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

Camden Landscapes



Camden Council Aldermen 1950 (Camden Images)

Political landscape

Camden Local Government

Local government in the Camden area in its current form was originally established in 1883 and, until the First World War, was dominated by Camden townsmen. 

Landed Gentry

After the war the success of the local dairy industry shifted political power on council to the interests of the landed gentry. 

 

Mining magnates

The success of the Burragorang Valley coalfields after the Second World War shifted the power base, again, to miners and local business interests. 

Urban Growth Area

From the late 1960s  the rural nature of the area has been increasingly compromised by successive state governments which have seen the LGA as a growth area for Sydney urbanisation. This was detailed in the Sydney Region Outline Plan in 1967, and from it came the Three Cities Plan in 1973.

Local Administration

Throughout this period council administration has been located in the Camden township, although some administrative functions have shifted to Narellan in recent years, better reflecting the commercial  and demographic realities of the LGA.  

A Little Bit of the British Empire

Historically the LGA has been an outpost of the British Empire with Anglo-Australian Christian traditions (a ‘little England’) where localism and parochialism, amongst a host of  factors (conservatism, interpersonal and familial networks, social hierarchies, gender expectations, rugged individualism, intimacy and rural ideology), typified the social and cultural make-up of the area.  

 

 

Read more about the history of Camden local government click here  and here

Read about the history of Camden at the Dictionary of Sydney

 

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

Kirkham



Camelot (formerly Kirkham) (Camden Images)

Kirkham is a picturesque, semi-rural locality on Sydney's rural-urban fringe between the historic township of Camden, with its inter-war and colonial heritage and the bustling commercial centre of Narellan.

Sydney rural-urban fringe

The arrival of the rural-urban fringe at Kirkham in recent decades has created a contested site of tension and constant change, resulting in an ever-evolving landscape. Successive waves of occupants have created their own stories, heroes and icons through a reinterpretation of history and heritage.

Rural aesthetic

The most recent newcomers have taken ownership of Kirkham's identity, assisted by developer-created exclusivity and the locality's rural aesthetic. The physical landscape of Kirkham is dominated by a bucolic scene provided by the valley of Narellan Creek.

Colonial heritage

John Oxley (1784–1828) was granted 1,000 acres by Lieutenant-Governor William Paterson, which he had to surrender in 1810. Governor Macquarie subsequently granted Oxley 600 acres, which was increased to 1,000 acres in 1815. The grant was named Kirkham after Oxley's birthplace, Kirkham Abbey in Yorkshire, and had frontages on the Great Southern Road and the Nepean River.There are two heritage icons from the colonial period: Kirkham Stables and Kirkham homestead (Camelot).

Main road

The main road passing through Kirkham is the Camden Valley Way which was known as the Great South Road until 1928 when it was renamed the Hume Highway.



Pansy, Camden-Campbelltown train (Camden Images)

Pansy, the Camden tram

 The route of the railway ran alongside the Great South Road through Kirkham between Camden and Narellan and was a prominent cultural feature on the landscape. Kirkham Railway Station, which was one of nine stations located on the railway.

Yamba Cottage, Kirkham c 1920 (Camden Images)

Yamba cottage

Historic Yamba cottage fronts Camden Valley Way (formerly the Hume Highway) 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.

Read more @ http://www.dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/kirkham 

The outdoor movie cinema is not dead

Add caption

Cinema Under the Stars 2014

Movies under the Stars again in 2014. Locals families had a great evening when thousands descended on The Australian Botanic Gardens for the annual Cinema Under the Stars as part of the Camden Festival. The show was centred around a family friendly event and organisers were not disappointed. Hundreds of local families with youngsters, mum, dad and grandparents all trotted out with their chairs, rugs and picnics. The food stalls did a roaring trade in sausage sandwiches and Turkish delights. the little ones had passed out by the end of the first feature and most left, leaving the hardy ones to take in the second show. At the finale the crowd, what was left of it, packed up and made their way to the half-empty carpark  in the paddock and left the Botanic Garden.

Action at the food stalls

Action in the crowd waiting for the movie

Heading home after the movie

Read more  here about outdoor cinema in Australia

Read more here about the Narellan Drive-In

Read more on the outdoor movie experience

@ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Picture_Garden

@ Willis, Ian (2009), "Whither Heritage, the Experience of the Outdoor Movie Theatre", AQ - Australian Quarterly 81 (6): 35–39,



Cinema Under the Stars 2013

Cinema Under the Stars 2013 (I Willis)

On a recent Saturday night  hundreds of families attended the Cinema Under the Stars at The Australian Botanic Gardens at Mount Annan. It was part of the Camden Festival which runs throughout September 2013.

Cinema Under the Stars

Cinema Under the Stars started out at Macarthur Park in Camden 12 years ago as part of the Camden
Spring Festival but the huge crowds outlived their welcome and a new venue was needed. It was transferred to the botanic gardens where a crowd of several thousand could see the movie without destroying the vegetation or each other.

Movie go-ers were directed to park their cars by the volunteer bush fire fighters in a vacant grass paddock adjacent to the tarmac carpark. Movie go-ers unloaded their rugs, picnic rugs, eskies, fold up seating, picnic baskets and with the kids in tow walked across the parking area to the site of the movie action.




Early movie go-ers

The inflatible movie screen was located next to the lawn amphi-theatre next to Lake Sedgewick, with sound projecting from speakers located either side of the screen. The projector was strategically located on the high side of the lawn. The projectionist was showing slides of the Camden Festival while the sun setting and darkness decended on the crowd.

What was screening

Movie go-ers were all bundled in warm coats, beenies and  scarves. They brought their blankets, picnic rugs and fold-up chairs and watched the 2012 release Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, an animated adventure comedy, with voices done by the likes of Ben Stiller. In the movie Alex, Marty, Gloria and Melman were fighting to get home to their beloved Big Apple. Their journey takes them through Europe where they find the perfect cover: a traveling circus, which they reinvent - Madagascar style.

This was followed after a short inteval by the 2012 comedy release of Parental Guidance with stars Bette Midler and Billy Crystal. In the movie Artie and Diane agree to look after their three grand-kids when their type-A helicopter parents need to leave town for work. Problems arise when the kids' 21st-century behavior collides with Artie and Diane's old-school methods.

Food queue

One of the most important things with all outdoor movie experiences is the food. Going back to the days of the drive-in of the 1960s and 1970s the queue for the hot-dogs, chicko-rolls, and chock-top was one of the most memorable experiences. It has changed little in 50 years. Today patrons line up at the BBQ run by the local Lions Club for a steak or sausage sandwich. Or you line up for a take-away coffee or hot chocolate.

Movie go-ers lining up at the BBQ 

Going home at night's end

When the movies have finished it is time to pack up all the gear up and the kids, and cart it all back to the car. Making sure not to leave behind anything in the dark. You have to take all your rubbish with you and not a mark of your presence on the botanic gardens lawn. The movie go-ers trapes back across the paddock into the dark. Back to the car with all the gear.

Then there is drive out of the paddock car park, weaving your way between the witches hats, like threading cotton through the eye of a small needle. Follow the leader out of the car park minding not to run over some else's youngster in the dark. Making sure not to drive down a rabbit or wombat hole. Then follow the conga-line of cars out of the  gardens grounds before they shut the gates and lock you in.

Read more on the outdoor movie experience

@ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Picture_Garden

@ Willis, Ian (2009), "Whither Heritage, the Experience of the Outdoor Movie Theatre", AQ - Australian Quarterly 81 (6): 35–39,



Camden District Red Cross

Ministering Angels

The Camden District Red Cross is the story of conservative country women doing their patriotic duty in an outpost of the British Empire. From 1914 Camden district women joined local Red Cross branches and their affiliates in the towns and villages around the colonial estate of the Macarthur family at Camden Park. They sewed, knitted and cooked for God, King and Country throughout the First and Second World Wars, and during the years in-between. They ran stalls and raffles, and received considerable community support through cash donations from individuals and community organisations for Red Cross activities.


Camden’s Edwardian women, Enid Macarthur Onslow, Sibella Macarthur Onslow and their ilk, provided leadership at a local, state and national level. These women were intelligent, wealthy and powerful with extensive transnational networks between Camden, Sydney, Melbourne and London. Their families, along with others from the district, provided their fathers, sons and brothers as imperial warriors for Australia’s overseas military excursions from the time of the Boer War, and local women worked to support ‘their boys’. The leadership group created ground-breaking opportunities that empowered country women and allowed them, within the strict confines of rural life, to exercise their agency by undertaking patriotic activities for the first time.


The Red Cross encouraged women to immerse themselves in the ministering angel mythology and serve ‘their boys’ by volunteering at branch sewing circles and fundraisers, and as voluntary aids at military, civilian and Red Cross hospitals.


Their stories were the essence of place, and the success of the district branches meant that over time homefront volunteering became synonymous with the Red Cross.


Read more here

And read more in Ministering Angels

See the Red Cross display at the Camden Museum here

See details of book here

Pimelea Spicata - Endangered

Spiked Rice-flower (ANBG)

Spiked Rice-flower - Pimelea Spicata

One of the Camden area's little known endangered plant species in Pimelea Spicata or in plain English Spiked Rice-flower.

Spiked Rice-flower is a low growing shrub that flowers occasionally. The small flowers are white tinged with pink. The plant usually does not grow to more than 30 cms in height.

The NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service information sheet states that the plant is difficult to detect unless it is in flower. It flowers sporadically between May and January depending on rain.

Locality and distribution

The plant occurs in fragmented areas in urban fringe areas, including patches of remnant Cumberland Woodland in the Narellan area..

More specifically it is distributed in Cumberland Woodland in Western Sydney from Mt Annan and Narellan Vale, to Freeman's Reach and Penrith, as well as Western Sydney Regional Park, Prospect Reservoir Catchment,  Australian Botanic Garden at Mount Annan and the St Marys ADI site. It extends to the Illawarra where it is found in areas from Mt Warrigal to Gerroa and Minnamurra, mainly on coastal headlands and hilltops.

Threats

Threats to the plant include habitat modification and loss, weed invasion, dumping of rubbish, arson, fire hazard reduction, trampling and compaction from bikes, walkers and vehicles and exposure to herbicides.

Studley Park house development threat

Proposed development around Studley Park house in recent times has given this little flower a new level of prominence in the minds of the local community. 

Learn more about the pimelea spicata (spiked rice flower)

Read more on Spiked Rice-flower click here from NSW NPWS Fact Sheet
Read more @ Australian Government, Dept of Environment, Species Profile and Threats Database

Updated 28 December 2020; Originally posted 7 July 2014.

Camden Museum

Brunero Spinning Wheel c.1916 (Camden Museum)

Brunero Spinning Wheel

The Camden Red Cross workers used the Brunero spinning wheel to make wool yarn for knitting soldier’s socks in the First World War. While the Industrial Revolution replaced hand-spinning by the 1914 Camden women retained this traditional craft skill and put it to patriotic purposes.

The hand-spinners at the Camden Red Cross supplied hand-knitters with yarn to make woollen socks, which were then sent off to Red Cross headquarters in Sydney. Soldier’s woollen socks lasted about 2-3 weeks in the trenches of the Western Front and stopped the soldiers from getting trench foot. The Red Cross supplied patterns for knitters, and the Camden News occasionally published the patterns as well.

The spinning wheel has its origins in the Middle East in the 12^th or 13^th centuries and replaced hand spinning with a spindle. In European cultures it was replaced by mechanised spinning in the Industrial Revolution in the 18^th century. Spinning is the subject of fables, fairy tales and stories going back to the Middle Ages. They also appear in music, legends and myths with symbolic political meanings.

The spinning wheel in its various forms has a domestic utilitarian status. Spinning is a tedious craft that takes time to master. 

The Camden spinning wheel was made by Domenico Brunero, a Camden inventor and manufacturer, sometime around 1916-1917. Brunero’s spinning wheels were of a unique design because of his invention with the skein-maker, wool-winder and spool-stands conveniently placed so that the wool was quickly ready for knitting. There are very few of Mr. Brunero’s cleverly designed spinning wheels still in operation.

The State Library of New South Wales has the records of Irene Read and her collection of knitting patterns for socks that were knitted for Australian soldiers. She said that the best socks were seamless and comfortable. Click here to view Irene Read's records @ SLNSW

View spinning in operation 

Thanks to Julie Wrigley, Exhibition Curator, The Camden district Red Cross in war and peace.

Camden Military History

First World War Memorial at Macarthur Park Camden (Camden Remembers)

Camden district Military History

There are many aspects to military history of the Camden district that start in the colonial period and are part of current events. They can be categorised under a number of heading and they include:
(1) conflicts
(2) wartime homefront.
(3) military establishments
(4) memorials
(5) organisations
(6) cemeteries
(7) local identities

Conflicts

There have been local residents who have participated in a host of military conflicts since the 18th century. For details of some of these see Camden Remembers

The Homefront

There was lots of activity on the Camden homefront especially during the conflicts of the first half of the 20th century.

The most important homefront organisations in the history of the Camden district was the Red Cross. There were branches across the district as well as a number of auxiliary organisations including Voluntary Aid Detachments, and the Junior Red Cross. 

Read about the Red Cross in an exhibition at the Camden Museum
Read a story about Grace, a Camden volunteer on the homefront during the Second World War.

Military establishments

There were a host of military establishments across the district were part of the larger Australian military effort. 

Read a story about an air raid shelter that was uncovered at Camden Airfield

Memorials

Read more @ Camden district memorials

Cemeteries

Camden War Cemetery (I Willis)

The Camden War Cemetery is located on the outskirts of Camden township adjacent to the Camden General Cemetery.

Read more on Camden War Cemetery

Further reading and helpful resources @

Camden Remembers
Camden RSL
Camden History
The Australian War Memorial
National Archives of Australia
Gallipoli and The Anzacs
Spirits of Gallipoli
Australians on the Western Front 1914-1918

Hope and loss on the urban fringe

Mount Annan new housing subdivision 2002 (Camden Images/P Mylrea)

Winners and losers on the urban fringe

Sydney’s rural-urban fringe is a site of winners and losers.

It is a landscape where dreams are fulfilled and memories lost. The hope and expectations of newcomers are met with the promises of land developers in master planned suburban utopias.

At the same time, locals grasp at lost memories as the ruralcountryside is covered in a sea of tiled roofs and concrete driveways.



Conflict over a dream

As Sydney’s rural-urban fringe moves across the countryside it becomes a contested site between locals and outsiders over their aspirations and dreams. The conflict revolves around displacement and dispossession.

Sydney’s rural-urban fringe is similar to the urban frontier of large cities in Australia and other countries. It is a dynamic landscape that makes and re-makes familiar places.

More than this the rural-urban fringe is a zone of transition where invasion and succession are constant themes for locals and newcomers alike. 

Searching for the security of a lost past

 As Sydney’s urban sprawl invades fringe communities locals yearn for a lost past and hope for some safe keeping of their memories. They use nostalgia as a fortress and immerse themselves in community rituals and traditions that are drawn for their past. They are drawn to ever popular festivals like the Camden Show and Campbelltown's Fishers Ghost Festival which is celebration of the rural heritage of Sydney’s fringe.


Richmond NSW (cc Flickr/D Whiteman)

Local communities respond by creating  imaginary barriers to ward off the evils of Sydney's urban growth that is about to run them over. One of the most important is the metaphorical moat created by the Hawkesbury-Nepean River floodplain  around a number of the fringe communities of Camden, Richmond and Windsor.

Fringe communities use their rural heritage to ward off the  tentacles of the Sydney octopus that are about the strangle them. In one example the Camden community has created an imaginary country town idyll. A cultural myth where rural traditions are supported by the church on the hill, the village green and the Englishness of the gentry's colonial estates. 

Hope and the creation of an illusion

Outsiders and ex-urbanites come to the new fringe suburbs looking for a new life in a semi-rural environment. As they escape the evils of their own suburbia they seek to immerse themselves in the rurality of the fringe. They want to retreat to an authentic past when times were simpler. It is a perception that land developers are eager to exploit.
 


Ex-urbanites are drawn to the urban frontier by developer promises of their own piece of utopia and the hope of a better lifestyle. They seek a place where "the country still lookslike the country". These seek what the local fringe communities already possess – open spaces and a rural countryside.

The imagination of new arrivals is set running by developer promises of suburban dreams in master-planned estates. They are drawn in by glossy brochures, pollie speak, media hype and in recent times subsidies on landscaping and other material benefits.

Manicured parks, picturesque vistas and  restful water features add to the illusion of a paradise on the urban frontier.  Developers commodify a  dream in an idyllic semi-rural setting that new arrivals hope will protect  their  life-savings in a house and land package.

Destruction of the dream

Oran Park housing development 2010 (Camden Images/P Mylrea)

Dreams are also destroyed on  Sydney’s urban frontier for  many new comers.  Once developers of master-planned estates have made their profit they withdraw. They no longer support the idyllic features that created the illusion of a suburban utopia.

The dreams of a generation of ex-urbanites have come  crashing down in suburbs like Harrington Park and Mt Annan. The absence of developer rent-seeking has meant that their dreams  have evaporated and gone to dust.   Manicured parks have become overgrown. Restful water features have turned into dried up cesspools inhabited by vermin.

Paradoxically the invasion of ex-urbanites has displaced and dispossessed an earlier generation of diehard motor racing  fans of their dreams. The destruction of the Oran Park Raceway created its own landscape of lost memories. Ironically new arrivals at Oran Park  bask in the reflected glory of streets named after Australian motor racing legends and sculptures that pay tribute the long gone raceway. 

The latest threat to the dreams of all fringe dwellers is the invasion of Sydney’s southwest urban frontier by the  exploratory drilling of coal seam gas wells. Locals and new arrivals alike see their idyllic surroundings disappearing before their eyes. They are fearful for their semi-rural lifestyle.

So what of the dreams?

Sydney’s rural-urban fringe will continue to be a frontier where conflict is an ever present theme in the story of the place. Invasion, dispossession, opportunity and hope are all part of the ongoing story of this zone of constant change. 


Read more @  Imaginings on Sydney’s Edge: Myth, Mourning and Memory in a Fringe Community  (Sydney Journal)