Building Our First High Rise

High rise development in our city is a topic that is currently dividing opinion. The latest controversial proposal is the construction of high rise next to the old CBC Bank and later Macarthur Advertiser building in Queen Street. However the arrival of high rise to Campbelltown dates back to the early 1960s with the building of Campbelltown Council's brash new administration centre. The library has in its collection a number of fascinating photographs of the construction of this building that I wanted to share with you.

The administration centre opened on Saturday, 28th November, 1964. It was easily the highest building in the town and was seen for kilometres around Campbelltown. The design was seen as "providing a strong vertical emphasis to the Civic Centre". Mayor Fraser at the time called it "a symbol of our faith in the future". The first stage of the Master Plan was prepared in early 1961. The first sod for construction was turned in June 1963 and by November the steel frame had begun to take shape. Work continued on through 1964 and by July the building was near completion.

The following photographs show the various stages of construction. They were taken by Jim Waugh. It's interesting to also look at the built environment around the administration building, most of which has disappeared.

This is the earliest construction photo we have in our collection and would've been taken in late 1963. The photo is looking towards Broughton Street. In the background to the right are the old ambulance station and to the left of the construction is the old milk depot. Both buildings no longer exist.

The next photograph above shows workman pouring concrete. These are the days before WHS became an issue! This would be in early 1964. In the background is the milk depot which stood on the adjacent to the railway line in Broughton Street. It was burnt down in 1969.

The above image is looking south west with the railway station in the background.

This one shows a lone worker perched precariously on a steel girder. The view is looking east and shows the old Macquarie Cinema in the background that was demolished in 1979.

Written by Andrew Allen

Sources:

McGill, Jeff 1999
Campbelltown: A modern history 1960-1999
Campbelltown: Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society

Campbelltown Ingleburn News Tuesday, December 1, 1964

The Milk Depot

In 1922 a new milk depot was proposed for the town of Campbelltown. There were about 68 dairies in the district and 45 of these dairies were interested in taking shares in a cooperative factory built in Badgally Road (then called Broughton Road) adjoining the railway crossing. Dairy Farmers Cooperative Milk Co opened the milk depot in 1923 at a cost of 6000 pounds.

In its hey-day, the depot received milk from 70 suppliers in the Campbelltown, Minto and Appin areas, to be chilled and transported in tankers by the "Milk Pot" train to Sydney. This train started from Moss Vale and picked up the Camden Depot milk freight and Campbelltown Depot milk, leaving Campbelltown at 11.45am.

Farmers delivered their milk to the factory in cans, which were scalded and steam-cleaned before they were returned to farms. The suppliers had to run the gauntlet of the various tests. There was a "blue" test, a sediment test for dirt as well as the butter fat test, all conducted locally. Failure of these tests would result in a "block" for a stipulated period.

The Milk Depot was also used for ice-making. This was an important activity for use in the household ice-chest, before the days of the refrigerator. The rectangular blocks of ice were delivered by the milkman.

On the 16th November, 1967 the Milk Depot closed after 44 years. Local dairying had dwindled with increasing urbanization and the impact of bulk pick-up had drastically reduced the need for the depot. Campbelltown supplier's milk was then taken to the Camden depot until a new depot was built in the industrial area off Rose Street a year later.

The depot building had been deteriorating for some years and was on railway land. The building became unused after the closure and was earmarked for demolition. Then on the 5th April, 1969 a spectacular early morning fire destroyed a portion of the building. The entire building was demolished the next day.

Written by Andrew Allen

Dating a Photograph

 (click on the image for a larger version) 

Campbelltown Library recently received a generous donation of photographs by Sue Dredge believed taken by her relative Garnet Dredge. One of these can be seen above. The photo is taken from a building on Blaxland Road looking east towards the multi-level Campbelltown City Council building.

Although the photographs, including this one, are undated, it is sometimes possible to use clues from the photograph to determine an exact or approximate date. There are clues in this photograph that help us. The council building was completed in 1964 and opened in December of that year. So we know the photograph was taken after 1963. In front of the council building in the photo, and on the other side of the railway line, is the Milk Depot. The depot was closed in 1967 and burned down in 1969. Therefore we can now narrow the date of the photo to between 1964 and 1969.

The photograph has a number of other recognisable landmarks. The Ambulance Station can be seen on the corner of Hurley and Broughton Streets. It was opened in 1960 before the council building, so it doesn't help in the dating. What does assist us however, is the building on the extreme right in the middle of the photo. This was part of today's Court House, although it had a significantly different appearance around this time. Dark brick additions along the main level of the facade were constructed which extended to the side of the building. This work was carried out during 1965 and 1966 and the additions removed in 1995. This therefore dates our photograph to after 1964.

We can now be sure that the image was taken between 1965 and 1969 inclusive.

If anyone else can identify anything else in the photograph that might help date it to a narrower period, I'd like to hear from you!


Written by Andrew Allen

Update

A clever reader has noticed that the railway isn't electrified yet. The electrification of the railway was completed and celebrated on May 4, 1968 meaning the photograph pre-dates this. It is mostly likely the photo was taken in 1966 or 1967.

Dairying in Campbelltown

Dairying and its related services was the largest employer in the Campbelltown district during the 1900s. By 1939 Campbelltown district was sending 16 000 gallons (72 800 L) of milk each week to the city. There were three main trains direct to Sydney. One of these was the Milk Pot which collected milk from Menangle to Ingleburn and delivered it to Sydney.

In 1922 a new milk depot was proposed for Campbelltown Railway Station. There were about 68 dairies in the district and 45 of these dairies were interested in taking shares in a cooperative factory on the western side of town in Badgally Road (then called Broughton Road). Built at a cost of 6000 pounds, the milk depot was a branch of the Camden Vale Milk Company and opened in mid-1923.

In 1920 the Macarthur family set up the Camden Vale Milk Company and built a milk processing plant in Camden at the eastern end of the main street adjacent to the rail line. Whole milk was railed to Darling Harbour and bottled under its own label until 1926. Between 1920 and 1922 Camden Vale Milk, which became a co-operative in 1921, had 162 milk suppliers and 289 cream suppliers. Milk was delivered to the factory on a daily basis by horse and cart, even up to the 1940s.

Within a year of the Broughton Road factory opening at Campbelltown Railway Station  the district was railing 13 000 gallons (59 150 L) of milk per week to Sydney. In 1924, 220 000 gallons (over 1 million L) were delivered within six months.

In 1929 the Camden Vale Milk Company amalgamated with the Dairy Farmers Milk Company.

Early mornings and long days were a typical day on a dairy farm, workers beginning their days at around 2am, not finishing until 6pm and often in bed by 8pm to be up again for the next day. Many men were given lodging and meals whilst working on the farm. Women folk were kept very busy cooking three meals a day often for 10 or more people.

Workers say that having a social life was difficult due to the early start and long hours. Some say if they did wish to go out on a Saturday night, usually to a dance or the movies, they would have missed going to bed at all.

Milking time at "St. Andrews", Minto in 1935 including Jack Thomson, Arthur Collins and Leo Kelly (Stan Thomson Collection) 

By Cathy Mitford

 

Sources:   Grist Mills Vol.21 No.1 Pg 7  2008

               :   Campbelltown: The Bicentennial History by Carol Liston 1988

               :   Camden   by Ian Willis