Stables

The main stables were built in the 1820s and are among the oldest surviving farm buildings in Australia. They consist of a timber frame clad with ironbark weatherboards cut by hand on the farm. Close examination shows that fasteners include wooden pegs and hand-made nails.

The roof was originally made of hardwood shingles but these were covered in corrugated iron when the stables, barn, store and feed shed were renovated to form one long, continuous building in the 1890s. The gabled roof vents are a distinctive feature of the design.

Horses were used on the farm for transport and as motive power to pull ploughs, wagons and other machinery. In 1899 there were 118 horses on Camden Park and in 1911 there were 179.

Although the Macarthurs used the latest technology, horses remained the powerhouse of the farm until the 1930s. They particularly used Suffolk Punch draught horses for farm work, and they bred these on the farm, at times using stallions imported from England. In 1909 a Clydesdale stallion was also purchased.

From the 1950s the stables and nearby buildings were little used because the focus of activity on Camden Park became centred around the large automated dairy called 'the Rotolactor' which was at Menangle.