Davison: 150)
Davison argues that churchgoers often are loyal to their local place well beyond their sense of faith in Christianity.
Sale of churches in Tasmania
These issues came to the fore in Tasmania in 2018 when there was public outrage around the sale of local churches in Tasmania.
The Hobart press ran a story titled
‘Emotions run high, communities vow to fight after Anglican Church votes to sell off 76 churches’. (Sunday Tasmanian, 3 June 2018)
(Sunday Tasmanian, 3 June 2018)
St John’s Anglican Church Ross Tasmania (Wikimedia 2017)
The Anglican Church in Tasmania attempted to fund the ‘redress commitment’ to the victims of clerical abuse by selling church property.
In response, Central Tasmanian Highlands churchgoer Ron Sonners said that ‘his ancestors [were] buried in the graveyard associated with St Peter’s Church at Hamilton’…and he ‘struggled with his emotions as he dealt with the fallout from his community church being listed for sale’. (Sunday Tasmanian, 3 June 2018)
(Sunday Tasmanian, 3 June 2018)
Tasmania Anglican Bishop Richard Condie says that most of the opposition to the sale of churches
is primarily people in the broader community who oppose the sales, with the potential loss of heritage and family history, including access to graveyards, their main concern. (The Mercury, 15 September 2018)
(The Mercury, 15 September 2018)
There have been protest meetings, and some affected parishes started fundraising campaigns to keep their churches. The Hobart Mercury reported that
The Parish of Holy Trinity Launceston, which wants to keep St Matthias’ Church at Windermere, has raised the funds, with the help of its local community, to meet its redress contribution. (The Mercury, 15 September 2018)
(The Mercury, 15 September 2018)
A cultural historian and churchgoer, Dr Caroline Miley, said:
the churches are an important part of Australian history… It is unconscionable that such a massive number of buildings, artefacts and precincts should be lost to the National Estate in one fell swoop…These are buildings built and attended by convicts and their jailers. They were built on land donated by early state governors, notable pioneers and state politicians, with funds donated by these colonials and opened by the likes of Sir John Franklin…As well, she says, they contain the honour boards, memorials and graves of those who fought and died in conflicts from the 19th century onwards…Some are in the rare (in Australia) Georgian style or in idiosyncratic Tasmanian Carpenter Gothic. (The Mercury, 15 September 2018)
(The Mercury, 15 September 2018)
Amanda Ducker of the Hobart Mercury summarises the whole fuss surrounding the sale of churches in Tasmania this way:
Condie’s use-it-or-lose-it approach clashes with the keep-it-at-all-costs mentality. But while some opponents of the bishop’s plan refuse to sell their church buildings, neither do they want to go to church regularly. They rather prefer just to gather on special occasions: baptisms, weddings, funerals and perhaps at Christmas and Easter if they are leaning towards piety. But the rest of the year? Well, a sleep-in, potter at home or cafe brunch of eggs benedict (but sans ministering) are pretty tempting on Sunday morning. (The Mercury, 15 September 2018)
The Mercury, 15 September 2018
Other Anglicans in Tasmania see the whole argument differently. Emeritus Professor and Anglican Peter Boyce AO see it as a fight over the spiritual traditions linked to Tasmania’s low and high Anglican traditions. (The Mercury, 15 September 2018)
All these arguments are characteristic of how people, their traditions, their values, their past, and their memories are rooted in a location, particularly a building like a church.
Other dimensions of the argument
The dualism expressed in the sale of church land, and buildings can be likened to the difference between sacred and secular. These two polar opposites are explored in popular culture through music by Nick Cave and others on The Conversation.
Another perspective on this area was aired on ABC Radio Local Sydney in December 2018 by Dr David Newheiser. In the discussion, he examined the differences between Christians and atheists. He maintained there are strong sentiments in the community around tradition and ritual, and if you lose a church, you lose all of this.
The binary position of churchgoers and non-churchgoers can also be expressed ethically as the difference between good and evil, right and wrong, moral and immoral, just and unjust and so on. This dichotomy has ancient roots dating back to pre-Biblical times across many cultures.
So what does all this mean?
Churches have an important role in the construction of place in communities. This role is played out differently by various actors or stakeholders.
As far as the dichotomy presented here in the story of the sale of church property and land, no conclusion satisfies all participants.
There is no right or wrong position to the opposing views between churchgoers and non-churchgoers. The differences remain an unresolved ethical dilemma.
An iconic Camden image of St Johns Anglican Church in the 1890s.
On the first Remembrance Day in Camden in 1946, the Camden News recorded the event with a poem.
They are not dead, that cannot be, They’re part of you and part of me, The smile, the nod, the steadfast look Could never perish at Tobruk. Nor could there fade on Bardia’s sand The cheery voice, the friendly hand, Though seas and lands and years divide, The Anzac lives – he had not died.
It was written by ‘a Digger who had served in two World Wars’.
Menangle Roll of Honour World War One (B Peacock)
George Sidman, the editor of the News, wrote:
‘The strongest of our emotions during this month will be the remembrance of those who have served and for who Remembrance Day has been set aside, and when you wear a Red Poppy, it will remind you at the sacrifice made by those gallant men. It will remind you of courage, of long patient effort and a final victory one’.
Local folk were reminded that poppies were sold throughout the British Empire to wear on Remembrance Day. The proceeds from the sale of the poppies in Camden were supervised by the Camden branch of the RSS&AILA (Returned Soldiers’, Sailors’ and Airmens’ Imperial League of Australia and later RSL). The Association promised to retain half of the funds raised to ‘assist local cases’. In 1946, Poppy Day was held on Friday, 8 November.
The Camden RSL Memorial Rose Garden is the site of the annual Anzac Day Dawn Service in Camden. It attracts thousands of people yearly and is a memory and commemoration site. (CRSL)
The Cultural and Recreation Website of the Australian Government reminds all that:
Originally called Armistice Day, this day commemorated the end of the hostilities for the Great War (World War I), the signing of the armistice, which occurred on 11 November 1918 – the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. Armistice Day was observed by the Allies as a way of remembering those who died, especially soldiers with ‘no known grave’.
On the first anniversary of the armistice, in 1919, one minute’s silence was instituted as part of the main commemorative ceremony. In London, in 1920, the commemoration was given added significance with the return of the remains of an unknown soldier from the battlefields of the Western Front.
The Flanders poppy became accepted throughout the allied nations as the flower of remembrance to be worn on Armistice Day. The red poppies were among the first plants that sprouted from the devastation of the battlefields of northern France and Belgium. ‘Soldiers’ folklore had it that the poppies were vivid red from having been nurtured in ground drenched with the blood of their comrades’.
Camden’s first Remembrance Day in 1946 was held at the St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church on the evening of the 10 November. Mr Buck, the minister, conducted the service, which was attended by the mayor and the aldermen from the council. There was also the local member, Mr Jeff Bate, members of the Camden sub-branch of the RSL, the Camden Red Cross, Voluntary Aids, and representatives from the Eastern Command Training School at Studley Park, Narellan. It was reported that:
The church was beautifully decorated with flowers, together with the Union Jack and Australian Flag on which was placed a laurel wreath, the tribute of the congregation of St Andrew’s to the Nation’s Fallen.
During the ceremony, the mayor, Alderman HS Kelloway, read out all the names of local men who had been killed in action in the First and Second World Wars.
Artist Greg Frawley’s ‘Ceasefire Moon’ (2015). Frawley says that in ‘Ceasefire Moon’ ‘I imagine a moment of peace under a Byzantine Moon where three wounded diggers face us, perhaps questioning what their sacrifice is all about and fearing future horrific battles they will face when they recover’.
Mr Buck spoke in his address of the solemn nature of the occasion and remarked:
‘Greater love hath no man than this, to-night we keep silence for those whom we can never forget – our own who gave their lives. With that gift no other gift compares. This service will have no meaning whatever for us unless – in Lincoln’s noble words “We highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain”.
Mr Buck concluded the service by adding:
May God help us all to highly, resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain.
WW1 Memorial Gates at Macarthur Park (Camden Remembers)
Camden artists forewarn with historic contrast of “war and peace” in exhibition.
Isaac Percy
Camden artists Greg Frawley and Roger Percy have an exhibition entitled “War and Peace” opening on the Thursday 7 June at Camden Library.
The two artists have very different styles of art, and both are hoping to send a message to the people of Camden with their use of imagery.
The inspiration for this collaborative exhibition took lots of thought and purpose.
Roger says of the exhibition,
I thought about the phrase ‘lest we forget’, and thought about what that could also apply to. We never think of now as being a time where things like war could happen, but if people who come look at the exhibition, older or young, and think ‘lest we forget to appreciate what we have. Greg and I have expressed the message through the medium.
“Greg has his war-influenced paintings and I have my various angles of our historic town. This gave us the idea of the contrast between war and peace” said Roger.
Both Greg and Roger have lived many years in the Camden area and have become passionate about the town.
Artist Roger Percy at the War and Peace Exhibition at the opening at Camden Library on Thursday 7 June 2018. Roger is standing in front of his ink and watercolour work ‘Verandah Rest’.
“I’ve been painting Camden for about 20 years.” said Roger about what was different about this collection. “I started painting Camden from angles I had never done before… it was inspiring.”
Roger is the peace side of the exhibition, with use of watercolour and ink to create his landscapes of Camden.
“Roger’s work is very sensitive and reflective of a beautiful townscape – which is under threat.” said Greg about Roger’s work. “It is very timely… people have memories of historic Camden… we can only hope it doesn’t change.”
Roger has recently been appointed the position as the curator of the Alan Baker Art Gallery in Camden – a historic building that is now home to the posthumous collection of works by Baker, a local of Camden.
Roger said, “My works for this new exhibition started with a focus on the gallery, and it expanded to doing unique perspectives looking in to Camden.”
Artist Roger Percy’s ‘Looking in the Light’ (2018). Roger says the painting is a particular view into Camden’s Main Street that only locals would recognise. “I call this one my surreal piece.” Using ink pen and watercolour, this work shows three historic buildings, however how they are represented is “like looking into a dramatic, almost European scene with a one-point perspective that connects to locals who may not have thought about it before.”
Greg said, “I lived here in the fifties as a kid, I would walk all over this place, back when the town wasn’t very big.”
“I love Camden, that’s why I came back to live here.”
Artist Greg Frawley standing next to his work ‘Ceasefire Moon’ at the opening of War and Peace Exhibition at Camden Library 7 June 2018.
Greg’s works are inspired by war and conflict from various perspectives beyond Camden, and is reflective of Australian history in combination with a mixture of artistic styles.
“I’m a bit of a split personality. I love my painting and I try and do it every day. And despite my commercial art, I try and fight with purpose with my work,” says Greg.
Artist Greg Frawley’s ‘Ceasefire Moon’ (2015). Frawley says that in ‘Ceasefire Moon’ ‘I imagine a moment of peace under a Byzantine Moon where three wounded diggers face us, perhaps questioning what their sacrifice is all about and fearing future horrific battles they will face when they recover’.
The painting above is called ‘Ceasefire Moon’. “I’ve taken it from the three wise monkeys – hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil,” Greg said.
Greg acknowledged the patriotism of the Australian war efforts. “There was a level of ignorance with the soldiers, they didn’t question anything they did.”
Greg says,
The content of my paintings is a mix of childhood memories and imagined scenarios – of representation and semi-abstraction. Unable to tap into the depth of the real experience of WW1 and not wanting to copy existing images I developed compositions which reflect my personal thoughts on the contradictions of war.
Catalogue of work by Roger Percy at the War and Peace Exhibition at Camden Library, John Street, Camden. Works are ink and watercolour.
The exhibition has an official opening on the Thursday 7 June starting at 6pm. The exhibition will be on display in the Camden Library for all of June during the library opening hours.
The CHN was out and about in the local area as you do on a recent overcast day at the Camden Showground.
The occasion was the The Argyle Affair Christmas Market for 2017. The market attracts visitors far and wide. One pair who spoke to this blogger came from the New South Wales South Coast and were particularly taken with the local music talent.
The grand old showground dusted off its cobwebs and hosted this great community event for all and sundry.
The grand old showground scrubs-up pretty-well with a range of pop-up stalls outside the AH&I Hall at the 2017 The Argyle Affair Christmas Market (MWillis)
The ground came alive with the sound of fresh talent in the music tent, while around 50 pop-up stallholders were scattered on the grass while others took up residence in the AH&I Hall.
The AH&I Hall which was built in the 1890s was decked out for the 2017 The Argyle Affair Christmas Market by a host of creative stallholders displaying their wares and crafts. (IWillis)
The Argyle Affair organisers Peta Borg and Brooke Murphy excelled themselves yet again from their last effort in June which attracted a large crowd of enthusiastic patrons.
The Argyle Affair organisers Brooke Murphy and Peta Borg captured at the 2017 Christmas Market (IWillis)
Brooke Murphy said that her aim was to
‘showcase local talent and giving Mums a platform to show their wares and creations’.
The Argyle Affair sponsors a local charity and this year it was ‘Turning Point’ who are a Camden based-community welfare centre in John Street. Turning Point state on their website:
‘We aim to provide a safe and confidential environment where we can offer assistance, providing welfare services such as emergency food relief, advocacy, document assistance, phone access, and computer availability with free Wi-Fi’.
Market goers were asked for a gold coin admission or hand in an item of food that went to Turning Point.
A Turning Point volunteer and an enthusiastic supporter buying a raffle ticket at the 2017 The Argyle Affair Christmas Market (IWillis)
The Argyle Affair organisers are continuing a strong community tradition of local festivals going back well over a century where local folk came together to support worthy causes of one sort or another.
Camden Community festivals have come in a range of sizes, types and causes from small street stalls, to large events like the Camden Show. Other examples have been the week long celebrations for the 1960s Festival of the Golden Fleece and the annual Rose Festival.
The women of the Camden Red Cross at their weekly street stall in Argyle Street Camden in the 1920s outside the Whiteman’s General Store. The women ran the stall for decades and raised thousands of pounds for local and national charities. (Camden Images)
The grandest local festival is the annual Camden Show which has been going for 131 years. It is a celebration of the town’s rural heritage and over 30,000 people cannot be wrong. The annual rural festival even has Miss Camden Showgirl, one of the few still remaining.
A pop-up stall serving a patron in the outside area of the showground at the 2017 The Argyle Affair Christmas Market (IWillis)
Meanwhile back at The Argyle Affair the weather was kind for a while and then promptly at 2.30pm on the dot the heavens opened up as a rain front moved overhead.
Liked drowned rats outside stallholders packed up while the assembled rushed for the AH&I Hall out of the wet where there were a host of other stalls.
But Camden festival goers are a hardy lot and the show went on.
A water-logged and lonely deserted pop-up performance space after the big wet in the afternoon at the 2017 The Argyle Affair Christmas Market. All performers moved into the hall for the assembled throngs and provided great entertainment in dry. (IWillis)
The fresh young talent of the Camden area takes to the stage in the performance space. Here is Stephanie Sullivan entertaining the keen band of supporters made up of family and friends. (IWillis)
The running sheet of musos was as follows:
9:50 – 10:30 Stephanie Sullivan
10:40 – 11:20 The Honey Sippers
11:30 – 12:10 Isaac Lewis
12:20 – 1:00 Alicia Moses
1:10 – 1:50 Grace & Alley
2:00 – 2:50 The Bells
3:00 – 3:40 Lucy Gallant
3:50 – 4:20 Spencer Jones
4:30 – 5:10 Michelle James
5:20 – 6:00 Mollie Collins
6:00 – 8:00 Spencer Jones ft. Bryan Browne
Be adventurous and have a listen to some of this talent using these links. You will surprise your ears.
The young-at-heart hot talent of the Camden area in the form of the Honey Sippers who performed in the outside tent in the morning at the 2017 The Argyle Affair Christmas Market (MWillis)
Camden had yet again excelled itself and has been the location of a successful festival of music, food and crafts.
Business with a heart is the guiding principle for the organisers of the 2017 The Argyle Affair Christmas Market. In this situation Turning Point are the beneficiaries. (The Argyle Affair)
Camden History Notes 
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