NSWFarming
Cobbitty
Gentry estates and a hilltop church above the Nepean.
1812Cowpastures estates granted
WHAT STARTED IT
Cobbitty lies in the lush Cowpastures country on the eastern side of the Nepean, where settlement was allowed while the western bank was largely closed. In 1812 Governor Macquarie granted estates here, including Gregory Blaxland’s Cubbady Farm and the Rev. William Cowper’s Wivenhoe.
WHAT SUSTAINED IT
The Rev. Thomas Hassall, known as the Galloping Parson, built Heber Chapel in 1828, and St Paul’s Church, consecrated in April 1842, became the centre of a large parish. By the 1880s most farms were dairies, and the Cobbitty United Dairy Company built a butter factory in 1889.
TURNING POINTS
1812Gregory Blaxland and the Rev. William Cowper receive grants at Cobbedee.
1828Heber Chapel is dedicated by the Rev. Samuel Marsden.
1842St Paul’s Church is consecrated by Bishop Broughton on 5 April.
1889The Cobbitty United Dairy Company is formed and builds a butter factory.
1930sThe Macarthur-Onslow family develop an airfield on Macquarie Grove, now Camden Airport.
WHAT IT DOES NOW
Still largely rural, with a small village along Cobbitty Road, turf farms, horse properties and Camden Airport on its Nepean frontage. Wivenhoe and other old estates survive.