Leppington progress and development

Leppington

76 Rickard Road

 Camden Council, DA 422.1/2016

Brochure for the sale of 76 Rickard Road, Leppington

There has been a development application lodged by NRI Byron Developments Pty Ltd in April 2016  with Camden Council for a project at 76 Rickard Road. The project is for the construction of 3 four storey residential flat buildings containing a total of 250 apartments (1, 2 and 3 bedroom units), basement car parking, road construction, subdivision to create 2 lots and associated site works.

The proposal is to have 26 one bedroom units, 207 two bedroom units and 17 three bedroom units.

The value of the project is $85 million dollars. Currently the project has been referred for environmental assessment.

The heritage assessment of the locality states:

The study area is located within the 3000 acres granted to Alexander Riley in 1816. The grant in part was a consolidation of earlier grants made in 1809 to David Bevan (700 acres in two grants), Samuel Foster (100 acres), and John Pye (200 acres)1 , and Riley's 500 acres. This extensive land holding was located at the junction of Cowpasture Road and Bringelly Road, both key routes to the southern and western fringes of the Cumberland Plain. 

British colonisation of the country south-west of Liverpool began in 1809, and continued in the 1810s under the administration of Governor Macquarie and his successors into the 1830s. This was undertaken by alienation of the land and imposition of the rule of law. In most instances, land grants were made to free settlers and former military men with the wherewithal to establish stock runs. The grants were therefore large in area and consequently the country was sparsely settled. The soils are generally poor, but the creek systems of South Creek and Cabramatta Creek sustained farming over generations. 

In 1821 700 acres were granted to William Cordeaux, a colonial Land Commissioner, on the Cumberland Plains near Denham Court (Roads and Maritime Services 2013:24). On this property Cordeaux built a hill-top mansion which he named ‘Leppington Park’ after a village near his birthplace. The locality soon adopted this name and became known as Leppington. From the original grants at Leppington smaller farm holdings were subdivided, and since then the area has primarily remained a community of small farms.  

The development documents state:

The site is located within the Leppington Precinct of the South-West Priority Growth Area (SWPGA). The SWPGA and the North-West Priority Growth Area are strategic locations identified for the provision of much of Sydney’s long term housing supply. The Leppington Precinct is projected to provide up to 7,190 dwellings to house up to 24,000 people at full capacity.

Leppington Precinct Plan

The Leppington Precinct forms part of the SWPGA and planning for Stage 1 of its development is now complete. Stage 1 of the Leppington Priority Precinct was rezoned in November 2015. The Precinct Plan developed by NSW Planning and Environment (NSW P&E) to guide its future development makes provision for:

•  2,500 new homes; 

• A new primary school and K-12 school; 

•  A new community centre; 

• Upgraded rail and road infrastructure; and 

• New open space including playing fields and recreational lands. 

The Precinct benefits from proximity to Leppington Railway Station providing rail services along the South West Rail Link as well as a new ‘Major Centre’ within the Leppington North Precinct which provides opportunities for employment, shopping and entertainment.

Read more at Camden Council 

Charming Country Town

Jacarandas in Elderslie 2014 (I Willis)

More Blooming Flowers

The Jacarandas in Camden and surrounds are out in bloom again. They are a picture of colour and when a breeze pops  up or it rains they carpet the ground. 


Local jacarandas add to the sense of place and character of the area. They add to the picturesque aesthetic of the Camden district. Mr Tim Pickles stated in the Camden press that they are suited to the local area.



Read more in the Macarthur Chronicle 25 November 2014 Camden Wollondilly Edition p.36

Blooming Jacarandas 2013

Blooming Jacaranda street trees in the Camden area (I Willis)

 As you walk around Camden streets you will come across the current flush of purples and  mauves. The local jacarandas are in full bloom and they have spread a colourful carpet across local streets. The streetscapes provide a wonderful vista  of fantasy and charm. They take you on a journey of the imagination into a another world.

The jacarandas in bloom are regularly the front page story in local newpapers. (Macarthur Chronicle (Camden Edition), 5 November 2013)

Jacarandas have been a feature of the urban landscape for quite a while in the local area.

The jacarandas were planted in Camden’s main street in 1927. (Macarthur Chronicle 24 June 2006)

In 2006 Camden mayor Chris Patterson asked the question should the jacarandas in the main street be replaced and he got a very loud response from the community. Save our trees!

The Camden Chamber of Commerce first proposed the removal and replacement with Manchurian pear trees in early 2006.

The Macarthur Chronicle reports that the unseasonably hot weather recently has resulted in the trees blooming early in the local area. (Macarthur Chonicle (Camden Edition) 12 November 2013) Jacarandas also bloomed early in drought years of the early 2000s giving a wonderful burst of colour in suburbs of Elderslie, Camden, and parts of Campbelltown and Picton.

In October 2013 the hottest day was Monday the 21st with a maximum temperature of  36.4°C while the monthly average for October is 27.6°C. October was also unseasonally dry, which according to horticulturalist Tim Pickles, has resulted in better flowers and more of them. The jacaranda originally came from Brazil  and really  like the warm conditions. (Macarthur Chonicle (Camden Edition) 12 November 2013)

Charm and Character of the Old

Argyle Street Camden c1938 (Camden Images)

What is it that gives Camden its charm and character? The answer is found in what still remains of the 1940s and 1950s country town of Camden, that is, its  rural and cultural landscape.

 

The country town

A walk around the central area of Camden reveals to the casual observer that the town is still strikingly similar to what it was like in the 1940s, especially the streetscape. Along streets like Menangle Rd, Broughton St, Murray St, Barsden St, Park St, Hill St, Mitchell St, Elizabeth St, View St, Alpha Rd, John St and even Argyle St. For example, the view along John Street from Camden Public School to St Johns Church is remarkably similar to that  of 60 years ago. Even the view down Argyle Street, especially building heights and street frontages, is similar to the times when the Hume Highway came through the centre of the town.

Picturesque panorama 

The panorama of the township across the floodplain  from a number of locations, eg, Macquarie Grove, Elderslie, or Cawdor,  is largely unchanged from the Second World War. There is the picturesque church on the hill, framed by the town and the farmland in the foreground.  Much as it was when RAAF fighter pilots at the airfield were worried that they would hit the church steeple as they took off on their missions.  As visiting RAAF airmen came into Camden on leave along Macquarie Grove Road the profile that the town made against the skyline would be very familiar to them today.

Federation houses

When the visitor enters the town from the north they still pass the old milk factory where the local dairy farmers unloaded their milk cans from their horse drawn carts. Coming into the township from the south along Cawdor Road the rural landscape gives way to the village showground as it has done since the 1880s. Or along Broughton Street, the visitor  can still image entering the town in 1940s passing the rows of neat weatherboard and brick cottages with their well maintained gardens.  The visitor walking along Menangle Road  passes the Federation houses adjacent to  Macarthur Park,  St Johns church and Dr Crookston's house. The same setting as the 1940s when young female voluntary aids walked up to Camden Hospital to do their wartime duty. 

Attractive streetscapes

The old part of central Camden has a number  of attractive streetscapes which illustrate the town's Victorian and Edwardian past . From the days when the local policeman would tie up his horse outside the police barracks and everyone in town knew that 'Pansy' had arrived at the railway station. The stationmaster would wander over from his house in Elizabeth Street, which still exists, to attend to his official business.




Argyle Street, Camden, 2012

Rustic charm and aesthetics

The farmland that surrounds the township is part of the rustic charm and aesthetic value that attracts many tourists to the town. The landscape of the Nepean River floodplain has shaped the image of the town from the 1840s and still determines how people view the town when they visit it today.

Camden today

The Camden of today still shows the signs of the social and community activities of the country town of the past. For example during the Second World War the ladies of the Camden Red Cross would go to the weekly sewing workshops in the town hall, now the library, while their husbands spent the day at the saleyards. And the location of the churches, shops, garages, showground, community halls, hotels, government buildings and parkland have remained unchanged in years.

Camden retains charm 

Despite recent developments in central Camden  many of the elements of Camden's rural  past still exist.  They give the town its rustic charm and pleasant ambience, and attract the Sunday visitor.  It would be disappointing to see any short sighted decisions made today that might damage this character.


Read more @ http://dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/camden   and  
@ http://www.heritagetourism.com.au/camden-the-best-preserved-country-town-on-the-cumberland-plain-nsw/  and
@ http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/journals/index.php/sydney_journal/article/view/713
@ Townies, exurbanites and aesthetics, issues of identity on Sydney's rural-urban fringe (AQ, 2012)

Charming Photographs of Camden
@ https://www.facebook.com/CaptureCamden

First published in The District Reporter 7 October 2005

Science with the WOW factor

The Australian PlantBank at The Australian Botanic Gardens Mt Annan (I Willis)

 

The new Australian PlantBank at The Australian Botanic Gardens Mt Annan

The brand new shiny science facility that was recently opened at The Australian Botanic Garden at Mt Annan certainly has the wow factor a plenty. Lots of stainless steel, concrete and glass gives the new laboratory the smik slick look. The world class leader in the collection and preservation of Australian native flora provides an example of how science can be done in this country. With the combination of leading edge research, technical expertise and community engagement this facility is a model for other science infrastructure in Australia.



Exterior of PlantBank (I Willis)

The general public certainly gave the new building the wow seal of approval on the tours of the state of the art laboratories and seed bank. The public have the opportunity to take guided tours of the building. There are conference rooms, meetings rooms and educational facilities for kindergarten through high school and university to post-graduate and the general community.


John leading a group of visitors (I Willis)

On the recent open day tours were led by John Siemon, the enthusiastic project manager, his staff, and volunteers from the Friends of the Botanic Gardens. John's energy and passion for the facility provided a cut-through commentary of the role of the PlantBank, while not dumbing down the technical aspects of plant science. He provided a refreshing clarity to the science while engaging the members of the general public who peppered him with questions about the Wollemi Pine to agar.


The PlantBank building provides an architectural statement about the endangered Cumberland Woodland that surrounds the facility. The building is designed not only to protect the plant vaults, but to be fire resistant. It is a post-modern statement in concrete, stainless steel and glass. The striking lines of the building provide a symbosis with its environment and is an aesthetic extension of the woodland that surrounds it. The building emerges out of the woodland, like the majestic red gums around it, as you approach either on foot. The building makes a statement, an announcement, to the visitor that matches its confidence. The architects BVN Donovan Hill have, according to the website, used a

metaphor to communicate that broad conceptual idea that 'PlantBank is positioned globally as a symbol of the preservation of the natural cycle from the germination of seed to the propagation of forests'. It does so from the large scale siting strategy through to the selection of materials and detailing.

Diversity Wall located near the reception desk of PlantBank (I Willis)

This is supported by the warmth of the timber interior veneers of mountain ash (Eucalyptus regnans) that contrast with the clinical efficiency of the glass and stainless steel.


The Macarthur region has certainly gained a magnificent addition to the gardens, which are the most visited tourist attraction in the area. Visitors with be able to take guided tours (at a cost) or self-guided tours when the PlantBank is open to the general public.

The PlantBank is a globally important facility in the Macarthur region and illustrates the global significance of Australian science. According the PlantBank website, the:

PlantBank incorporates modern world-class research laboratories, seed storage facilities, climate controlled glasshouse infrastructure and specialised teaching laboratories. The facilities at PlantBank complement those associated with the National Herbarium of New South Wales at the Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney. PlantBank can accommodate 50 research staff, students and local and international collaborative researchers at any one time. The interactive educational space can host several hundred students and visitors simultaneously. PlantBank will become a leading institution for education in plant science, invigorating the visitor experience through interactions with research findings and scientists giving valuable information on the important role of plants in our lives.

Eerieness of the 'Blue Room' (I Willis)

 Visitors can take in the eerieness of the 'blue room' adjacent to the cryo-storage areas where some plants are stored at -196^°C. These are next to the seed vault freezer where dried seeds are kept at

-20°C. Inspect the seedling that has grown from a 100 year old seed. Amazing considering the conditions it was kept in. At the Diversity Wall view the an example of the worlds largest seed pod from the Seychelles. What does it remind you of? 

When are you going to visit this exciting addition to Australia's cutting edge scientific facility at The Australian Botanic Gardens Mount Annan? 

Read more @   The Australian PlantBank at The Australian Botanic Garden Mt Annan