Mount Gilead's Lady Macarthur-Onslow dies aged 90

Lady Dorothy Macarthur-Onslow, of Mount Gilead, near Campbelltown in NSW, has died aged 90.

She had left the Gilead farm holding, located 56 kilometres southwest of Sydney, to spend her last days at Lulworth House.

The farm, which totals 180 hectares, has been long mooted as having residential housing subdivision potential. The most recent estimates suggest a yield of 1500 dwellings when combined with an adjoining 34-hectare lot.

Lady Macarthur-Onslow was the widow of Denzil Macarthur Onslow, the descendant of wool pioneer John Macarthur who died in 1984, and mother of Lee and Katrina.

Major-General Sir Denzil Macarthur-Onslow's first wife was Elinor Caldwell, a Scot from Lockerbie.

He married again in 1950 to Dorothy Wolseley Conagher, née Scott, a medical practitioner who had been medical superintendent at Parramatta Hospital.

In the 1940s Mount Gilead house was bought and restored by the family who operated a cattle dairy farm. The remains of the old windmill on Mount Gilead formed a prominent land mark given the site is 500 feet above sea level. Its wooden cogs are held in the Powerhouse Museum.

A concept plan illustrating an indicative residential layout for a quality new suburb on the site has been drawn up with its key features being:

Incorporate and maximise the existing landscape and topographical characteristics of the site;
Retain existing native vegetation and protect and enhance biodiversity and sensitive habitats
Enhance the existing riparian corridors;
Protect visually prominent features such as ridgelines;
Enhance visual links to distant views, heritage features and open space;
Encourage passive surveillance and increase safety;
Facilitate sustainable transport and access;
Maximise solar access for future lots and sustainable design outcomes; and
Provide a legible and walkable neighbourhood.

The 2012 Cox Richardson study, with plans featured above by Property Observer, suggested buffers if required to protect the visual curtilage of the Mt Gilead homestead and windmill that  would not impact on the dwelling yield of the proposal given the proposed 700 square metre average lot size and the size of the site.

Mt Gilead Pty Ltd, the owner of the majority of the site, had not received any notices of coal seam gas (CSG) extraction on the land.

Water supply to the site could potentially be drawn from the existing gravity fed water-main owned by United Utilities Australia. The water running through the main is provided by Sydney Water.
A connection junction was included in the main on Mt Gilead land at the time the main was constructed. This was paid for by Mt Gilead Pty Ltd in anticipation of future potential development on the Mt Gilead land.

The surrounding locality includes:
the low density residential suburbs of Rosemeadow and St Helens Park (including Kilbride Aged Care Facility and Retirement Village) located around one kilometre to the north;
the M5 motorway beyond the Mt Gilead Homestead and farm to the west;
the Nepean River about 2 kilometres to the west of the Mt Gilead Homestead
a number of rural land parcels along the eastern side of Appin Road adjoining the Dharawal State Recreation Area;
the Georges River approximately one kilometre to the east of Appin Road, and.
the Beulah Estate and rural residential land further to the south.

In 1995 the land, described as the final link between Sydney's southern fringe and the Illawarra, was earmarked for redevelopment by a Canberra company, Landco.

The then Federal MP for Werriwa, Mark Latham, opposed the development noting "every air pollution report has shown that Campbelltown has a particular problem which can only worsen through unrestrained population growth."

Relatives and friends of Lady Macarthur-Onslow attended her funeral at the Northern Suburbs Crematorium, North Ryde, on Friday May 17.