Review of Environmental Factors - Camden Valley Way Upgrade and Liz Kernohan Drive Extension (Final) - Flipbook - Page 634
2 Historical Context
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2.1 Regional Historical Context: Camden and the cow pastures
2.1.1 Establishment of Camden District
Shortly after the arrival of the First Fleet at Port Jackson, several of the cattle that had been imported from
England were reported lost. After some years, it was found that the cattle had strayed to an area to the
south-west of the settlement at Port Jackson. Governor Hunter sent a party to investigate and visited the
area himself at a later date in 1795. The area was eventually named Cow pastures, after the now wild cattle
found there. A hut was built near what is now Elderslie, to house a stockman to look after the cattle (Cited
in Biosys, 2010: 22).
A track to the area developed, as people visited for hunting and tours. The track may have been marked out
as early as 1803, by John Warby, who was Stockman of the Wild Cattle. In 1805, James Meehan surveyed
the line of the track leading south-west from Prospect and a rough road was formed. This became the Old
Cow pasture Road, most of which is now known as Camden Valley Way (Wrigley 2001: 9). The present road
still follows much of the original route to the present day (Mylrea 2002: 41).
The first grant of land in the area was made in 1805 to John Macarthur. The property was named Camden
Park (Wrigley 2001: 10). Macarthur was granted a total of 5,000 acres to demonstrate support for his
theories that there was potential for the production of fine quality wool in the colony (Mylrea 2002: 17).
Wool was the first main industry of the Camden area (Wrigley 2001: 18). By the late 1830s Macarthur9s
property had been expanded to 28,000 acres (Wrigley 2001: 10).
With the exception of the grant made to Macarthur, and another made to Walter Davidson, no other land
was granted in the Camden district until Macquarie became governor in 1810 (Mylrea 2002: 8). To the
north-east, in the South Creek catchment, a few grants had been made by 1806, all of which were located
along Cow pasture Road or the creek (Biosys 2010: 22)
However, by 1820 all land with agricultural potential had been alienated, with the exception of land
reserved for public purposes. It quickly became apparent that there were several difficulties faced by the
settlers in the Camden area, including lack of water, difficulty of access to Sydney, price fluctuations, local
commodity monopolies, and agricultural pests and diseases. Landowners who proved successful in
establishing holdings in the region appeared to have been those who had access to additional sources of
income to supplement the vicissitudes of the weather and the economy. (Perumal Murphy, August 1990: 1)
Effectively they had a financial buffer to support them in years when the crops failed, and disease
decimated the stock.
The developing village of Camden had been established by the Macarthur brothers, James and William, as
part of their Camden Park estate settlement in the 1830s. The first township lots were sold in 1840. The
village gradually became the transport node for the district and developed into the area9s leading
commercial and financial centre (Camden History Notes).
Gradually, a substantial proportion of the smaller grants were eventually absorbed into the larger estates
along the Camden road between Campbelltown and Liverpool. Other than some changes in ownership,
these large estates remained largely intact. Some of the landholdings that started off of a modest size were
increased through purchase of neighbouring property or through marriage into a neighbouring family.
Labour on the largest estates had initially been supplied by convicts but on smaller properties, ex-convicts
were employed as was casual labour, depending on the season. In some instances, landowners leased
