New Art Exhibition Opens at Camden Art Gallery

'Portraits of Camden' Exhibition Opening

A new art exhibition, 'Portraits of Camden', was opened in Camden at the Alan Baker Art Gallery in John Street on Thursday 12 March 2020 by Camden Mayor Theresa Fedeli.

The cover of the exhibition catalogue 'Portraits of Camden' that is open between March and August 2020.. 

The exhibition 'Portraits of Camden' celebrates the second anniversary of the opening of the gallery.

Camden Mayor Theresa Fedeli opens the 'Portraits of Camden' exhibition on Thursday 12 March 2020. (I Willis) 

The exhibition celebrates the contribution of Alan Baker to the Camden art scene in the early 1970s  through the Camden Art Group.

The Camden Art Group met in the classroom of Ken Rorke at Camden Public School in John Street Camden.

The assembled audience at the exhibition opening was addressed by an original member of the Camden Art Group Nola Tegel.

Original member of the Camden Art Group Nola Tegel tells the audience stories about how Alan Baker guided the budding artists in the art works. (I Willis)

The artworks hung at the exhibition are a variety of subjects in charcoal drawn by Alan Baker at the Camden Art Group sessions.

A keen art enthusiast admires the artwork of Alan Baker at the 'Portraits of Camden' exhibition opening. (I Willis)

A guest at the exhibition opening writing their thoughts on Mr Rorke's classroom blackboard in the gallery. Ken Rorke initiated the Camden Art Group in the 1970s. Workshops and lessons were held in his classroom at Camden Public School. (I Willis)

The 'Portraits of Camden' exhibition runs from March to August 2020 at the Alan Baker Art Gallery. The gallery in located in the 19th century gentleman's town house Macaria in John Street Camden.

The assembled have dispersed for refreshments and eats after the formalities have finished at the exhibition opening in the Macaria forecourt in John Street Camden. Macaria is a wonderful 19th century gentleman's townhouse. It is one of the few 19th colonial buildings open to the public in Sydney's south western suburbs. (I Willis)

The Alan Baker Gallery is located at 37 John Street, Camden. 

Learn more about the life of Alan Baker the artist, the Camden Art Group and the house history of Macaria. 

Read more about Alan Baker and the Camden Art Group in Camden History from those budding young artists who participated in the lessons and workshops in the 1970s. 

The signage the fronts the Alan Baker Art Gallery in the 19th century gentleman's town house of Macaria in John Street Camden. (I Willis)

Spring into artworks at Macaria

Spring Exhibition at Local Art Gallery

The Alan Baker Art Gallery in Macaria has launched a new exhibition for Spring 2019.

The exhibition has three themes:
1. Local Landscapes
2. Flora
3. A Model Wife: A Model Life.

1. Local Landscapes

Alan Baker's local landscape painting captured The Oaks and the surrounding area. Baker loved painting en plein-air with the breeze blowing in his face so he could feel the air around him and take in the environment.

Alan Baker landscape artworks at Macaria 2019 (I Willis)

2. Flora

The exhibition displays some of Alan D Baker's prolific flower artworks in his representational style.

3. A Model Wife: A Model Life.

Alan Baker's wife Marjorie, an artist in her own right, was his model, muse and wife. This exhibition investigates the role of the artist's model.

Alan Baker artworks of his wife Marjorie at Macaria 2019 (I Willis)

The exhibition also highlights the role of Rita Lee, one of Sydney's top artist models, who regularly worked with renowned artist Norman Lindsay. There is work by Lindsay on display.

The exhibition is part of the Unlock Camden open day at the Alan Baker Art Gallery at Macaria in John Street Camden.

Camden Police Station and Court House

s Camden Police Station and Residence

35 John Street

Camden 

Lot 2 DP 826795

Camden Police Station 1997 J Kooyman Camden Images

Camden Court House

33 John Street

Camden

Lot 1 DP 826795

Camden Court House 1991 CWTimes Camden Images

Camden Police Station and Residence

History and Description

 Camden Police Station is a single storey brick building typical of many official police buildings of the last quarter of the nineteenth century

Before the John Street building was constructed, police used a timber lock-up and adjoining residence (c.1844). (http://www.camdenhistory.org.au/chhistoricplaces.html)

The police barracks was built in 1878 and probably the work of the Colonial Architect James Barnet. It was initially constructed in 1879 as two adjacent police cottages.

Historical sources consider that the Police Sergeant lived in the west end of the building, and the constable lived in the east end. The mounted constable boarded elsewhere. The police horse was kept in the non-presbyterian church area (1925-1950's). Wooden posts tethered the horse.  (NSW SHI)

Camden Police Station has a corrugated iron hipped roof and brick chimneys. The building has a paved verandah with carved timber posts and brackets. It has a four panelled timber entrance door with a highlight window, and eight double-hung pane windows with sandstone sills. The front façade is symmetrically designed with two projecting wings and a central recessed verandah. It is sited adjacent to the courthouse. (NSW SHI)

Condition and Use

These police barracks were built in 1878

Constructed in face brickwork.

Picket fence along footpath has been removed.

The building has been restored and modernised to facilitate its continuing use as a Police Station.

Alterations and additions, 1972 1980. (NSW SHI)

The verandah was once enclosed but has been fully restored in recent times.

The building is no longer used as a police station since the new Local Area Command Police Station was opened at Narellan in 2011.  

Heritage Significance

The building retains functional integrity and intactness. (NSW SHI)

The building is representative of the style of official or important early buildings in the town. The building's value lies in its relationship to the other important buildings in the John Street Group. (Australian Heritage Database)

Heritage Listing

Local Environment Plan                       Item  44

Read more

 Phillip Haylock, The Very Sociable Policeman, Camden History, Volume 3 No 7 March 2014, pp. 256-258,

Charlotte Hemans, 'Policing Camden in the early years, Camden Police Station, 1805-1878', Camden History, Vol 2, No 8, September 2009, pp. 305-312

The District Reporter, 6 March 2017

Camden John Street Precinct with the courthouse on the right-hand side of the street before the police station was built. The police station was eventually built between Macaria and the courthouse in 1878.  Image is the early 1870s (Camden Images)

Camden Court House

History and Description

 Camden Court House is built on land set aside for this purpose by James and William Macarthur at the time the town allotment plans were laid down. The brothers also offered £100 towards the cost of the building.

The first buildings on this site were a timber lock-up and Chief Constable's residence. The present construction was commenced in 1855 and completed in 1857 with cells underneath and at the rear. The building was designed during William Weaver's term as Government Architect. A new lock-up was built to replace the old one between 1859-61.

A Court of Petty Sessions at Camden was established by Proclamation on 20 July 1841 after lengthy opposition from both Campbelltown and Picton. They were requesting that the Cawdor Court be removed either to Campbelltown or Picton. Until that date, the Court was still at Cawdor. (http://www.camdenhistory.org.au/chhistoricplaces.html)

The first Clerk of the Bench in the area was James Pearson who was Clerk at Cawdor until his death on 13 July 1841. John Downes Wood, a nephew of Charles Cowper, was appointed the first Clerk of Petty Sessions for Camden by Government Proclamation on 23 September 1841. When the new courthouse was completed the Clerk of the Bench was J.B. Martin, who retained this position for 35 years. (http://www.camdenhistory.org.au/chhistoricplaces.html)

Camden Court House is a small Italianate court building with a temple front loggia with three arches. It is a painted ashlar building with painted chimneys and a gable shingled roof. There is a circular window on the front facade, and twelve panes and two-pane double-hung windows on the side facades. The entrance door is a six panelled timber door. The cells were constructed underneath and at the rear. (NSW SHI)

Condition and Use

Camden Court House was built between 1855-1860.

The building is in good condition. (NSW SHI)

In 2013 the NSW Government spent $200,000 on the refurbishment of Camden courthouse. (Camden Narellan Advertiser, 25 September 2013)

Heritage Significance

Camden courthouse, like its neighbouring police station, is of little value alone. Its value lies in its relationship to the other important buildings. It is probably the work of colonial architect Alexander Dawson. (Australian Heritage Database)

Heritage Listing

Local Environment Plan                       Item  43

Australian Heritage Commission        Australian Heritage Database  ID 3230

Read more

Iliana Stillitano, 'Court shut down', Camden. Narellan Advertiser, 1 July 2014

Macaria threatened by demolition

Macaria

37 John Street
Camden

Macaria was used by Camden Council as part of its office in 1980s (Camden Images)

In 1970 Macaria was threatened with demolition by Camden Council when it was considering the re-develop John Street. The council had purchased the Macaria site in 1965 and was considering the construction of a new council administration building.

One definition of heritage is what is valued by the community and can be handed down to the next generation. Heritage is a political concept that changes over time. What one generation considers important is not what the next generation wants to hand on to their children. Heritage is a very disposable concept. One decade something is considered important, the next it is considered worthless.

In 1970  Camden Council did not consider Macaria worthy of saving.

 Camden's historic buildings might be valued by most of the community now, but it was not always like that.

In 1970 the Camden Historical Society wrote to Camden Council to re-consider the demolition of Macaria. (Image below)

Letter from Camden Council to the Camden Historical Society dated 31 August 1970 about the possible demolition of Macaria

 The councils reply stated:

The Council of the Municipality of Camden
Box 10, PO,
Camden. 

August 31, 1970
Mrs N Blattman
Hon Secretary
Camden Historical Society
57 Menangle Road
Camden.

'MACARIA' JOHN STREET, CAMDEN.

I refer to your letter of August 17, 1970, concerning the Council's reported decision to demolish the above property in the near future, and wish to inform you that it was considered by Council at its meeting held on August 24, 1970.

Council acquired the property some 5 years ago for the purpose of providing a suitable site for a future civic administration building. The question was raised at that time as to whether the property had any architectural or historic value, which would warrant its retention. Council's Architects at the time, who were connected to the National Trust of Australia, reported to Council that 'Macaria' had no historic or particular architectural value and that its retention on these grounds could not be justified.

However, Council decided to inform the Society that it had in mind to recover and re-use bricks and sandstone from 'Macaria' as far as this is practical, with a view to preserving the present character of John Street. You might rest assured that the views of the Society and others regarding the preservation of the present character of John Street, will be fully considered by Council when the time comes for the re-development of the 'Macaria' site to take place.

Yours faithfully,
J Mack
Town Clerk

Note: The loss of Macaria was this close! John Wrigley

The National Trust of Australia (NSW) considered Macaria in the 1970s.

Macaria was considered an important historic property in the 1970s by the National Trust of Australia (NSW)

Macaria in 2016 after Camden Council moved to new office premises in Oran Park (I Willis)

Macaria's heritage importance today

Today Macaria's heritage importance is recognised as being nationally significant.

The New South Wales State Heritage Inventory states:

For a house of this scale, Macaria is among the best picturesque Gothic houses in Australia. This, when combined with its importance to Camden, makes it a building of great significance.  A fine early townhouse of distinctive and interesting architectural quality, associated with an important figure of the town's early years.

The Australian Heritage Place Inventory states:

Built 1842. For a house of this scale, Macaria is amongst the best picturesque Gothic houses in the Commonwealth of Australia. This, when combined with its importance to Camden, makes it a building of great significance.

Sarah Tiffin's Cottage, 39 John Street, Camden. NSW

Sarah Tiffin's Cottage

Mrs Larkin's Cottage

39 John Street, Camden. NSW

Sarah Tiffin Cottage. 39 John Street, Camden. NSW. c2013 (Google Images)

History and Description

A small Georgian brick cottage constructed for Sarah Tiffin in the early 1840s. It had a corrugated iron hipped roof, brick chimney and a timber posted verandah at the front.
It has a front timber posted verandah with timber board floor, a six panel entrance door with a highlight window and twelve pane double hung timber framed windows. There are flat arches above the windows and doors. The front fence is made of sandstone. The building is three bays wide.

It was also the home of Captain Willie Larkin, a prominent citizen and Mayor of Camden. (State Heritage Inventory)

Its side wall was attached to the stables of Macaria alongside which were demolished early 1973 to make way for the current Camden Council headquarters in John Street Camden.

Condition and Use

The cottage is in good condition and is currently used by as a retail outlet.

Heritage Significance

The cottage retains good integrity and fair intactness. (State Heritage Inventory)

It is probably one of Camden's first buildings and because of its intact architectural quality, this is a house of considerable importance. (Australian Heritage Places Inventory)

Heritage Listing

Camden LEP Item I46

State Heritage Inventory  

Australian Heritage Places Inventory   Record Identifier: 3227

Read more

State Heritage Inventory Click here
Australian Heritage Places Inventory Click here
Camden Heritage List Click here

Camden's Edwardian Cottages

64 John Street, Camden. Built c.1920. (J Riley)

Camden's Edwardian Cottages

Camden has quite a number of Edwardian cottages in the town area, on surrounding  farms and in local district villages.  They are typical of the early twentieth century landscape in the local district. The housing style was evidence of the new found confidence of the birth of a new nation that borrowed overseas trends and adopted them to suit local conditions. These style of houses were a statement of the individualism and the national character.

The name Edwardian is loosely attached to cottages and buildings erected during the reign of Edward VII from 1901 to 1910. This period covers the time after the Federation of the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901 when the six self-governing colonies combined under a new constitution. They kept their own legislatures and combined to form a new nation.

Examples of Edwardian style cottages, including in and around Camden, were an Australian version of English Edwardian houses. Houses were plainer in detail, some with lead lighting in the front windows. Australian architecture was a response to the landscape and climate and the building style tells us about the time and the people who built them, how they lived and other aspects of Camden’s cultural heritage.

Edwardian housing style detail

The Edwardian style of housing also includes a broad range of styles including Queen Anne, Federation, Arts and Crafts and Early Bungalow. These styles often tend to be asymmetrical with a projecting from gable, can be highly decorated with detailed work to gables, windows and verandahs. Edwardian style cottages often fit between 1900 and 1920, although the style extends beyond this period influencing the Interwar style housing.

A number of Camden Edwardian style timber cottages have a projecting room at the front of the cottage with a decorated gable, adjacent to a front verandah, with a hipped roof line. This housing style is often characterised by a chimney that was a flue for a kitchen fuel stove and chip copper in an adjacent laundry. In some houses plaster cornices were common, sometimes there were ceiling roses, skirting and architraves. A number of houses have been restored while unfortunately many others have been demolished.

Some Camden Edwardian homes had walls of red brickwork, sometimes with painted render in part. While there are many examples in the local area of timber houses with square-edged or bull-nosed weatherboards.  Sunshades over windows supported by timber brackets are also common across the local area.

Doors in Edwardian style houses typically have three or four panels, with entry doors sometimes having an ornamentation. Common windows were double hung while later cottages may have had casement windows especially in the 1920s. Some cottages have return L-shaped verandahs, sometimes roofed with corrugated bull-nosed iron. Verandah post brackets had a variety of designs, with lattice work not uncommon feature. Verandahs featured timber fretwork rather than Victorian style cast ion lacework for ornamentation. Front fences may have had pickets, or just a wire fence in country areas.

Typical Edwardian colour schemes range from apricot walls, gables and barge boards, with white lattice panelling, red roofing and green coloured windows, steps, stumps, ant caps.

Gardens were often more complex than Victorian examples. Amongst Edwardian gardens growing lawns became popular. Sometimes had a small tree in the front yard which could frame the house and might separate it from adjacent houses. Common trees included magnolia, elm, tulip tree or camellias, while shrubs and vines might have been agapanthus, agave, St John’s Wort, plumbago, standard roses, begonias, day lily, jasmine and sometimes maidenhair ferns.

John Street, Camden

In the March 2014 edition of Camden History Joy Riley recalls the Edwardian cottages in John Street. Joy Riley vividly remembers growing up as a child and calling one of these cottages her home. ‘I lived at 66 John Street for the first 40 years of my life before moving to Elderslie with my husband Bruce Riley. The two rooms of 66 John Street were built by the first John Peat, Camden builder, to come to Camden. In the 1960s I had some carpet put down in my bedroom, the floor boards were so hard, as they only used tacks in those days to hold carpet, the carpet just kept curling up.’ She says, ‘The back of the house was built by my grandfather, William Dunk. They lived next door at 64 John Street. He also built the Methodist Church at Orangeville or Werombi.

Yamba Cottage, Kirkham

Another Edwardian style house is Yamba cottage at Kirkham. It was built around 1920, fronts Camden Valley Way and has been a contested as a site of significant local heritage. The building, a Federation style weatherboard cottage, became a touchstone and cause celebre around the preservation and conservation of local domestic architecture. This is a simple adaption of the earlier Victorian era houses for Fred Longley and his family who ran a small orchard on the site. The Yamba story is representative of smallholder farming in the Camden LGA, which has remained largely silent over the last century.  Yamba speaks for the many small farmers across the LGA who have not had a voice and were an important part of farming history in the local area.

The Toowoomba House

Edwardian country cottages are not unique to the Camden area and can be found in many country towns across New South Wales and inter-state. Toowoomba has a host of these type of homes and published the local council publishes extensive guides explaining the style of housing and what is required for their sympathetic restoration in the online publication called The Toowoomba House (2000). More elaborate Edwardian houses with extensive ornamentation can be found in Sydney suburbs like Strathfield, Burwood and Ashfield.

Edwardian Revival

For those interested in reading more there a number of good books on Australian Edwardian houses at your local library and there are a number of informative websites. Edwardian style houses have had a revival in recent decades and contemporary house can have some of their features. For example some are evident in housing estates at Harrington Park, Mt Annan and Elderslie.

Further reading

Read more on Edward housing styles in Australia here

Read about Federation houses here

Read about Australian residential architectural styles here

Read about Yamba cottage and Kirkham here