Art · Artists · Australian Botanic Gardens Mount Annan · Belonging · Community identity · Cowpastures · Crafts · Cultural Heritage · Cultural icon · Cumberland Plain · Cumberland Plain Woodland · Dharawal · Heritage · History · Indigenous Heritage · Living History · Local History · Local Studies · Memorial · Memory · Place making · Public art · Sense of place · Storytelling · Trees · Uncategorized · Wayfinding

Life Blood, public art at the Australia Botanic Gardens

On the forecourt of the Herbarium at the Australian Botanic Garden is an artwork celebrating the heritage of Indigenous culture called Life Blood.

1920s · 1930s · 20th century · Agriculture · Argyle Street · Attachment to place · Belonging · British colonialism · Built heritag · Camden · Camden Story · Collective Memory · Colonialism · Commemoration · Community identity · Country town · Cowpastures · Cultural Heritage · Dharawal · Historical consciousness · Historical Research · Historical thinking · Historiography · History · Legends · Local History · Local Studies · Macarthur · Memorial · Memorialisation · Memorials · Memory · Monuments · Mysteries · Myths · Newspapers · Pioneers · Place making · Regionalism · Ruralism · Sense of place · Settler colonialism · Settler Society · Small communities · Stereotypes · Storytelling · Tourism · Urban growth · Urban history · Volunteering

The Camden Story: the historiography of the history of the country town of Camden NSW

The history of telling the story of a small community has been interpreted in different ways at different times in the past by different historians. This area of study is called the historiography. I have recently published an article on the historiography of the small country town of Camden, NSW.

1968 Sydney Region Outline Plan · 1973 New Cities Campbelltown Camden Appin Structure Plan · Advertising · Attachment to place · Built heritag · Community identity · Cultural Heritage · Elderslie · Heritage · History · Land releases · Living History · Local History · Local Studies · Place making · rural-urban fringe · Storytelling · Uncategorized · Urban development · Urban growth · Urban history · Urban Planning · urban sprawl · Urbanism

Elderslie land releases 2000-2023, the background and fancy estate names

The Elderslie area has been identified in Sydney’s strategic growth plans for land releases on the metropolitan rural-urban fringe. It is a valuable exercise to see how and when Elderslie was identified as part of Sydney’s planning framework.

Aesthetics · Art · Artists · Belonging · Colonialism · Community identity · Community work · Crafts · Cultural Heritage · Design · Education · Elyard Reserve, Narellan · Heritage · History · Living History · Local History · Local Studies · Memorialisation · Memorials · Narellan · Parks · Place making · Public art · Sense of place · Settler colonialism · Settler Society · Storytelling · Tourism · Urban Planning · Urbanism

Narellan Community Mosaic Project: art in the park

The Narellan Community Mosaic Project was commissioned in 2005 by Camden Council with funding from the NSW Department of Planning. This artwork is one of number in Elyard Reserve in Narellan.

1920s · 1930s · 20th century · Argyle Street · Camden · Camden Story · Collective Memory · Community identity · Cowpastures · Cultural Heritage · Cultural plantings · Dairying · Farming · Gardening · Horticulture · Landscape · Landscape aesthetics · Local Studies · Memorials · Memory · Pepper Trees · Place making · Settler colonialism · Settler Society · Storytelling · Street Trees · Town planning · Urban Planning

Camden pepper trees, a remnant of the past

In the 1890s, Camden Municipal Council started beautifying the town area by planting various trees, including peppercorns. These cultural plantings defined the local urban landscape for decades, yet only a handful remain today.

Art · Artists · Attachment to place · Camden High School · Community identity · Cultural Heritage · Dharawal · Education · Elyard Reserve, Narellan · Heritage · Monuments · Narellan · Place making · Public art · Storytelling

Mosaic bench: public artwork at Narellan

In a corner of Elyard Reserve at Narellan is a mosaic tiled bench. This colourful artwork was commissioned in 2009 and is hidden in plain sight.

Active citizenship · Agency · Agricultural heritage · Attachment to place · Belonging · Camden · Camden Show · Camden Showgirl · Camden Story · Community identity · Cultural Heritage · Festivals · Local History · Local Studies · Myths · Pageant · Place making · Ruralism · Sense of place · Showgirl competition · Volunteering · Volunteerism · Women's history · Young Woman Competition

Young Woman trumps the Showgirl

In late 2022 the Camden Show Society announced that Rubey Williams had been named the Camden Show 2023 Young Woman of the Year. The competition had been rebranded by the Royal Agricultural Society in 2019.

20th century · Architecture · Argyle Street · Built heritag · Business History · Camden Story · Camden Town Centre · Colonial Camden · Cultural Heritage · Cultural icon · Heritage · History · Hotel History · Hume Highway · Lifestyle · Local History · Place making · Sense of place

The Plough and Harrow Hotel: an early colonial Camden inn

The Plough and Harrow Hotel is the second oldest pub in the Camden town centre and was built in the early 1850s. The hotel is still on its original site located on the former Great South Road, later the Hume Highway, now relocated.

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.