Kirkham Stables is a heritage-listed former horse stud and dairy and now vacant building and beef cattle farm at Kirkham Lane in the south-western Sydney suburb of Narellan in the Camden Council local government area of New South Wales, Australia. It was built from 1816 by John Oxley. It is also known as Kirkham Stables and Precinct. The property is privately owned. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 11 August 2000.
History The Camden region was originally occupied by the Gundungurra people. Soon after settling Sydney Cove, colonists set out to explore the Sydney region. When soils around Sydney Cove proved unsuitable for cultivation, a second settlement was established at Rose Hill (later Parramatta) in late 1788. The first Europeans known to have explored the Camden area were Captain Watkin Tench, Lieut. William Dawes and surgeon George Worgan in 1790. Tench noted the country around Camden as a plain with few trees and sandy soil, while the area closer to the Nepean River was thickly wooded. The area was little disturbed until cattle which had escaped soon after the First Fleet's arrival were re-discovered in the Camden area in 1795. The area became known as the "Cow Pastures". Access and settlement was restricted in the area to protect and nurture the cattle. The first grant in the area was 2,023 hectares (5,000 acres) to John Macarthur in 1805. He would eventually amass a vast estate of 9,712 hectares (24,000 acres) here. A number of grants were made in the area following the overthrow of Governor Bligh in 1809. To counteract the influence of John Macarthur, Governor Macquarie began distributing land on the northern and eastern sides of the Nepean River. One of the largest he made was to Surveyor-General, John Oxley, in 1810.
Oxley family One of the first land grants in the area was 243 hectares (600 acres) to John Oxley. Present-day Kirkham Lane defines the eastern boundary of his original grant. In 1815 his holding expanded to 405 hectares (1,000 acres) with purchase of adjacent land. Oxley named his grant Kirkham, after the Abbey in Yorkshire, where he was born. In 1816 he erected a large house and other farm buildings which included the stables building. The stable Oxley built included horse boxes, storage areas to the rear, a loft and some rooms that were used for accommodation. Farm workers and convicts are rumoured to have stayed in the building when the farm population was at its highest. By late 1825, the first school in the Camden area run by Charles Gordon was operating from Kirkham, and through February 1826 the first regular Protestant church services were also being held there. During the Oxley family's ownership, Kirkham was a well-regarded horse stud. The English stallion "Bachelor" stood at the stud in 1830. In 1827, the Reverend Thomas Hassell held a Christmas service in the stable loft attended by the family and up to fifty convicts. Oxley cultivated wheat and sheep on Kirkham. By 1824 he had 4000 sheep and was winning awards for his merinos. Kirkham was one of five large estates in the area employing convict labour. Oxley had married Emma Norton in 1821. Oxley died in 1828 and the property was passed on to his eldest son, John Norton Oxley. During John Norton's minority, Kirkham was managed by Captain Coghill, who had previously worked part of the farm. Coghill grew wheat and maize, which was processed on site in a mill erected in 1828. Farmers from the surrounding area, including the Macarthurs of Camden Park, used this mill. It was used until the 1860s, after which time wheat rust (a fungus) destroyed the wheat crops and production ceased. The mill was demolished in the 1880s. The farm stayed with the Oxley family and operated as a farm and horse stud farm. When he reached his superiority, John Norton Oxley returned to run Kirkham. He married Harriet, daughter of the Reverend James Hassell and had seven children. The Oxleys prospered until the 1870s, when they were involved in a failed cattle raising enterprise in Queensland. The ensuing financial disaster led to the sale of Kirkham. Despite his many business interests, Oxley was "much embarrassed in his pecuniary circumstances" at the time of his death, so much so that the Executive Council felt compelled to come to the assistance of his widow and two sons. While refusing to grant a pension, the British Government gave his sons a 2,023-hectare (5,000-acre) grant in recognition of their father's services. An advertisement in The Sydney Morning Herald edition of 6 December 1870 noted its improvements (all 'first class and in good repair') included about 429 hectares (1,060 acres) of fine rich arable land, spacious brick-built family residence (with ten apartments, kitchen, servants' rooms, dairy, wine house and numerous outbuildings), several well-arranged dwelling houses ('labourers' dwellings'), a superior steam flour mill (with horizontal 10-horse power engine, boiler, French stones, machinery and gear in perfect working order), spacious granary, a superior cottage (of 7 rooms with outbuildings, garden etc.), a large brick building used as a stables (12 stalls), and nearly the whole estate is cleared, stumped and ready for the plough... a "choice vineyard - 5 acres of fine old vines, from which 800-1000 gallons of wine are usually made", together with farm houses, etc., about 80 acres of timber reserved for shelter.
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