HOMES Australian Country 63from classical literature, biographies
and scientifi c and agricultural texts to
religious and political texts, military
histories and bound copies of Punch
and the Illustrated London News. “The
archivists have recently been cataloguing
the books, noting their provenance and
inscriptions in the front,” Edwina says.
“The amazing thing is they keep fi nding
smaller collections within the greater
body. They include George Bass’s medical
texts, William Dawes’ astronomy records
and a collection of 30 to 40 books owned
by another member of the First Fleet.”
The art collection is extensive and
family portraits, souvenirs from travels
to England and Europe and memorabilia
passed down through the generations
enhance every room. The “wood passage”
between the entrance hall and the old
kitchen is lined with samples of south-east
Australian timbers collected by William. A
duplicate set of this collection was sent to
the Paris international exhibition of 1855.
For many years the varieties of the timbers
were unknown, but recently archivists
unearthed an index to the French set and
it has now been translated. Photographs
of famous visitors, including royalty, also
add to the montage and a framed letter of
thanks from the Duchess of York in 1927
expresses her gratitude for respite during aroyal tour and observes that it was “such a
relief to look at horses rather than people”
for a day.
Camden Park today remains very much
a working farm with a dairy herd of 250
Friesian-Holsteins and a chicken for meat
facility which raises 450,000 to 500,000
birds each year. There are also 15 cottages
on the farm, most of which are rented to
locals including several loyal employees,
who have worked on the farm for decades.
When John was a child, the district would
have supported 70 to 80 dairies. Now
Camden Park is one of only six or seven
survivors. “Unfortunately this land grows
better houses than cows,” John observes. ›