The Camden Park Estate incorporating the Belgenny Farm is a heritage-listed large working historical farm located at Elizabeth Macarthur Avenue, in the outer south-western Sydney suburb of Camden South, New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by Henry Kitchen in , John Verge in and A. J. Onslow in and built from 1819 to 1840 by John Macarthur in , James English and Sons in and John Sulman . The property is owned by Belgenny Farm Trust and Camden Park Preservation Committee. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 22 December 2006. Today, part of the original estate contains the Elizabeth Macarthur Agricultural Institute; having originally served as a commercial sheep station and horticultural farm for the Macarthur family since the early 1800s.
History When the first fleet arrived in Sydney Cove in 1788 they found the soil unsuitable for farming and soon looked towards the heavy clay and loam soils of the Cumberland Plain (to the west) to sustain the colony. Early agricultural settlements were located on the rich alluvial soils of the Nepean, Hawkesbury and Georges River areas, as well as South Creek near and at the head of the Parramatta River where the settlement of Rose Hill (later Parramatta) was established about six months after the fleet landed. A settlement at the Hawkesbury was established in 1794.Godden Mackay Logan, 2012, 20.
The first European settlers in the Camden area were the cattle that escaped from Sydney Cove in 1788 and found their way to the lush pastures of the Wianamatta Shale region. It was the loss of these cattle that led to the discovery of this fertile landscape in 1795, when a party sent by Governor Hunter to investigate rumours of the strayed cattle discovered them in an area they promptly named "Cowpastures". The Cowpastures remained unoccupied due to the official decree that reserved the land for the wild cattle (to encourage their increase).
This area was the traditional land of the Gandangara people.Garran, 1978, 530. The earliest recorded contact between Europeans and Aboriginal people in this area was described by the French explorer, Francis Barrallier in 1802. Travelling through Cowpastures with his party, Barrallier recorded in his journal that "he met and befriended the Gandangara people".Barrallier, 1897, 749–825
Evidence of Macarthur's later meeting the Gandangara people is documented in some early records of the "Macarthurs of Camden". When the Privy Council asked Macarthur about "natives" in the area mooted for pastoral land, Macarthur replied that "they come amongst the settlers familiarly, but have no fixed abode, and live upon what they can find for themselves". Within a few years of the Gandangara people formally welcoming Barallier, John Macarthur had settled down in the best part of their traditional lands to graze sheep. James Macarthur and family members have recounted stories of Aboriginal corroborees near Camden Park in 1839, 1846 and 1850.
Moves towards the establishment of Belgenny Farm were first made in 1801, when John Macarthur was exiled to England for causing dissent after fighting a duel in which he shot his own commanding officer. While in England, Macarthur worked to promote his own interests and that of the colony by setting out the groundwork for a wool industry. He convinced the British Secretary of State, Lord Camden, to provide him with more land to pasture his flocks, and he also acquired a small number of merino sheep from the flocks of King George III.Australian Encyclopaedia Vol.7, 6th ed.
In December 1803 Governor King and Mrs King visited the Cowpastures for themselves and the Sydney Gazette reported that Mrs King was the first "white lady" to have crossed the Nepean River. By 1804 much of the Cumberland Plain had been settled and King began to look for other regions in the colony for favourable arable land. The only suitable land within the Cumberland Plain was the area known as the Cowpastures, located in the south-western corner. This area was named after the discovery in 1795 of cows from the first fleet which had wandered off into the bush.
The track to the Cowpastures led from Prospect and on 17 September 1805 James Meehan, under instructions from Governor King, commenced a survey of the track from Prospect to the Nepean Crossing and a rough road followed the marked line. This became known as Cowpasture Road, later the Hume Highway, most of which is today part of the Camden Valley Way.
Several visits to the area by the colonial gentry took place at this time, which resulted in their desire to acquire some of this rich land for themselves. They saw the area as containing very good grazing land. Captain Henry Waterhouse described the area in a letter to John Macarthur in 1804 as follows: "I am at a loss to describe the face of the country other than as a beautiful park, totally divested of underwood, interspersed with plains, with rich luxuriant grass".
Earlier Europeans had described "large ponds covered with ducks and the black swan, the margins of which were fringed with shrubs of the most delightful tints". The Europeans thought the flats were perfect for cattle and the hills would carry sheep. They admired the absence of underbush – probably achieved through Aboriginal burning off – and felt comfortable with a landscape that reminded them of an English gentleman's park.Godden Mackay Logan, 2012, 20
On his return to NSW in 1805 with an additional grant from Lord Camden, John Macarthur selected land known as the Cowpastures on the western side of Nepean River. Although these were the traditional lands of the Gandangara people, Macarthur expressed his gratitude to Lord Camden by naming the 1805 grant "Camden". From this time, John Macarthur resigned his commission as leader of the opposition to Governor Bligh and devoted himself to farming and commercial activities.
Macarthur received the first land grant in the Cowpastures region in 1805 for his role in the early wool industry in the colony. Lord Camden rewarded him with and Macarthur chose the highly coveted Cowpastures for his grant, though Governor King tried to prevent him taking it. Macarthur also organised an grant for his friend Walter Davidson, who allowed Macarthur to use his land freely after Davidson returned to England. In this manner Macarthur controlled of riverbank on the site where the wild cattle had first discovered the best pasture near Sydney. Later purchases and exchanges increased the Macarthur land there to over , an endowment that Governor Macquarie greatly resented.
Other early grants were in the Parishes of Minto and in adjoining Evan, Bringelly, Narellan and Cook. These all lay west of Parramatta.Godden Mackay Logan, 2012, 21 James Macarthur and family members have recounted stories of Aboriginal corroborees near Camden Park in 1839, 1846 and 1850.
One of the first improvements Macarthur made to the property was the construction of a small hut on a ridge at Benkennie (Belgenny). Contemporary illustrations show it to have been a simple slab hut with a bark roof and a chimney on one side. It was located a short distance from the present Belgenny Cottage. However, disputes continued between Macarthur and Bligh over the control of the rum trade and its use as a currency. In 1807 when Macarthur resisted Bligh's order to arrest him, Bligh had him placed under "house arrest" by Rum Corps officers. Macarthur was effectively exiled from the colony from 1810 to 1817 for his involvement in the "Rum Rebellion", leaving his wife Elizabeth to do most of the work in developing food production at Camden Park.Australian Encyclopaedia Vol. 7, 6th ed.
Elizabeth left her residence at Elizabeth Farm and spent the culling season in the original hut while she managed the property. Governor and Mrs Macquarie stayed there during their visit in 1810 and described the hut as "small and miserable". By 1813, the Camden Park flock had increased to 4033 and a wool store had been built to house the clip.
Origins
John Macarthur, who had arrived in the colony of New South Wales in 1790 had quarrelled with successive Governors. He was forced to return to England to face trial for duelling (the charges were dismissed). While he was there, he gained the patronage of, among others, the Colonial Secretary, Lord Camden. Camden supported Macarthur and ordered Governor King to grant Macarthur 5,000 acres (20 km2) at a location of his own choosing. In 1805 when Macarthur returned to Sydney he choose the fertile 'Cowpastures', which was the first area beyond the Nepean River to be settled. King grudgingly acceded to Lord Camden's wishes, and the grant was verified in 1806. Macarthur named his new property 'Camden Park' in honour of his patron.
Amongst the first structures to be built at Camden Park was a slab and bark hut, referred to as the 'miserable hut' by Governor Macquarie. Located to the immediate North of the Belgenny Farm complex, the area thought to have been the site of this and other huts was the subject of an archaeological dig in 2009.
From 1809 to 1817, John Macarthur left Australia as a result of his pivotal involvement in the revolt that overthrew Governor William Bligh, the so-called Rum Rebellion. His wife Elizabeth managed his extensive pastoral interests in his absence. While in Europe, Macarthur studied agriculture and viticulture, and toured on foot throughout France with his sons James and William. John Macarthur was allowed to return to the colony in 1817 on condition that he no longer participate in public affairs. He turned his attentions to developing his considerable estates, and the merino flocks which he had moved to Camden Park.
Viticulture and agriculture In 1816, the Royal Society for the Arts in England had offered medals for wine from New South Wales. As early as that year, Blaxland (at Brush Farm in Ryde) was sending wine to Governor Macquarie to keep him informed about the possibility of an Australian wine industry. Blaxland certainly knew of the grape varieties brought back to Australia in 1817 by John, James and William Macarthur and of their plantings at Camden Park. But their first vintage was not until 1824.Blaxcel, 14 October 2010.
John Macarthur returned from England in 1817 with his two sons, James and William, and began to expand the productivity of the farm by introducing vine cuttings, olive trees and various seeds and agricultural implements purchased overseas. However an olive tree at the Macarthurs' Elizabeth Farm, Parramatta, dates from and the first olive trees presented to Sydney's Royal Botanic Gardens as a gift of the Macarthurs in 1816 predate the Camden Park olive trees.
By 1819 a new cottage had been built at Belgenny, possibly designed by Henry Kitchen, and Macarthur was dividing his time between Camden, Elizabeth Farm and Hambledon Cottage at Parramatta.
The following decade was prosperous for the family with their wool receiving record prices and prizes. Belgenny was the centre of operations for the Camden estate and its importance increased as the family's pastoral and agricultural activities were concentrated on the estate. An additional were granted to the family in four separate parcels with a further rented. Clearing and burning programs were begun to prepare the land and threshing and dressing machines were ordered from local merchants. In 1824 a house site had been fenced off and a dairy had been built which employed 14 dairymaids and 23 shepherds. This implies that there were a number of dwellings for the estate workers in existence at this time. A further were added to the estate holdings in 1825 expanding the property to an area covering over , with an additional 400 hectares under lease.