1920s · 1930s · Architecture · Attachment to place · Built heritag · Business History · Collective Memory · Community Health · Cultural Heritage · Design · Edwardian · Film · Foresters Hall (former) · Heritage · History · Interwar · Leisure · Living History · Local History · Local Studies · Memory · Modernism · Movies · Narellan Military Camp · Placemaking · Second World War

The former Foresters’ Hall, a marvellous Edwardian building

In Camden NSW the former Foresters’ Hall occupies one of the most prominent sites in the Town Centre on Oxley Street and Argyle Street at 147 Argyle Street. On its opening in 1908, the hall was considered the best in New South Wales by the Order of Royal Foresters.

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

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

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

Appin · Art · Attachment to place · Belonging · British colonialism · Campbelltown Art Centre · Collective Memory · Colonial frontier · Colonialism · Commemoration · Community identity · Cowpastures · Cowpastures Bicentennial · Cultural Heritage · Dharawal · Governor Macquarie · Heritage · History · Landscape · Landscape aesthetics · Local History · Local Studies · Memorial · Memorialisation · Memorials · Memory · Monuments · Place making · Placemaking · Public art · Sculpture · Sense of place · Settler colonialism · Settler Society · Stereotypes · Storytelling · Uncategorized

The Cowpastures Bicentennial, Governor Hunter and the Appin Massacre: the memory of the Cowpastures

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.

20th century · Adaptive Re-use · Aesthetics · Architecture · Attachment to place · Belonging · Burra Charter · Camden Story · Church History · Churches · Collective Memory · Commemoration · Community identity · Cultural Heritage · Elderslie · Families · Family history · Farming · First World War · Genealogy · Heritage · History · Living History · Local History · Local Studies · Memorial · Place making · Placemaking · Sense of place · St Mark's Church Elderslie · Urban development · Urban growth · Urbanism · Village · Wartime

St Mark’s Church Elderslie, the little church on the hill

St Mark's Church Elderslie tells the story of a small farming community that has disappeared through the mists of time. The history of St Mark’s church is the history of Elderslie, and the church was a special place of community celebrations and commemorations along with family celebrations, traditions, and events. The church has been a gathering place, a sacred site.

Argyle Street · Camden · Camden Council · Camden Historical Society · Camden Museum · Camden Red Cross · Camden Show · Churches · Coal mining · Colonial Camden · Country Women's Association · Cultural Heritage · Dairying · Elizabeth Macarthur · Farming · First World War · Floods · Heritage · History · Living History · Local History · Local newspapers · Local Studies · Macarthur · Macarthur Park · Nepean River · Philanthropy · Place making · Placemaking · Railway · Red Cross · Schools · Second World War · Sense of place · Settler colonialism · Settler Society · Silver mining · Storytelling · Sydney's rural-urban fringe · Uncategorized · Urban development · Urban growth · Urban Planning · urban sprawl · Urbanism · Volunteering · Volunteerism · Wartime · World War One

Camden, a Macarthur family venture

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

Aesthetics · Architecture · Art · Artists · Attachment to place · Belonging · Community identity · Cultural icon · Design · Heritage · Living History · Local History · Memorial · Memorialisation · Memorials · Memory · Monuments · Oran Park · Oran Park Library · Oran Park Raceway · Place making · Placemaking · Sense of place · Storytelling · Urban Planning · Urbanism

Oran Park Library: public art celebrates the ghosts of motor racing

The Oran Park library has a number of public artworks that commemorate the former Oran Park motorway that was on the site. These wonderful public art installations celebrate the memories of the  Oran Park Raceway which closed in 2010.

Charles Cowper · Colonialism · Cultural Heritage · Economy · Heritage · History · Lost Sydney · Maryland · Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences Powerhouse Museum · Railway · Sydney Railway Company · Technology · Thomas Barker · Transport · Uncategorized · Wivenhoe

A Camden connection to the first railway line in New South Wales

26 September 1855 A forgotten anniversary of Sydney’s Central Railway Station On 26 September 1855, the first train left the Sydney terminus, a ‘tin shed’, with great pomp and ceremony and thus began the great railways of New South Wales. The ‘tin shed’ was replaced by two further buildings, one opened in 1874, and the current grand Victorian edifice of brick and sandstone in 1906.

Art · Cowpastures · Cultural Heritage · Heritage · History · Local History · Local Studies · Memorial · Memorials · Memory · Monuments · Parks · Place making · Public art · Sculpture · Storytelling · Streetscapes · Uncategorized

Cowpastures Memorial at Narellan

In the plaza outside Narellan Library there is an item public art called the Cowpasture Story.

Bathtub effect · Cultural Heritage · Floods · Grief · Hawkesbury-Nepean river · Landscape · Living History · Local History · Local Studies · Macarthur · Memory · Nepean River · Place making · Trauma

Flooding in the Hawkesbury-Nepean River Valley

The latest heavy rain in the area has sparked concerns about potential flooding, bringing back memories of past events. The Hawkesbury-Nepean River valley's unique landform features contribute to fast-rising and dangerous floods. This situation has led to considerable anxiety and trauma, prompting the need for emotional and trauma support in the affected communities.

Art · Attachment to place · Belonging · British colonialism · Camden · Camden Mayor · Colonial Camden · Colonial frontier · Colonialism · Commemoration · Cowpastures · Cultural Heritage · Cultural icon · Frank Brooking · Frontier violence · Heritage · History · Legends · Local History · Local Studies · Macarthur region · Memorial · Memorials · Memory · Monuments · Myths · Parks · Place making · Placemaking · Public art · Sculpture · Sense of place · Settler colonialism · Settler Society · Storytelling · Uncategorized · Urban development

Governor Hunter, a Cowpastures memorial at Mount Annan

The statue of Governor Hunter in the Governors Green Park at Mount Annan is another celebration of the history of the Cowpastures.