Appin, Ambarvale and Airds

Firstly... may have to rename this blog. I had a car accident which resulted in my insurance company having the nerve to tell me that the Silver Bullet was not worthy of a rebuild! The car was a write-off. For this trek, done a day after the accident, a car was borrowed. For todays Adventures with the Silver Bullet there is a Special Guest Appearance from RAS.

Appin, Ambarvale and Airds in the Campbelltown area of Sydney were on the cards to be explored because on the second Sunday of every month, from 10am till 2pm, there are some well talked about markets in Appin. Except for the day that we went there, they must have 'shut' early or something. No worry more time to explore the mysterious Appin. 

I say mysterious because digging up any information via the net proved a little difficult at first and getting there more so, the town didn't exist on my phone map. At 75kms South-West of Sydney, a somewhat leisurely drive of nearly an hour, the town does seem to not really be part of Sydney at all. On one side is the Hume Hwy and the other has the Dharawal Nature Reserve, which does add some sort of charm and a sense of seclusion. Appin was named by Gov. Macquarie in 1811 after the small coastal village where his wife was born in Scotland.

First stop was St Marks The Evangelist Anglican Church at the Southern end of Appin. The church was built in 1840, consecrated in 1843, and is made of a pale golden yellow sandstone.

St Bede's Catholic Church, built 1941, was next up with some fine examples of Irish Catholic Masonry in the graveyard on a plot of land of approximately four acres and situated near the centre of town. St Bede's is considered to be the oldest continually used Catholic Church in mainland Australia. The church was designed by the first priest appointed in Australia Father John Therry and completed by many different tradesmen as indicated with the different markings on the stonework.

I was surprised that it being a Sunday that the church would be closed. P was kind enough to let me know that they can't just keep churches open all the time in the event people just want to drop by. I'd like to remind you that this was a day after my car accident and I can see now how obvious the answer actually is and how ridiculous my question was.

RAS, our chariot for the day, in front of St Bede's

Directly across the road from St Bede's is the old Appin Inn. Parking on Appin Rd is a little difficult. We chose to keep the car in St Bede's while I did the dash across Appin Rd, dodging souped up cars to have a look at some dilapidated architecture.

Built in 1826 by William Sykes later renamed the Union Revived Hotel and then sold on to Nicolas Carberry. I must commend the council for putting up all these handy little signs around town. From my research I had imagined a house like this but not such a run down place and we would've missed it had this sign not been placed close to the road.

If I had known that 'the bandstand' in Appin Park held so much information then I would have made this our first stop. These boards hold all the information you will need to learn about Appin and surrounds. Tidy work! It even has some information about the Appin Massacre. I had only briefly read about this because when it would come up in research it would say there there was a history of 'disagreements' between the white settlers and the Indigenous population of the area and it seemingly did not carry the same importance as Myall Creek for example. I have since read that there is more being done to acknowledge this event and there is a memorial at Cataract Dam less then an hours drive from Appin.

There are also some public toilets close by if you don't want to brave the toilets at the Appin Hotel.

Across from where we just were at the bandstand is Appin Primary School (1867). This was the first primary school to be built under Henry Parkes' Public Schools act of 1866, which stated that nobody was allowed to act as a Teacher without the proper training.
 

We stopped off at a little cafe just across the road from the Appin Hotel for a late lunch. The place is also a florist, hence the weird feathers, the people I spoke with there were helpful in helping us find the next place on the tour. My phone was still not updating maps and my map book was in the old car at the insurance company. If their directions were wrong I was told to go see the lady down at the Butchers as she knows the town quite well.

After a short pause at the Appin sign we drove off to find the Appin Memorial Garden on Sportsground Pde.

Which we found alright without a map. In July 1979 a section of the Appin Colliery collapsed from a methane gas explosion 3km underground killing fourteen miners from the Appin area. There are fourteen Gum Trees planted at Appin Memorial Garden with a plaque with the name of each miner from the disaster.

I would recommend checking out the Hume and Hovell Monument on your way into town as it is on that side of the road. This momument marks the starting point of Hume and Hovell's trek across NSW crossing the Murray River then into Victoria and on to the Great Diving Range and then they came back. Why Appin? Well Hume had a property there. Appin does have a fair few 'firsts' and monumental moments.

Ambravale... what's in Ambravale....

Lovely clear blue skies that's what!And I'm sure you can read on the sign that it was named after a convict Samuel Larkin. I can't find any information as to why he was important enough to have a suburb named after him. He did manage to get about twenty properties, is that reason enough?

Airds! Final stop on a whirlwind Campbelltown tour.

Airds was named by Gov Macquarie after his Wife's family estate in Scotland. I think Airds could really do with some Gov Macquarie inspiration. Gov Macquarie had the vision to change Sydney from a holding place for convicts to a livable city where there was opportunity for people to progress in life if they wanted to. As you enter Airds on your left is a high barb-wired fence and your left a primary school. This is no ordinary suburb.

Kevin Wheatley Reserve. It took us some time to find this. Considering the meaning of the park I figured that the signage would be prominent. Whealtey received a posthumous Victoria Cross for choosing to stay with an injured comrade during the Vietnam War while the enemy approached when he could have escaped and saved himself.

Streets in Airds have been constructed in one big circle with the Reserve in the middle. The suburbs was constructed on American Radburn principles designed to separate pedestrians from traffic. House fronts face the Reserve with the back yards facing the front road the Reserve and common lane ways join all the houses together this is all suppose to create a sense of community. This is probably the main reason why we did not see many people walking around the suburbs. It is also seen to encourage crime because outside surveillance is made more difficult.

The place we passed on the way into Airds is the Reiby Juvenile Justice Centre. It looked a little severe. The Centre addresses the needs of 10-16yr old boys with behaviour problems. The Centre is named after female convict Mary Reiby. The lady on the $20 note! Mary was arrested in 1791 for dressing as a man, calling herself James Burrow, and stealing a horse! On her transportation ship to Sydney she married junior stores Officer Thomas Reiby. Later becoming a successful business woman. Tops inspiration!

I have never been to this area of Sydney and spending most of the afternoon there has altered my previous narrow view of the area. I have also learnt more about Gov Macquarie, one of my favorite 'Australians', and the good and bad decisions he made concerning the country. Australia does have a rich history I just think it is a little more difficult to find the interesting things in it.

Also, make sure you make the trip to Appin for the 200th Anniversary in May.

- A