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I I ARCHAEOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT I I I 100 PARRAMATTA ROAD AUBURN I I Former Sydney Meat Preserving Company Works I I I I I I ~~ I I I I I 8Yl>NEY llEAT< PI<ESKI<VING COMPANY'S WORKS, HACKING CI!lnnC. I WendyThorp I Cultural Resources Management I I I ARCHAEOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT :1 I I 100 PARRAMATTA ROAD AUBURN I I Former Sydney Meat Preserving Company Works 1 1 I 1 1 I I I :1 July 1999 I I Prepared on Behalf of Reading Entertainment I WendyThorp I Cultural-Resources Management I I Archaeological Assessment: 100 Parramatta Road, Auburn ' I CONTENTS OF THE REPORT I ". '. 1~0 . , " PRE~~S OFTHE REPORT . .... ' .... 1 , The \ 't..:~/' 'rk ' , .. ,. , I '1.1 . V~Vt.,," .''l!,o' ~'. ~ j.• t ••••••••••••• 1 . i'l. I'~ , •• I . 1.2:: " The~Ltory\I!'iJ!tW:i":Wij:!I:~;'. ,~'.'~'"., . )f ·:111 ... 1 1.3 , The~' chae61dbical Hesource .. '.1 !i ... 2 ,," "'1'''8'' "''''f') ., .• , • 'I I 1.4 ' , CU It ur,," " Ignl Icants . : . : . .'.' ". 3 1.5 The Development. 3 I 1.6 Management . 4 2.0 THE INVESTIGATION '... 5 2.1 The Study Area and Subject 5, I 2.2 Status of the Site '.' . 5 2.3 Methodology . " . 5 2.4 'btSjectives and Tasks'. .' :-. 5 I 2.5 Authorship, Client and Acknowledgements 6 3.0 HISTORICAL CONTEXT . 7 I 3.1 The Pre-European Environment & Aboriginal Occupation . 8 3.2 First European Settlement . 10 I 3.3 The Sydney Meat Preserving Company . 12 3.4 Subdivision and Closure - Capital Motors . 17 I 4.0 THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESOURCE .. 20 4.1 Summary Site Development 20. 4.2 The Factory Com ponents . 20 I 4.3 Topography . .,.,., . .' . 23 4.3 Visual Evidence',., : : . .'. 23 4.4 Geo-technical Evidence .. 23 I 4.5 Potential Archaeological Resource . 24 5.0 CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE . ............ 25 I 5.1 Evaluation Criteria . 25 5.2 . Assessment of Significance 26 I 5.3 Statement of Significance . 28 6.0 MANAGEMENT ..... 29 6.1 The Development Proposal and Its Impact. 29 I 6.2 Statutory Considerations . .. 29 6.3 Financial Commitment .... 30 6.4 Archaeological Requirements 30 I 6.5 Recommendations ..... 31 7.0 , DOCUMENTATION . 32 I 7.1 Endnotes .. 32 I 7.2 Bibliography ... 37 I I I Archaeological Assessment: 100 Parramatta Road, Auburn 1 SECTION 1.0 1 IPRECIS OF THE REPORT 1 1.1 The I -report is the archaeological resource which may be contained within the land at 0 Parramatta Road, Auburn. Most recently this was the business premises of Capital Motors. The objective of the work has been to determine the 1 existence, extent, nature, integritY and significance of this resource and to provide 1 recommendations for its future management. 1.2 The History I The pre-settlement environment was characterised by a gentle terrain of dense forest with pockets of more open, grassed land. It was based on fertile soils which attracted early European farming. There was a freshwater stream, Haslams Creek, running I- through the study area. The area was notable for the diversity and abundance of its native wildflowers and other vegetation and fauna. This landscape survived in many 1 places until the later part of the nineteenth century. The earliest land-owners were likely to have been the Wangal people or clan although the association with a specific tribe, Guringai, Eora or Dharug is problematic. Within 1 a few decades of European settlement these people had been decimated by disease, their lands appropriated and their traditional culture had disintegrated. There were numerous reports of spiralling retaliatory acts between the Aboriginal people and 1 white settlers in the Auburn area. I The study area encompasses the land grants of Samuel Haslam (1816) and James Wright (1819). The entire holdings of the Sydney Meat Works Company also included grants made to Ann Curtis in 1823, George Tuckwell in 1823 and William Haslam in 1 1831. These were excised from the property early in the twentieth century. The study area represents approximately a third of the full company lands. There is no evidence of any particular use made of the study area for European purposes, other than being 1 cleared for timber, prior to the establishment of the factory in the 1870s. The Sydney Meat Preserving Company was formed in 1869 as a joint stock venture. 1 The site at Auburn, between Parramatta Road; the railway, John Street and St Hilliers Road, was chosen because of its access to water and road and rail transport. Over the next thirty years the factory was progressively expanded to include processing, I canning and packing facilities. All of the works were located in the extreme north-western corner of the site including two dams which were to the south of the main buildings. The rest and majority of the site was vacant, used for paddocks, I vegetable gardens and holding pens. One of the largest, best known and most I successful of the several canning factories which were established around the I Wendy Thorp for Reading Entertainment Page 1 ---------------- ---- I Archaeological Assessment: 100 Parramatta Road, Auburn I country in this period the SMP Company, purchased by F. J. Walker Ltd in 1918, remained in business until 1965. I From the 1920s the Company holdings were greatly reduced by subdivision and the sale of lands to create Wyatt Park to the south. The present boundaries of the study area were created in the later part of the 1920s. Further reduction of land was made I by the reclamation of Haslams Creek and the dams created by the company. A concrete channel was built in their place. This work took place during the later 1930s. The remaining buildings and railway track survived until they were demolished by the I new owners, Capital Motors, in c. 1965. The new company constructed a variety of prefabricated and concrete offices, warehouses, factory and showrooms on the site. I These have now been demolished and the site is vacant. 1.3 The Archaeological Resource I The potential archaeological resource of this site may encompass: I • some potential for Aboriginal relics • evidence of the pre-existing topography and environment in the form of remnant I soils and micro-flora I • evidence of the processes used by Europeans to clear the site • evidence in the north-western corner of the site of the buildings and works Of the Sydney Meat Preserving Company. It is impossible on the basis of the available I evidence to determine a precise location for any feature or the extent of the potential resource. It may encompass sub-surface features such as drains, tanks and pits and may encompass floors and otherfootings of buildings. Evidence may I also be found of the railway and tram system I • evidence of gardens and, possibly, of the dams • portable relics, most likely refuse from the factory such as cans I • evidence of the reclamation and rebuilding of the Haslams Creek channel I • evidence of the demolition and rebuilding processes of the 1960s and 1990s The most sensitive area of the site is likely to be along the western boundary adjoining Percy Street. The remainder of the site is unlikely to contain substantial I archaeological relics unless dumps were located away from the factory site in areas I that were primarily devoted to paddocks. Archaeological evidence appears to have been compromised by the demolition and rebuilding that occurred in the 1960s. However, there is insufficient evidence to I determine how comprehensive the impact was of this programme particularly on deeply excavated features such as tanks and drains. I I Wendy Thorp for Reading Entertainment Page 2 "--------------------------------- ---- ----------------- -------------------'" -I I Archaeological Assessment: 100 Parramatta Road, Auburn I 1.4 Cultural Significance The historical associations of this site begin with the earliest periods of European I settlement in the district. However, the principal historical association is with the Sydney Meat Preserving Company. This type of secondary pastoral industry was. representative of the profile of Auburn in the later years of the nineteenth century and I early years of the twentieth century. The SMP Company was the first major industry of its type in the area and certainly influenced the development of the suburb in this direction in the following years. It provided major employment opportunities, which I encouraged suburban subdivision, and later in its history provided the land for this subdivision and for a significant green space within the municipality. I The technologies employed at the SMP Company works were amongst the most modern at the time oftheir introduction and were often innovative and possibly unique to this site. In its form and methods the Auburn site represented the most sophisticated I preserving practices of the later nineteenth century. I The SMP Company was one of the most successful, if not the most successful, of the many similar factories established around Australia in the 1860s and 1870s. This was largely due to their unique financial structure as well as the quality of their I products. The company was internationally famous, one of the largest and longest running in Australia. It is oossible that substantial elements remain as archaeoloaical evidence of the I . ~ factory and its various components and changes made to the landscape. Investigation of this resource would provide a' rare opportunity to examine and I document physical evidence ofthis important aspect of manufacture and processing which is now largely only known from archival sources. I The archaeological evidence contained within the study area would be representative of its type but rare because of the few industrial sites of its kind which are known to I survive to any degree. I 1.5 The Development The principal elements of the proposed redevelopment of 100 Parramatta Road are: I • a car dealership I • ten cinemas • 6000 square metres of-retail I • parking for over 850 car9 in a basement area and on grade areas I •.