This week, Roy decided it was time for another picnic. He had made sausage rolls on Friday and had a few leftover. Cold sausage rolls are something which Roy thinks make perfect picnic food, so now we just needed to think of somewhere to go to eat them! Roy has been really interested in Scheyville National Park for some time. We drive past regularly on our way to various places, and once we even drove in to have a peek. There were lots of historic buildings around, and Roy just knew it must have a fascinating history. So this week, he decided to find out more and have a picnic at Scheyville.
If you would like to visit Scheyville (pronounced sky-ville), it is on the outskirts of Sydney, not far from Windsor. There are several entrances to the park, but the main one, and the one which takes you to the heritage buildings, is located on Scheyville Road. There is plenty to do in the park, including walking, horse riding (if you own one) and birdwatching. There is also plenty of room to kick a ball or even fly a kite!
Scheyville has a long and fascinating history, dating right back to the early 1800s. In 1802 it was set aside as a common which could be used by people in the nearby Pitt Town area to graze their animals on and it remained a common right up until the 1890s. The 1890s saw depression and unemployment in Australia and during this time, Scheyville became the Pitt Town Co-operative Labour Settlement. The settlement was supposed to help ease unemployment, but it was shortlived and by 1896 most of the people had left. Soon though, it was to become home to a Government Training Farm, training people, mainly young men, to work on farms. In 1911 the Government Training Farm was taken over by the Dreadnought Trust, and became home to British Boys who came to Australia to train and find work on farms. The boys often didn't realise that if they didn't like it, going home would be difficult as Australia was so far away from England. This scheme ran until the 1930s.
Scheyville was also extensively used during times of war. During World War One, the camp was used to house 87 German Prisoners of War who were taken from boats in Sydney Harbour and even, for a short time, to train women in agricultural skills! In World War Two the area became a training facility for Australian forces, being used by the 73rd Australian Anti-aircraft Search Light Company and later the RAAF 244 1st Parachute Battalion. Following the war there was a short period where Scheyville was unused, but in 1949 it became a migrant camp, where new migrants would be housed and 'introduced to Australia' before entering the general community. The migrant camp operated up until 1964. The following year the area was again taken over by the military and it became an Officer Training Unit for training conscripts for the Vietnam War. This program ended in 1973 but the site was still used occasionally by the army. It was also used for five years by the Hawkesbury Agricultural College, before eventually becoming a National Park. You can find out more about Scheyville, and even see some historic movie footage by clicking here.
