Dreaming on the Riverfarm - Stories from the Hawkesbury
This project has been funded by a 2011-12 “Your Community Heritage” grant from the Australian Government Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities.
Dreaming on the Riverfarm – Stories from the Hawkesbury is an oral history about the UWS Hawkesbury Riverfarm. The stories cover Pre-European settlement through to the present day uses by the University of Western Sydney.
The chapters in this project are the personal perspectives of those recorded and while the older narrations are based on historical records the personalities are fictional and not autobiographical. The University accepts no responsibility for the story perspectives as they are the views of their narrators.
Chapter One: Welcome to Country
The Darug tribe are the traditional custodians of the land on the south bank of the Hawkesbury River. The river, known as Deerubbin, and its nearby lagoons were a focal point for bands, clans or family groups to collect food such as fish, eels, shellfish and water birds...
Read the full text, listen to the audio recording, and view the accompanying images for Chapter One.
Chapter Two: The first Europeans arrive in the Hawkesbury
The First Fleet left England on 13th May 1787 for the 'lands beyond the seas' arriving in Botany Bay on the 24th January 1788. Here the Aboriginal people, who had lived in isolation for 40,000 years...
Read the full text, listen to the audio recording, and view the accompanying images for Chapter Two.
Chapter Three: Who owned the Riverfarm?
In 1799 Governor John Hunter granted the portion of land now known as Riverfarm to Richard Dore, the deputy judge advocate and secretary to Governor John Hunter. Described on the land grant as 100 acres (40.47 ha) in the district of Mulgrave Place, the land was situated on the south bank of the Hawkesbury River between grants made to officers and settlers...
Read the full text, listen to the audio recording, and view the accompanying images for Chapter Three.
Chapter Four: The impact of settlement
The Hawkesbury district was the frontier of conflict from 1794 until roughly 1830. Problems arose between the aborigines and European settlers, as the local tribes found the access to the river and their food supply blocked by farms and heavily degraded due to clearing. After a number of clashes between the local Darug aboriginal tribe and the settlers, the NSW Corp was sent to investigate in 1795...
Read the full text, listen to the audio recording, and view the accompanying images for Chapter Four.
Chapter Five: How the Hawkesbury Agricultural College acquired the Riverfarm
Between 1891 and 1908 Hawkesbury Agricultural College was administered a section of Crown land from the NSW Department of Mines and Agriculture. Work commenced by the first students involved clearing and fencing of paddocks for grazing and cultivation and construction of dams. The principle Henry William Potts acquired the Riverfarm by lease in 1904 for growing crops enhancing the feed necessary to produce "studs of high quality poultry, sheep, pigs, cattle and horses"...
Read the full text, listen to the audio recording, and view the accompanying images for Chapter Five.
Chapter Six: Water, water, water. The Hawkesbury River Highway
The Riverfarm pumping station was contracted in 1909. The station was used as a dependable source of domestic, farm and irrigation water for the Riverfarm itself as well as the town of Richmond and the Hawkesbury Agricultural College in the early 20th Century. The pumping stations design and building type, is a rare example of an early 20th Century reinforced concrete pumping station incorporating a tower and well...
Read the full text, listen to the audio recording, and view the accompanying images for Chapter Six.
Chapter Seven: Living at the cottage
The typical late 19th - early 20th century farm bungalow on site was home to the farm manager employed by the Hawkesbury Agricultural College. The cottage is built on lower brick piers with a timber bottom and rendered bricks. The cottage still remains at the site today...
Read the full text, listen to the audio recording, and view the accompanying images for Chapter Seven.
Chapter Eight: Learning and working the land
Between 1891 and 1908 Hawkesbury Agricultural College was administered a section of Crown land from the NSW Department of Mines and Agriculture. The fields were planted using horse draw ploughs, many of which were bred on the Riverfarm. The rich alluvial soils were used to grow maize, potatoes, mangolds (beets) and various other crops. Peas were grown and harvested on site using the pea viner...
Read the full text, listen to the audio recording, and view the accompanying images for Chapter Eight.
Chapter Nine: Where are the Darug people now?
UWS recognises that having dynamic, purposeful and respectful relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities is a key building block which underpins its philosophy - ‘Bringing knowledge to life’...
Read the full text, listen to the audio recording, and view the accompanying images for Chapter Nine.Chapter Ten: The Riverfarm story goes on
The University of Western Sydney, TAFE NSW Western Sydney Institute and the Hawkesbury Environment Network (HEN) have entered into unique partnership to work together to protect the health and vitality of the Hawkesbury-Nepean River. The vision of the Waterkeeper movement...
Read the full text, listen to the audio recording, and view the accompanying images for Chapter Ten.
Acknowledgements
The UWS Office of Sustainability would like to thank the following project partners for their participation: Brewongle Environmental Education Centre, Darug Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Assessments, Darug Custodian Aboriginal Corporation, Hawkesbury Alumni Chapter, UWS Media Production Unit and the UWS Office of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Employment and Engagement.
The UWS Office of Sustainability would also like to gratefully acknowledge the following people for bringing history to life (In alphabetical order):
- Mr Alan Midgley
- Miss Brittany Hardiman
- Mr David Reid and Mrs Helen Reid
- Mr David Thompsone (as Reverend Thomas Fyshe Palmer)
- Mrs Dorothy Hill
- Mr Geoff Scott (as William Potts, Principal H.A.C)
- Mr George Bennett
- Mr Gordon Morton
- Ms Helen Angelakis (as Elvina Durham)
- Mr Jack Wolfenden (Narrator)
- Mr Jim Bergan
- Mr John O’Reilly (as Captain Watkins Tench)
- Mr Keith Higgins
- Miss Krystal Mervin
- Ms Leanne Watson
- Mr Peter Spolc (as Major Francis Grose)
- Mr Richard Bawden (as Richard Dore)
- Mr Richard Thomas (as George Crossley)
- Miss Rhiannon Watson
- Mr Roy Tasker (as Water Tower Engineer)
- Miss Sinead Brennan (Narrator)
