[2][1] Moves towards the establishment of Belgenny Farm were first made in 1801, when John Macarthur was exiled to England for causing dissent after fighting a duel in which he shot his own commanding officer.

[9][1] John Macarthur returned from England in 1817 with his two sons, James and William, and began to expand the productivity of the farm by introducing vine cuttings, olive trees and various seeds and agricultural implements purchased overseas.

[1] The estate and Macarthur family were instrumental (along with Brush Farm, Ryde via Gregory Blaxland and the Sydney Botanic Gardens, via James Busby) in establishing the Australian wine industry.

[10] Camden Park became world-renowned for the quality of its wine and by 1845 was producing around 45,000 litres; 12,000 US gallons (10,000 imp gal) per annum as a serious vineyard and one of the most highly regarded in the colony and with quite a reputation overseas.

Exports were also listed in this publication, with the 1845 edition noting that William Macarthur sent two hybrid coral trees known as "Erythrina camdenensis" to Conrad Loddiges and Sons, a well-known Hackney nurseryman in London.

William Macarthur continued to donate plants to the Royal Botanical Gardens Sydney until 1880, including roses, pelargoniums, orchards, palms, araucarias and tropical shrubs.

The location of St Johns was carefully surveyed by Sir Thomas Mitchell; from the house carriage loop the spire is symmetrically framed by the distant Mountains Hunter and Taurus, earning the church the local quip 'built to the glory of God and to enhance the view of the Macarthurs'.

From the 1830s onward, the estate played a major role in establishing the wine industry by exporting tens of thousands of vine cuttings to Western Australia, Tasmania and Victoria.

Camden Park played a vital role in the fledgling Australian wine industry through its importation and distribution of vine cuttings throughout NSW and the Barossa Valley of SA.

[10] Camden Park became world-renowned for the quality of its wine and by 1845 was producing around 45,000 litres; 12,000 US gallons (10,000 imp gal) per annum as a serious vineyard and one of the most highly regarded in the colony and with quite a reputation overseas.

It is important to note that these zones are not subdivisions but a way of segmenting a large area with regard to topographic and natural features, visual catchments, existing vegetation and agricultural uses, the built environment and ownership.

The extensive views to the east and west across the property to neighbouring countryside, Menangle village and to the ridges in the middle and far distance gives an understanding of the site's regional landscape context.

The lower slopes have been replaced by grey box (Eucalyptus moluccana) and forest red gum (E. tereticornis) and she oak (Casuarina glauca) in areas of high soil salinity or impeded drainage.

[1] In the northern portion of the Nepean Plain, Barragal Lagoon is overlooked from the north by a steep hill accommodating a sandstone monument that marks the camping place where Governor Macquarie and his wife stayed in 1810.

On the lagoon fringe grows blue box (Eucalyptus bauerana) while forest red gum (E. tereticornis) woodland and grassy understorey dominates the upper slopes.

Zone 15 is a hilly and pastoral terrain and comprises a fairly sparse canopy cover of narrow leaved ironbark (Eucalyptus crebra), grey gum (E. moluccanna) and open woodland of she oak (Casuarina glauca).

A pastoral landscape associated with Belgenny, the Macarthur cemetery, the calf pens and the dairy, it is almost entirely clear of vegetation aside from a few scattered rough barked apple (Angophora subvelutina) to the south and dam planting to the north.

Enclosed and restful, its location above the flood-prone valley offers extensive views to the east of the Macarthur-Onslow Estate, and to the north-west over Belgenny, forming an important component of the landscape.

The major components of this area are Port Jackson pine or native cypress(Callitris rhomboidea) and the kurrajong (Brachychiton populneum) which are likely to be remnants of the original dry hill top woodland.

[1] Zone 19 is where Belgenny Farm started and many early 19th century buildings have survived intact due to a conservation program designed by Howard Tanner and Associates Pty Ltd during the 1980s.

Immediately south of the homestead is a multi-stemmed kurrajong (Brachychiton populneum) In spite of its old scar tissue from livestock damage, it is one of the healthiest and finest specimens of this species within the municipality and may be a remnant of the original woodland.

Around the moving platform, the milk is collected in vacuum steel containers then emptied into a dump vat, pumped to the depot and within 90 seconds is chilled and ready for despatch to Sydney.

It shows a high degree of technical and creative excellence being a rare, and still relatively intact, example of a model rural estate of the early 19th century (continuing to serve this function until the 1950s).

[1] By the 1830s the estate of 11,331 hectares (28,000 acres) included the greatest and most advanced mixed farm in NSW, at a time when Australian wools had almost ousted continental wools from British usage and the British manufacturers had a vast ascendancy in the world's woollen markets[30][1] Its extensive grounds planted in the tradition of 19th century English landscape parks holds a major botanical collection and its large, exceptional collection of rural buildings is especially important because of both the quality and rarity of the group.

[1] Camden Park played a vital role in the fledgling Australian wine industry through its importation and distribution of vine cuttings throughout NSW and the Barossa Valley of SA.

[10] Camden Park became world-renowned for the quality of its wine and by 1845 was producing around 45,000 litres; 12,000 US gallons (10,000 imp gal) per annum as a serious vineyard and one of the most highly regarded in the colony and with quite a reputation overseas.

[11][1] James & William Macarthur managed the estate with great enterprise, importing expert workers: Australia's first skilled wool-sorter from Silesia, shepherds from Scotland, vignerons from Nassau and dairymen from Dorset.

More particularly it is an outstanding exemplar of Australia's Colonial Regency style of architecture, this significance being enhanced by the quality of the design and craftsmanship and the degree to which it has retained important original fabric and features.

The house's historic significance is also due in large measure to its role as the home of the Macarthur family from the days of John and Elizabeth, through a direct line of descendants to the present.

[1] Aesthetically, Camden Park Estate is in a setting of bucolic charm, symbolic plantings and important vistas with the added significance of the Macarthur family cemetery with its monuments and Belgenny Farm's timber vernacular buildings.