Currawong Workers' Holiday Camp

About

The Currawong Workers' Holiday Camp is a heritage-listed former farm and now workers' holiday camp located at Currawong Beach, New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by various parties including the Van Dyke Brothers, Hudsen's Homes and built in 1950. The property is also known as Little Mackerel, Labor Council's Holiday Resort, Unions NSW Currawong Holiday Cottages, and Midholme and Coaster's Retreat. The property is Crown land and owned by the Government of New South Wales. The property was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 12 May 2009.

Aboriginal land It is estimated that Aboriginal people have lived in the Sydney area for at least 40,000 years. The Pittwater area was originally the traditional lands of the Garigal and Cannagal peoples, who were part of the Guringai language group. They had a strong relationship with the water, the coast providing them with an abundant food supply. Throughout Pittwater, especially Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, there are many Aboriginal sites (although none have been identified as yet within the Currawong curtilage ).

First contact In early March 1788, soon after arriving with the First Fleet 's convict settlement, Governor Arthur Phillip explored the southern arm of Broken Bay in search of suitable land to farm. Phillip described it as 'the finest piece of water which I ever saw' and gave it the name "Pitt Water" in honour of William Pitt the Younger, the Prime Minister of Great Britain at the time.

Jim Macken writes that Phillip's party met "friendly Aborigines" on the western foreshores of Pittwater: "It was here that Phillip made the first contact with the Guringai people, having met an old man and a young boy who showed the crews how to light a fire despite the rain, and where they could camp in a cave to keep dry". Although contact between the local Aboriginal community and early European explorers was initially civil, "European settlement in 1788 brought disaster for the Guringai. Between April 1789 and 1790 many Guringai died of diseases, to which they had no immunity, such as smallpox, and measles. Most of those who survived moved away from the coast as Europeans invaded their territory competing for food and territory"

Farming at Currawong Only small pockets of land in Pittwater were initially found to be suitable for agriculture although Aboriginal shell middens in the Pittwater region were quickly raided to make the lime required for mortar used in building ( Pittwater Council SHR nomination, 2005).

Land at Little Mackerel Beach was first granted in 1836 to Martin Burke. Although no improvements had been made, William Booth had apparently previously farmed the grant of 40 hectares (100 acres), which consisted of Portion 10, initially called Little Mackerel Beach and now known as Currawong, and Portion 9, the adjoining area to the north still known as Great Mackerel Beach). Burke leased the 16 hectares (40 acres) that included Little Mackerel Beach to Patrick Flynn. According to Honorah Collins, a long-term resident of the area in the 1880s, Patrick Flynn lived at Little Mackerel Beach between 1850 and 1854. The section then passed to Cornelius Sheehan who leased it to various people. Although he did not live at Little Mackerel Beach, following Sheehan's death in 1864, his widow lived at the property until 1871 when the land was transferred to Joseph Starr, a mariner of Sydney. In 1872, the Wilson family purchased the land from Joseph Starr. They continued to live there until the death of Mr Wilson in 1890. The Wilson's daughter, Nancy married John Shepherd Mulford in 1895 and moved to the house at Little Mackerel Beach in 1895.

In 1908, Mrs Sarah Wilson sold the Little Mackerel Beach land to her son-in-law, John Sanderson, who then sold it to Dr Beernhard Stiles of Newtown two years later. By that time the property was known as Currawong. Dr Stiles and his family lived in the homestead for several years until it burnt down, then built Midholme a little to the northeast of the original farmhouse. The Stiles family kept turkeys and cows and supplied fresh milk, butter, eggs and groceries to residents of Great Mackerel Beach. By the late 1930s, three freehold allotments had been subdivided from the Stiles' farm. During that period there were three houses at Little Mackerel Beach: Southend near the present wharf, Northend near the north side of the creek occupied by Hector Forsayth, and Midholme. Northend and Midholme were both on Stiles property.

Bernard Stiles, who was raised at Currawong in the early 1900s recalled the natural beauties of the place:

Regarding the flora and fauna I feel I should mention one bird, namely the Lyre Bird at Little Mackerel. These glorious birds were sheer delight to listen to in the morning, imitating every other bird in the bush, even the putt-putt of a motor boat or a man chopping wood was quite distinct. Koala bears and wallabies were also plentiful. Some of the wildflowers that grew on Little Mackerel and up on the Kuringai Plateau where the West Head Road now carries many sightseers are the many species of boronia, Christmas bush, flannel flowers, waratahs, Christmas bells and in one particular spot is a swampy patch that grows a very rare miniature native rose. Near this spot is the high knob where one can look west and see the Hawkesbury ridge and from the same spot look in the opposite direction and see the whole of Pittwater, Barrenjoey, Lion Island and Palm Beach, truly a unique view.'

All of the land at Little Mackerel Beach was sold to the Port Jackson & Manly Steamship Company between 1942 and 1944. The Company planned to construct a picnic ground and shark-proof enclosure at Little Mackerel Beach as part of its larger tourism ventures. Those plans were never carried out. By the late 1940s the Port Jackson and Manly Steamship Company had suffered an economic downturn and was forced to sell off many of its assets, including its holding at Little Mackerel Beach. The company's legacy there was modest and included the construction of a timber sea wall to mitigate beach erosion, and the erection of a small cottage near Midholme. This is now called Canning Cottage after Charles Canning, the company's caretaker who came to live there after initially supervising maintenance from Great Mackerel Beach. An undated plan of Little Mackerel Beach, probably from the late 1940s, shows the four residences, some outbuildings, a tennis court and a cultivation paddock on the banks of the creek. Photographs in the company's archives from about the same time show fencing and a row of small sheds, possibly chicken coops.

The Holiday Camp Movement 'The idea of affordable and improving holidays in natural surrounds took off after the Great War following the lead of camping, bushwalking, amateur fishing and national park movements. In the 1930s annual workers camps, some as big as temporary towns (often using ex-Army bell tents and bush mess facilities) were popular. YMCA camps, an American import, began in the late 1920s and the National Fitness Movement, a Canadian concept, took off from 1940 when volunteers built a camp at Patonga on Pittwater.'. There was also the example of the Eureka Youth League (EYL) camps in Victoria and NSW, one of the youth movements associated with left-wing unions and the Communist Party of Australia.

The development of purpose built "resorts" by trade unions increased substantially after World War II. Due to the critical shortage of accommodation after the war, many holiday homes were let for permanent rental and demand put such places out of the reach of the average worker. Changes to labour legislation at this time also contributed. The Labor Government introduced two weeks annual leave in 1944 and a 40-hour week in 1947. James Kenny, assistant secretary of the Labor Council of New South Wales advocated that families should be able to holiday with their families in affordable accommodation and he put to the Labor Council that a holiday camp should be established. Not all agreed that this was entirely the motive and Jim Hagan, University of Wollongong Professorial Fellow and historian believes that the unions considered that by uniting people with a common cause, loyalty to the Labor movement was reinforced.

Holder continues: 'By the mid-1940s the progressive social programs of a number of unions included camps and worker's health (following the lead of British coal mining unions). The incentive in Australia came in the form of crown leases or crown grants by the State and federal governments. The NSW Minister for Land, Bill Sheahan, dedicated land at Wamberal Lagoon north of Terrigal and at Lake Munmorah near Newcastle amongst other sites. The federal government offered unions long leases on former Defence land at Sussex Inlet. The Australian Railways Union (ARU) rejected Munmorah in favour of a lease at Sussex Inlet where it established a camp in 1948. In 1948 Premier James McGirr had unveiled the "ARU Camp" at Sussex Inlet, for the Australian Railway Union. This, he boasted, was the "First Australian Trade Union Owned and Controlled Holiday Camp". Many, who had never seen the sea, would now have the opportunity to enjoy a holiday by the sea. The Newcastle Trades Hall Council leased land at Barrington Tops for a holiday camp during the 1950s but it remained undeveloped and the land reverted to Barrington Tops National Park ' (quoted in Design Plus, 2003) The Miners' Federation had Bushy Tail Caravan Park in the Shoalhaven ( c. 1940) and the Seamen's Union had a camp at Springwood in the 1950s. In 1949 the Federation of Combined Workers Clubs was formed and its Fingal Bay resort was an unplanned outcome of the popularity of an annual fishing competition organised by the Federation in the 1950s. This led to the lease of a couple of hectares of land at Fingal Bay from the government and eventually expansion of the Federation camps to Urunga and Sussex Inlet.

Worker's holiday cabins were mostly informal groups of cabins in a pleasant environment. Many were associated with amateur fishing camps and clubs, a popular working class activity, and established around large industrial centres such as Newcastle and Wollongong.

Labor Council's acquisition of Currawong J. D. (Jim) Kenny was a prominent NSW unionist, who had risen from being Secretary of the NSW Glass Workers' Union to being Assistant Secretary of the Labor Council from 1946 until 1958, when he became Secretary of the Labor Council, a position he held until his death in 1967. From 1948 he was a Member of the NSW Legislative Council, and he also held the position of Senior Vice-president of the ACTU. Kenny had begun to explore the possibility of providing low-cost holiday accommodation for union members since their two-week paid annual leave was introduced in 1944. After the end of World War II, Kenny approached the State and federal governments to grant a suitable site. Premier J. J. McGirr was interested enough in the proposition to gather information on holiday camps for the Labor Council when he was overseas. Although the government offered land at Wamberal Lagoon, north of Terrigal and Lake Munmorah near Wyong, the Council did not proceed with either site for reasons unknown. Instead Kenny negotiated the purchase of the Currawong estate from the Port Jackson & Manly Steamship Co Ltd for A£ 10,000. Kenny was also a board member of the steamship company and must have been the key facilitator of the property transaction. The purchase was financed by the Labor Council selling land owned at Frenchs Forest, where its 2KY radio transmitter had been located before being moved to Homebush.

Kenny had ambitious plans for Currawong, arguing that 'there is not enough holiday accommodation within a wage earner's means'. A framed colour rendering of a c. 1950 development proposal held by the Labor Council makes Currawong look like a Butlin's Holiday Camp, and Butlin's camps were expanding in the UK at about this same time The Sunday Herald (27 November 1949) reported that Currawong would have accommodation for 500. There would be a pool, tennis courts, dining hall and a dance hall, an outdoor auditorium, adults' and children's swimming pools, an oval with cricket pitch and 75 yard running track, a club house, children's playground, bowling green, four tennis courts, two basketball or paddle tennis courts and a handball court transaction. However Kenny explicitly said `We don't intend to provide the rather regimented amusements that are popular in English camps' (27 November 1949).

Development of Currawong Holiday Camp Kenny worked tirelessly to develop Currawong, relying on the labour of colleagues, friends and family. Due to the deprivations arising from the war, development of the camp was initially reliant on donated building materials and the volunteer labour of unionists. The State and federal governments were working together to establish Postwar Reconstruction and housing programs in response to the critical shortages, leading to the development of labour saving construction methods and the industrial manufacture of cost effective building materials. This new approach and the resource constraints of that historical period are embodied in the modest 1950s fibro cabins.

In 1949 the first of ten cabins to be built over the next four years was completed. This first cabin became known as Kenny's Cabin, later also known as Kenny's Cottage, Jim and Bess Kenny's Cabin, Blue Cottage and, from 1993, Blue Tongue. The materials to build Kenny's Cabin were donated by the building materials supplier George Hudson and Sons. Hudsons was one of several companies at the time supplying the popular "ready cut" standard building components, which addressed the growing owner/builder market. Kenny's Cabin is similar in some ways to one of Hudsons' standard designs, "the Pittwater", which was marketed from about 1950. Kenny's Cabin had timber flooring except for the kitchen and bathroom, which had concrete floors. It had a stone-paved courtyard at the rear, an area created in 1920 when clay was cut out to build the tennis court. This was the cottage where the Wran family stayed during the period Neville Wran was Premier of New South Wales. The next cabin to be constructed was the Games Room. It housed Mrs Kenny's piano for many years and was the central meeting place for children. At night it was a focus for the communal camp sing-along and night time game of spot light.

Both Kenny's Cabin and the Games Room are representative of the simplest form of holiday cottage of "Ready Cut" homes produced by Hudsons, which had first produced their kit-homes in 1916. Although initially popular as weekenders the Hudsons became popular with the owner-builder during the 1950s. Hudson's produced a simple two-room cottage featuring central door flanked by windows either side, but with gabled roof, from as early as 1929. The name of the design changed with the years, being known as "The Woy Woy " in the late 1920s and "The Berowra " by 1931. The sharply raked roof, as featured in "The Pittwater", was a post-World War II product that Robin Boyd referred to in 'Australia's Home' (1952) as "The Contemporaire".

The next eight cabins to be built were positioned in a curving single line following the escarpment along the high ground above Kenny's Cabin. The layout of the cabins follows that of the original concept plan of the camp. Holder states that this layout was influenced by that of the YMCA Camp Manyung at Mornington in Victoria. Camp Manyung, established in the late 1920s. Camp Manyung was designed by Eric Nicholls, partner of Walter Burley Griffin during the latter's time in Australia.