SCHEYVILLE NATIONAL PARK CONSERVATION MANAGEMENT PLAN Volume 1 HISTORY March 2009 Prepared for the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service Department of Environment and Climate Change Disclaimer The Department of Environment and Climate Change NSW has compiled this document in good faith exercising all due care and attention. No representation is made about the accuracy, completeness or suitability for any particular purpose of the source material included in this report. Readers should seek appropriate advice about the suitability of the content for their needs. The Department of Environment and Climate Change is pleased to allow this material to be reproduced in whole or in part for non-commercial use provided the meaning is unchanged and its source acknowledged. Published by: Department of Environment and Climate Change 59-61 Goulburn Street, Sydney PO Box A290 Sydney South 1232 Phone: 02 9995 5000 (switchboard) Fax: 02 9995 5999 TTY: 02 9211 4723 Email: [email protected] Website: www.environment.nsw.gov.au ISBN 978 1 74232 200 1 DECC 2009/232 March 2009 2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Scheyville National Park is located in the Hawkesbury region, approximately 50 km north west of Sydney and 5 km east of the town of Windsor. It is situated within the local government area of Hawkesbury City Council. The Park covers an area of 954 hectares. Scheyville National Park has a multi-layered history which provides great potential for the place as a destination for cultural tourism and education. This draft CMP was commissioned by The Parks and Wildlife Division (PWD) of the NSW Dept of Environment and Conservation1 (DECC). This corporate entity is legislatively responsible for environmental land management and conservation of places of natural and cultural heritage value. Management is by the Cumberland North Area of Sydney Region, which occupies an office in one of the quadrangle buildings in the Scheyville Camp area. Scheyville National Park has a rich history of use and occupation. The main Aboriginal tribe of the Cumberland Plain was that of the Darug people. The study area had a substantial mobile Aboriginal population centred around the resources of the Upper Hawkesbury River until the creation of the Scheyville Common in 1804. The subsequent increase in agricultural activity saw a general movement by Aboriginal people away from the area and by the 1850s few were still living in the vicinity of Pitt Town, having moved camp further downstream. Historical use of the Park began with its establishment as the Nelson Common in the early days of settlement. The first major intensification of use came with the establishment of the Government Collective Farm in the 1890s, which was transformed first into the Casual Labour Farm, and then the Dreadnought Farm. The Dreadnought Scheme was a government initiative in which boys from England were trained at Scheyville to work on Australian farms. The scheme ran from 1910 to the 1940s, when Scheyville became a military training area. During the postwar period from the 1940s to 1964 Scheyville was an important migrant hostel in Australia, and from 1965 to 1973 it was used as the Officer Training Unit for the Australian Army, training conscripted men as officers for the Vietnam War. From 1973 until the place was dedicated as National Park in 1996, it saw a variety of community uses including by the Hawkesbury Agricultural College. The main periods of occupation may be summarised as follows: 1. Aboriginal Occupation 2. Nelson/Pitt Town Common 1804-1893 3. Pitt Town Co-operative Settlement 1893-1896 4. Casual Labour Farm 1896-1910 5. First Dreadnought establishment 1910s 6. Internment camp WW1 7. Dreadnought resumption 8. New Dreadnought era 1930s 9. WWII 1930s/40s 10. Migrant camp 1949-1964 11. Scheyville Officer Training Unit (OTU) 1964-1973 12. Hawkesbury Agricultural College 13. Tactical Response Group 14. Parks and Wildlife Group 1996 to present Scheyville is an exceptional example of a layered cultural landscape with evidence of different uses from the early decades of the colony to the present day. Scheyville has retained its rural setting and this 1 Now known as the Department of Environment and Climate Change (DECC) 3 has contributed to the preservation of an outstanding heritage landscape of state significance, with a high degree of legibility. Scheyville is able to demonstrate a long series of initiatives related to key government policies that have responded to the changing national and international environment, and had a major historical impact on Australian concepts of nationhood. Each phase of occupation at Scheyville has left a physical mark on the landscape and many of the recent phases of the history are richly evocative and resonate with themes and stories of direct relevance to contemporary history and debate in Australia. These include themes of rural life, immigration, military recruitment and training. The continuing and vibrant interest shown by past residents of the place, and demonstrated through responses to Reunions and “Back To Scheyville” days and events, is indicative of the strong social values that the place still has, particularly for those associated with the Migrant Camp and the Officer Training Unit phases. The 1804 Pitt Town Common was the first of a series of innovative agricultural ventures introduced at Scheyville to improve the economic and social circumstances of the rural community. Part of the common introduced by Governor King, is still discernible in the park boundaries. The Cooperative Farm and the Casual Labour Farm that followed are still present in the archaeological record and the extant manager’s residence also relates to this period. These phases of occupation and development in Scheyville’s history make a significant contribution to our understanding of food production in the early New South Wales colony as well as the impact of unemployment and skilled labour shortages in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. They are also associated with William F. Schey who was a significant figure in youth labour schemes at the time. The Dreadnought phase is of state and national significance as the largest Dreadnought scheme farm in Australia and as a typical example of British child migration schemes. It is also significant that it was funded by monies originally donated to counter the perceived threat to a newly-independent Australia from the new Japanese Navy (by purchasing “Dreadnought” naval ships), and that a major aim of the scheme was to populate Australia with young men who could form a nucleus of a force to defend Australia from the possible Asian threat. The Quadrangle Buildings from the Dreadnought phase are particularly significant both for their rarity, being the only purpose-built Dreadnought structures still extant, and for their landmark location overlooking the entranceway and early farm landscapes. The quadrangle buildings are modest in scale and design but are largely unaltered. They are significant for their ability to demonstrate past institutional uses related the Dreadnought and OTU phase and have had fairly continuous administration uses since 1929. The remains of the Officer Training Unit operating from Scheyville from the Vietnam War period are particularly significant at state level for their rarity and their ability to demonstrate the training and social practices of the cadets and officers that might otherwise not be easily seen by the general public. Until relatively recently, the role of Australian soldiers in Vietnam has not been publicly acknowledged or commemorated. This gives Scheyville the potential to be a profoundly significant site for acknowledging, commemorating and educating the public about the experience of those that fought in the Vietnam War. The migrant phase at Scheyville is of state and possibly national significance for its rare combination of physical, documentary and oral evidence. The remaining SSAR huts, coupled with the building pads from structures demolished in the 1980s and 1990s, give the site an easy legibility that makes it highly significant and, coupled with the ready public access, comparatively rare. The site size and layout is illustrative of the scale of post-WWII migration to Australia and is of state significance. The SSAR huts are themselves of state significance as rare survivors of this building type. 4 The historic remains in Scheyville National Park provide evidence of an evolving cultural landscape of state significance. The Dreadnought Farm, Migrant Camp and OTU phases are of particular significance to the state, with the other phases being of considerable contributory significance in understanding the evolution of the landscape of the site. Scheyville National Park will be managed in order: • To create a lively, interesting and educational place that conserves and promotes the site’s cultural and natural values. • To develop Scheyville National Park as a key regional destination for cultural tourism and education. • To develop partnerships with agencies and the private sector in interpretation, adaptive reuse and promotion. 5 Table of Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY..........................................................................................................................3 1 INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................................................7 1.1 Location and Study Area............................................................................. 7 1.2 Background ...............................................................................................