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== Heritage listing == Scheyville National Park is of State heritage significance as it demonstrates a continuous history of significant use since pre-European settlement when the area supported the Dharug people with plentiful food supplies. The park also contains a number of historic features and places which demonstrate the early settlement of the [[Cumberland Plain]], farming, defence and migrant uses of the area, and is significant as a relatively large surviving element of the first commons declared in the colony. The ongoing use and development of the area closely reflects and articulates the economic and agricultural development of the colony and later the development of the nation in relation to its autonomy, defence and populating the land. It is a rare example of a site demonstrating the continuous layers of history which reflects the history of the State and the Nation.<ref name=nswshr-1817/> In addition to its culturally historic values, the Scheyville National Park's natural values demonstrate a significant phase of evolution in the natural history of the Hawkesbury area. The park contains the largest and most intact remnants of Cumberland Plain native plant and animal communities which once dominated [[Western Sydney]]. As such it offers a living snapshot of the early natural history of Western Sydney and the State.<ref name=nswshr-1817/> The state heritage significance of the Scheyville National Park is enhanced through its close association with a number of people important to the history and development of the colony and later State and Nation such as Governor Phillip King, William Francis Schey, Sir John Overall, Brigadier Ian Geddes, Tim Fischer and Jeff Kennet. The Park has aesthetic significance at a State level as an extensive landscape of woodlands and wetlands with many birds and wildlife.<ref name=nswshr-1817/> The place retains significant and special associations to a number of identifiable groups of people located through the State such as the former Dreadnought Boys, members of the 73rd Searchlight Company and 1st Parachute Battalion, a number of post-WWII migrants to Australia and former Officer Training Unit cadets. It is of State heritage significance for these strong social associations.<ref name=nswshr-1817/> The site has State heritage significance for its potential archaeological evidence of Aboriginal occupation as well as potential archaeological resource relating to all layers of the site's rich history as a Common, a farming concern, military uses and migrant hostel. This potential resource is capable of delivering a deeper understanding of the history of the site and the way in which it was used over time.<ref name=nswshr-1817/> The site is of State heritage significance as a rare and unique site containing evidence of all layers of significant historical use which closely reflects the history of the State and the Nation. It is also rare as a site containing the most extensive remnant vegetation on the Cumberland Plain and providing habitat for endangered vegetation and birdlife.<ref name=nswshr-1817/> The park is significant as a representative example of all its land uses over time, including its most recent use as a National Park. It is representative of the national park concept that was introduced into Australia through the establishment of the (Royal) National Park in 1879.<ref name=nswshr-1817/> Scheyville National Park was listed on the [[New South Wales State Heritage Register]] on 9 April 2010 having satisfied the following criteria.<ref name=nswshr-1817/> '''The place is important in demonstrating the course, or pattern, of cultural or natural history in New South Wales.''' Scheyville National Park is of State heritage significance as it demonstrates a continuous history of significant use since pre-European settlement when the area supported the Dharug people with plentiful food supplies. The park also contains a number of historic features and places which demonstrate the early settlement of the Cumberland Plain, farming, defence and migrant uses of the area, and is significant as a relatively large surviving element of the first commons declared in the colony. The ongoing use and development of the area closely reflects and articulates the economic and agricultural development of the colony and later the development of the nation in relation to its autonomy, defence and populating the land. It is a rare example of a site demonstrating the continuous layers of history which reflects the history of the State and the Nation.<ref name=nswshr-1817/> The park is of historic significance at a state level as a number of the Parks boundaries are those of the [[Nelson, New South Wales|Nelson]] (later Pitt Town) Common declared in NSW by Governor King in 1804. The 6 commons declared at that time were the earliest officially declared in the Colony and the 954 ha Scheyville National Park is the largest unsettled remnant of those Commons. In addition, land uses of the colonial common such as quarrying are still evident.<ref name=nswshr-1817/> Scheyville National Park is of State heritage significance as the site of three rare and often controversial social and agricultural ventures in the late 19th and early 20th centuries: the Pitt Town Co-operative Labour Settlement for the unemployed; a Casual Labour Farm for men who could not find work through ill health; and the Scheyville Government Agricultural Training Farm, a Dreadnought Farm for English boys, the earliest of the child immigrant training farms to operate and an agricultural; training farm for women during WWI. It was also one of the major migrant reception centre in Australia during the 1950s and early 1960s.<ref name=nswshr-1817/> Scheyville National Park is historically significant at a State level for its long associations with the military forces, being used as a military training camp during World War II for Australia's first parachute battalion and the 73rd Search Light Company which saw distinguished Service in New Guinea during WWII. It was also the first officer training School for National Servicemen during the Vietnam War.<ref name=nswshr-1817/> In addition to these culturally historic values, the Scheyville National Park's natural values demonstrate a significant phase of evolution in the natural history of the Hawkesbury area. The park contains the largest and most intact remnants of Cumberland Plain native plant and animal communities which once dominated Western Sydney. As such it offers a living snapshot of the early natural history of Western Sydney.<ref name=nswshr-1817/> '''The place has a strong or special association with a person, or group of persons, of importance of cultural or natural history of New South Wales's history.''' Scheyville's historic significance at a State level is enhanced through its association with a number of groups and individuals important in the history of NSW. Scheyville National Park is significant for its association with the Dharug Nation who occupied the area for at least 13,000 years prior to colonial settlement, and for the ongoing associations between contemporary Dharug communities and the parklands (HO)<ref name=nswshr-1817/> The first important figure associated with the site is Governor King who reserved an area which includes the Scheyville National Park as a Common in 1804.<ref name=nswshr-1817/> The driving force in establishing the Dreadnought scheme and Scheyville Agricultural training farm for young British migrants was William Schey. Schey was keenly involved in the politics of labour and industry from late 1877 through to the early decade of the 20th century. He was a pioneering unionist with the Railways and Tramways Employees Association, a parliamentarian tirelessly campaigning for the 8-hour day. He became Chief Labour Commissioner in the late 1890s and Director of State Labour Bureau in the first years of the new Federation.<ref name=nswshr-1817/> The Commander of the 1st Parachute Battalion, the first airborne combat troop in Australia which was encamped at Scheyville was Lt. Col. Sir John Overall who had received the Military Cross and Bar for distinguished Service in WWII. In civilian life he returned to his work as a distinguished architect where his work with the National Capital Development Commission made a significant contribution to the development of [[Canberra]]. He was awarded the RAIA Gold Medal in 1982 and played an important part in the development and oversight of the construction of the new [[Parliament House, Sydney|Parliament House]].<ref name=nswshr-1817/> The first and longest Commandant of the OTU at Scheyville was Brigadier Ian Geddes, a soldier with a long and distinguished record of active service during WWII both in Europe and Asia, during the Malayan Emergency and finally in Vietnam. In Vietnam he headed a team of 128 members of the Australian Assistance Group whose task it was to instruct South Vietnamese and Cambodian Troops before the ceasefire discussion were concluded. Geddes also had a long and influential career in military education at the Joint Services Staff College in Canberra, Scheyville OTU and has several achievement awards in his honour and also a number of military educational facilities named after him.<ref name=nswshr-1817/> The leadership training offered by the Officer Training Unit at Scheyville produced many strong and well-equipped leaders who used their skills during the Vietnam war and well after, two significant graduates who have gone on to influence the direction of the State and Nation are Jeff Kennet and Tim Fischer.<ref name=nswshr-1817/> Scheyville National Park is significant for its associations with community groups involved in the environmental conservation movement in western [[Sydney]] during the late 20th century, including the National Parks Association and Concerned Residents Against Development of Longneck Lagoon (CRADLE).<ref name=nswshr-1817/> '''The place is important in demonstrating aesthetic characteristics and/or a high degree of creative or technical achievement in New South Wales.''' Scheyville National Park is of state significance as an extensive landscape of woodlands and wetlands that crown the high land above the rural and village countryside of the [[Pitt Town Bottoms, New South Wales|Pitt Town Bottoms]] and the Hawkesbury Valley. Within the park the landscapes have aesthetic value for the combinations of eucalypt woodlands, open grasslands and shady glades with reedy water bodies and many evident birds and other wildlife. Because of its height above the surrounding plains and valleys, there are clear views over the Hawkesbury River and villages such as Pitt Town and [[Windsor, New South Wales|Windsor]] towards the rugged escarpments and peaks of the [[Blue Mountains (New South Wales)|Blue Mountains]]. It is an increasingly rare example of such landscape combinations on the western Cumberland Plain.<ref name=nswshr-1817/> The inter-war period built complex in the centre of the national park has aesthetic significance as an example of institutional design in a Mediterranean style, with all the principal buildings hierarchically arranged around a central courtyard on top of a commanding knoll. The complex design is supported by the arrangement of the central driveway which features sandstone gateways from the Officer Training establishment and a central memorial stone obelisk that commemorates the various military forces previously stationed in the complex.<ref name=nswshr-1817/> '''The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group in New South Wales for social, cultural or spiritual reasons.''' Scheyville National Park is of local and regional significance for its associations with contemporary Aboriginal communities in Western Sydney for whom it retains memories and physical evidence of historical settlement by the Dharug people, and of their resistance and adaptation to colonial settlement of the Hawkesbury Valley and Cumberland Plain.<ref name=nswshr-1817/> Scheyville National Park meets this criterion of State significance because it retains a significant and special association to a number of identifiable groups of people who are now located throughout NSW and beyond.<ref name=nswshr-1817/> While their number is diminishing the place has a special association for the surviving former Dreadnought boys who trained there and later went onto work on farms throughout NSW. Those surviving are mainly from the period 1919 to 1939 and their oral testimony evidences the lasting association they have with Scheyville as a significant formative experience in their lives and careers.<ref name=nswshr-1817/> Similarly, the place is held in regard by the members of the 73rd Searchlight Company and the 1st Parachute Battalion who camped and trained in the fields surrounding the "Scheyville camp".<ref name=nswshr-1817/> The buildings and surrounds at Scheyville hold particular special meanings and memories for thousands of migrants who made Scheyville their home when they first settled in Australia. A demonstration of the lasting association many migrants have with the place was the very well attended "Back to Scheyville Day" held in 2005 where many people revisited their experience of first settling in Australia and reconnected with old friends and acquaintances.<ref name=nswshr-1817/> Scheyville has enduring association with the former officer cadets who trained there. The nature of the training at Scheyville was so dramatic that all cadets who have contributed to the oral history of their time at Scheyville note their time there as profoundly character and life-changing. The OTU regularly holds reunions at the site and have established a monument at Scheyville to commemorate their fellow Officers who died in action in Vietnam as well as those associated with the earlier military uses of the site, the 73rd Searchlight Company and the 1st Parachute Battalion.<ref name=nswshr-1817/> '''The place has potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of the cultural or natural history of New South Wales.''' Scheyville National Park is of significance for the research potential of the archaeological evidence of Aboriginal occupation found on the margins of Longneck Lagoon and along Longneck and Llewellyn Creeks, including stone cores and occupation sites.<ref name=nswshr-1817/> It also contains significant archaeological potential, known archaeological resources and remnant fabric which can provide an understanding of the layout and functioning of the place during all its periods of use including its earliest European use as a Common and then later when it accommodated the Pitt Town Settlers. There is archaeology and remnant fabric relating to its 3 phases of use as a Government Agricultural Training Farm for British youth and also of its periods of military use and as a Migrant Holding Centre.<ref name=nswshr-1817/> In addition, the Park as the largest intact area of Cumberland Plains vegetation the area is an important research resource to study and protect several rare and endangered species of fauna and flora. The natural areas of the national park are becoming increasingly significant as areas for researching the impacts of changing flora and fauna composition and ecological communities in response to urbanisation and other human-induced environment changes (HO).<ref name=nswshr-1817/> '''The place possesses uncommon, rare or endangered aspects of the cultural or natural history of New South Wales.''' It meets this criterion of State significance because as it is a site unique in its ability to demonstrate all the layers of its significant historical use which closely reflect and articulate the history of the state and the nation. Scheyville National Park is of State significance for the rarity of several of its constituent elements.<ref name=nswshr-1817/> The naturally vegetated areas of the national park represent the most extensive remnant of vegetation on [[Wianamatta Shale]] remaining on the Cumberland Plain, notably the Cumberland Plain Grey Box/ Ironbark Woodland (listed as an endangered community under the Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995), as well as [[Castlereagh, New South Wales|Castlereagh]] Scribbly Gum Woodland and Shale/Gravel Transition Forest.<ref name=nswshr-1817/> The national park protects three threatened native plants and a number of regionally rare plant species. Ten birds listed under the Threatened Species Conservation Act have been recorded in the national park (PoM).<ref name=nswshr-1817/> '''The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a class of cultural or natural places/environments in New South Wales.''' The Park is of significance as a representative example of all its land uses over time; as a colonial Common, a cooperative farming concern and agricultural training farm, as an encampment site for the military forces during WWII, as a migrant holding hostel for displaced persons at the end of WWII and as an Officer Training Unit specifically set up for National Servicemen during the Vietnam War.<ref name=nswshr-1817/> Scheyville National Park is of local and regional significance for its flora and fauna communities that are representative of the native ecologies of the Cumberland Plain.<ref name=nswshr-1817/> The park itself is representative of the national park concept that was introduced into Australia through the establishment of the [[Royal National Park]] in 1879, as evidenced by its establishment in 1996 as one of the most recent metropolitan national parks gazetted in New South Wales .<ref name=nswshr-1817/>
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