| Photographs: | None |
|---|---|
| List: | Register of the National Estate |
| Class: | Historic |
| Legal Status: | Registered (28/10/2003) |
| Place ID: | 103576 |
| Place File No: | 1/15/010/0045 |
| Statement of Significance: |
|---|
|
The Ingleburn Army Camp, one of Australia's major army camps from 1939-1970s, is of considerable historic significance as the first purpose-built infantry training camp for World War II. It played a central role in the mobilisation of Australia's citizens and in their military training throughout the war and was the assembly point for the first military contingent assembled for overseas service in the war.
Ingleburn Army Camp is also significant for its role in the training of personnel for the Korean and Vietnam Wars. The Army Camp was a major centre in Australia for training under the National Service Scheme (1951-1972) and it is also associated with the anti-conscription movement. The Army Camp also played a major role in the training of Army Reserves from 1973 through to the 1990s. (Criterion A.4). Ingleburn Army Camp is of social significance as a symbol of the service given by generations of soldiers who trained there and as a place where respect for and remembrance of that service has become a continuing and highly valued tradition. It has social value to those who lived, and worked at the army camp. Ingleburn Army Camp has a long association with a Nation-wide "Army community", and is a place where this sense of community is expressed, celebrated and passed on. It also serves to symbolise to the community the role of the Army within the area. (Criterion G.1). The cottages comprising Ingleburn Village are adjacent to and formed part of the post war development of Ingleburn Army Camp (Register No. 101050). An important aspect of post war development of the Ingleburn facility was the provision of a range of accommodation types, including married quarters. These were set in a street layout, which reflected as closely as possible suburban sub-divisions, avoiding military stereotypes to create a normal community and suburban environment for army families. The Riley-Newsum and Amals Sagverks Aktiebolag cottages in Ingleburn Village are rare survivors of their type. The Riley-Newsum and Amals Sagverks Aktiebolag cottages are important in illustrating the use of standardised designs and prefabrication influenced by prototypes developed in Britain and Sweden, in the immediate post war years of the 1940s and early 1950s to meet the post war shortages of materials and labour in Australia. The group of three Riley-Newsum prefabricated cottages in Bass Road illustrate the principal characteristics of the type in their original setting. As a group these cottages are important in illustrating the visual character of a village streetscape using the CA4 handed plans and varying setbacks, enhanced by a repetition of regular forms and design motifs including prominent gables, common fabric and uniform design creating a strong visual pattern on sloping terrain. The five Amals Sagverks Aktiebolag cottages in Flinders and Blaxland Road illustrate the principal characteristics and siting of their type including three different siting options, together with the simple rectangular form, pitched gabled roof and external brick chimney. The single storey Riley Newsum and Amals Sagverks Aktiebolag cottages are set in a park like landscape with mature plantings of native trees which highlight the simple geometry and vernacular materials of the cottages, which contribute to the suburban character . (Criteria A.4, B.2, D.2 and E.1) (Historic Themes: 7.7 Defending Australia, 8.12 Living in and around Australian homes) |
| Official Values: Not Available |
| Description: |
|
The Ingleburn Army Camp in 2001 covered 311 hectares. It is located forty kilometres
south-west of Sydney. The land is
elevated, generally flat or gently rolling, grassland and bushland. Ingleburn was an open army base,
generally accessible to the public. Built complexes remaining on the site include groups of
timber framed, barracks-style buildings in a standard military layout, with
each group originally served by a standard pattern mess, ablutions buildings,
recreation facilities, a few isolated, general use structures, such as the
former Lecture Hall Complex; and two discrete areas of detached housing used as
married quarters. Outdoor
facilities include parade ground, sporting grounds, tennis courts and firing
ranges. During military occupation of the site, a grid and block road pattern containing rows of ordered and uniform buildings, separated by areas of undeveloped land evolved. The planning was characteristic of such Defence sites and the prevailing philosophies regarding the social hierarchy of the Army and the separation of functions. The separation of functions was increased by the undulating nature of the land, with development taking place on areas of higher ground. Ingleburn Village, with its own distinctive street layout and planning, is located in the centre of the Camp. The two prefabricated housing types employed in the 1950s illustrate the approach to the provision of married housing in the 1950s, with houses set in a park like landscape with mature tree plantings. 1) Riley-Newsum houses Type CA4. These were produced by H Newsum Sons & Company Ltd in Lincoln, England. The prefabricated timber house was to be grouped in multiples of eight since this was the method of shipping. The 3-bedroom L shaped plan was functional and efficient below a simple gabled, galvanised iron roof. The CA4 type was employed primarily by the Commonwealth in Canberra and on Defence sites as part of the need to develop facilities from 1951. A group of three (3) relatively intact cottages has survived on the south side of Bass Road at the western end of Ingleburn Village. This group illustrates the principal characteristics of the type, including the prefabricated timber panel construction, the handed L-shaped plan and the use of vertical timber cladding with gabled roof forms. Windows are simple vertical sash with a single brick chimney identifying the internal, central location of the brick fireplace. The sub floor structure was also in brick, the floors in timber. The group illustrates the visual character created by the use of the handed plans and setbacks, with the prominent gables creating a strong visual pattern in the streetscape, developed on sloping terrain. Such groups of relatively intact cottages are rare in both the context of Canberra and Defence sites in general. In the 1950s, these cottages were employed by the Commonwealth in the suburb of Deakin, Canberra. In Canberra few examples survive intact and in general good examples of this prefabricated house type are unusual, with intact groups rare. 2) Amals Sagverks Aktiebolag (ASA), Sweden. Planning and construction of the ASA type was generically similar to the other designs used by the Commonwealth from 1951-54, but does not appear to have been prefabricated. The rectangular plan was traditional in its arrangement with smaller bedrooms and service areas at the rear; living areas and the two main bedrooms were located along the front of the house. Small porches formed as extensions to the main roof, and with glazed fronts, were located at the front and rear. In contrast to the Riley-Newsum CA4 cottages, the single brick chimney was located at one gable. The exteriors were clad with vertical strip timber panels similar to the Riley Newsum Type CA4. The original timber windows appear to have been replaced in some cases by modern aluminium sashes, in common with other similar Defence housing of this period. The ASA type cottages were used diagonally at the corners of blocks and with the gable facing the street, but in general the type was placed with the long axis parallel with the street frontage. The group of five cottages at Blaxland Road (No.7) and Flinders Road (numbers 8, 10, 13, 15) illustrate the siting options and principal characteristics of the ASA type cottage and the achievement of streetscape values in the park like setting of the Village using economical repetitive housing units. Examples of the ASA type of cottage have also been identified at a former Navy site at Georges Heights, Sydney Harbour, and at Amberley RAAF Base, Queensland. At Amberley the remaining two cottages have been relocated. A single example at Georges Heights, Sydney, is intact, although a group of 7 cottages at Georges Heights have been reclad with asbestos cement sheeting. The group of five cottages at Ingleburn Village are relatively rare by virtue of the intactness of their external form and finishes and in their relationship to the planning and layout of the subdivision. The two groups of cottages are related to the development of Ingleburn Village, part of Ingleburn Army Camp, separately listed in the RNE at Register No. 101050. |
| History: |
|
Prior to 1939, the Ingleburn site was principally used for
the grazing of livestock. With the
entry of Australia into WWII on 3 September 1939, there was a need for a
principal site in New South Wales to train infantry for the Second Military
District (NSW). Plans were drawn
up for what was called the Ingleburn Military Camp in 1939 and the army
acquired the 684 acres in 1940, although they were already in occupation in
tents. Accommodation was initially
constructed to provide for the 2nd Australian Imperial Forces (AIF). Two hundred and fifty three buildings
were originally constructed with a further eighty constructed soon after. These included Artillery Units (62
buildings); Brigade Headquarters (22 buildings); Signallers Unit (44
buildings); Engineers Unit (31 buildings); Works and Ordinance Unit (6
buildings); Army Services Corps Depot (7 buildings); Army Medical Corps Depot
(7 buildings); Army Medical Corps (27 buildings); Army Services Corps Camp (80
buildings); Reconnaissance Section (41 buildings) and Miscellaneous buildings
(13 buildings). Ingleburn was the first purpose-built army camp for the training of Australian infantry to fight in WWII and became the major training facility in New South Wales. It was a unified infantry camp but all corps were represented there including engineers, transport, signals and anti-aircraft units. The camp was an assembly point for Army brigades, most notably, the 16th Battalion of the 6th Division, the first Australian overseas contingent. Other brigades included units from the 7th and 9th Division. During the years between WWII and Australia's involvement in the Korean War (1951), the Army leased sections of the site to farmers for grazing purposes. The Korean War saw changes to the size and use of the site. During the 1950s, Battalions destined for Korea were stationed at Ingleburn. National Service recommenced following the outbreak of the Korean War and by 1954 Ingleburn was a major centre for the National Service Program. From 1951 onwards, many Australians experienced military training at Ingleburn prior to going into a Reserve Unit. By 1959, a number of sporting fields, vehicle parks, larger buildings and a large area of Married Quarters, Ingleburn Village (Bardia), had been constructed. The erection of new married quarters reflected the general policy that homes should be provided for 40% of the established posts at each base. The provision of married quarters in a street layout based on planning for contemporary suburban sub-divisions created a married quarters area like other post war residential suburbs, an important aspect of army life for 'Army wives'. Department of Works and Housing records for 1951 indicate that some 11 house designs, imported from Britain and Europe, including prefabricated structures, were used by the Commonwealth to augment the erection of new houses during the period of post war shortages in labour and materials. Houses were imported from A W Hawksley and Riley-Newsum in Britain and from Amals Sagverks Aktiebolag, in Sweden. Of these, the first two were designed as prefabricated units. Houses were also imported from Taylor Woodrow Construction and Terrapin Dwellings in London and from Falster and Bonnvie, Oslo, Norway, although examples of these have not been identified. The Commonwealth Department of Works and Housing also generated its own designs. Most were 3-bedroom and almost without exception were simple rectangular structures with gabled roofs, sash windows, gable ventilators, brick chimneys and simple porches formed as extensions to the main roof line. All featured ceilings between 8 and 9 feet (2.5 to 2.8 metres) The 'Hawksley Houses' were initially manufactured in England, with discussions for their purchase beginning in 1948. The prefabricated Hawksley House, in mass production for British Local Authorities, was an important post war innovation in Britain when wartime industrial plant and materials were used to meet housing shortages. Manufactured by A W Hawksley, Hucclecote, Gloucester, the prefabricated house employed a combination of aluminium panels with a reinforced timber roof and wall frames. The use of this second housing type in the mid 1950s appears to have been greater than that of the Riley Newsum CA4, because of the Australian subsidiary. The archival records suggest that Hawksley housing units were used throughout Queensland, South Australia, the Northern Territory and Western Australia in addition to other mainland states in large numbers by Commonwealth agencies, in particular Defence. Hawksley houses do not appear to have been used at Ingleburn. Between 1951-54, an order for 600 Riley-Newsum prefabricated houses Type CA4, produced by H Newsum Sons & Company Ltd in Lincoln, England, was shipped to Australia for the Commonwealth. Many were erected in the suburb of Deakin in Canberra as 'special project housing' by the Department of Works and Housing. A small number were also used at Ingleburn Village. Houses erected in the western half of the Village included some 35 prefabricated Riley-Newsum houses Type CA4. Other locations where CA4 houses were employed have not been identified. Riley-Newsum also manufactured a Type CA1, similar to those produced by Amals Sagverks Aktiebolag. The 3 bedroom house designed by Amals Sagverks Aktiebolag, in Sweden, was similar in design to a Department of Works and Housing design for a 3 Bedroom Type house for Commonwealth employees, which, in every respect appears to have been identical to the Swedish design, except for the handed plan. Based on the Department of Works and Housing drawings, the Amals Sagverks Aktiebolag design appears to have been used at Ingleburn Village for the remaining cottages. The village area and other areas of the Ingleburn Army Camp, including Campbelltown Road, were landscaped at this time with local and introduced species including Spotted Gum (local) and Lemon-scented Gum, Silver-leafed Ironbark and Tallow-wood. Yellow Box and Forest Red Gum and Grey Box were used for avenue plantings in particular. After 1964, the National Service Program played an even greater role in Ingleburn's history, when the Commonwealth Government extended compulsory military training and conscripts were sent on military operations outside Australia. In the 1960s, Ingleburn was a focus for public concern over the issue of conscription, as several "conscientious objectors" were interred in Ingleburn's Guard House and Cell Blocks, usually while awaiting transport to the Military Prison at Holsworthy. The training of National Service recruits was the main function of Ingleburn from 1951 until 1972, when the Commonwealth Government abolished National Service. Since the end of WWII, the Camp's main functions was training camp for the National Service Scheme (1951-1972) and as the Headquarters of Second Training Group of the Army Reserves (post 1973). From the mid-1990s, activity at the Camp began to wind down with the units gradually being transferred to other areas. The site has most recently been used by the Australian Army for housing a combination of army units, as well as being a training facility for the Army Reserve. Many buildings were demolished or destroyed by fire in the late 1990s. The site has not been used by Defence since late 2000, although housing in the Village is currently rented out privately by the Defence Housing Authority. With the departure of tenants, vacant houses have unfortunately been demolished due to vandalism. |
| Condition and Integrity: |
|
Condition: The Riley-Newsum and Amals Sagverks Aktiebolag cottages are in relatively good condition (2002). Integrity: The Riley-Newsum and Amals Sagverks Aktiebolag cottages are relatively intact with few changes to the setting. Some replacement of widow fabric is indicated (2002). |
| Location: |
| Three Riley-Newsum cottages on the south side of Bass Road extending easterly from the corner of Oxley Road, Bardia Village, and five Amals Sagverks Aktiebolag cottages at 7 Blaxland Road and 8, 10, 13, 15 Flinders Crescent, Ingleburn Village, Ingleburn Defence Site. |
| Bibliography: |
|
Godden Mackay Logan, "Ingleburn Defence Site: Heritage Analysis" .prepared for Department of Defence, Major Property Disposal Unit, June 2001. Hobbs, R. "Deakin ACT: A Heritage Profile, Housing 1950-70" June 1991. National Archives: DWB-Married Quarters-Policy-Hawksley type prefabricated cottage (National Archives Series number A705, item 171/10/95). Department of Works and Housing, Melbourne. Prefabricated Houses (24 May 1951)-an inventory of the housing type and other standard buildings employed by the Commonwealth in the immediate post war years. Schwager Brooks and Partners Pty Ltd & Thorp W. "Review of the Status and Value of Army's Historic Buildings", September 1995. |
Report Produced: Tue Feb 9 16:05:33 2010