Camden Time Line

Today we used books from the library to find out more about the history of the Camden area.

The children constructed a time line with some of the major interesting events. We found out that Camden's agricultural history began when some cows escaped from the first settlers who arrived on the first fleet in 1788. The cows had sense and walked to Camden where they found lush fields and began to breed. Several years later the cows were found again and the area became known as Cowpastures. The Macarthur family (and others) settled in the area to farm cows, sheep and wheat. Wine making also became profitable. We found out about the "Cowpasture Wars" where indigenous Aboriginal people fought with the European settlers over land. Sadly it seems that most of the Aboriginals were killed.

We read up about other historic events in the area including the building of significant places, bridges and schools, the instillation of water pipes, sewers and electricity.

The book pictured below is quite entertaining: particularly the story about how the first public water fountain (which was placed in the centre of the main road) got hit by a wagon carrying the townspeople's excrement which had been scraped out from their homes only a few hours before. There are several other amusing tales inside.

We also listened to some stories of bygone times told by people who lived in Camden. You can listen too at Camden Voices On-line. We also used the library heritage photograph database to talk about life in "the olden days". We discussed how people lived and worked, their transport and clothes.

Soon we'll head to the local museum to find out more.