Menangle and Camden Park Heritage Citations.

• State Heritage Register 01697 certificate for NSW Dept Primary Industries, December 2006, lists “ Camden Park Estate is significant at local, state and national levels as the oldest intact rural landscape and group of farm buildings in Australia, with the close associations with the pioneering Macarthur family and Camden Park (SHR00341). The property was fundamental to the development of the country’s agricultural, pastoral, horticultural and viticultural industries.”
• BHP’s State Heritage Citation says,” The Camden Park Estate is of social, historic, scientific and aesthetic significance to NSW and Australia”
• Brian Trench “Even considered with the rest of the Macarthur district and Wollondilly Shire Menangle is a uniquely beautiful and historically important place. And perhaps it has always been considered that way. Recently discovered in the area, an ancient Two of their sons, Menangle residents James and William, in particular established the area as a showcase of Australian agriculture. Under their leadership a string of innovative ideas and technology were developed or adopted in irrigation, cultivation, harvesting and storage of a range of agricultural enterprises. They developed Australia’s first commercial vineyard, and laid the foundations for what was eventually Australia’s finest orchard and largest dairy– our first truly great Australians of the modern era.
• Chris Betteridge ** They also established the beautiful village of Menangle. A unique settlement today, it was modelled on the typical English village, including a beautiful church within walking distance for locals, a store, a common, all within a carefully manicured landscape. The English-style village of Menangle is still there and offers a rare experience for visitors and a very special lifestyle for its few residents. It is the only village in the shire with its own Development Control Plan – an acknowledgement by council of the singular nature of the place.
• Brian Trench: Today Menangle village’s St James and St Patrick’s churches, the old store, creamery and rotolactor as well as Menangle station, railway bridge and viaduct are listed on the local, state and/or national heritage registers. Add Menangle House, Glenlee and the 19^th century Macarthur mansions of Camden Park and Gilbulla to this list and Menangle must lay claim to one of the highest concentrations of historically significant sites in rural Australia.
• Brian Trench: So a succession of caring, innovative stewards of this land has left us all with something valuable, something not to be found anywhere else. We can only hope future decisions that affect this area are as enlightened.

**Christopher Betteridge, BSc (Sydney), MSc (Leicester), AMA (London), Director of MUSEcape Pty Ltd, is a qualified botanist with a Master’s degree in museum studies and training in heritage conservation. He has over thirty years’ experience in the investigation, assessment, management and interpretation of the natural and cultural environment. Chris has lectured and published widely on the conservation of cultural landscapes including historic gardens, parks and cemeteries.