When soils around Sydney Cove proved unsuitable for cultivation, a second settlement was established at Rose Hill (later Parramatta) in late 1788.

Tench noted the country around Camden as a plain with few trees and sandy soil, while the area closer to the Nepean River was thickly wooded.

To counteract the influence of John Macarthur, Governor Macquarie began distributing land on the northern and eastern sides of the Nepean River.

[1] The stable Oxley built included horse boxes, storage areas to the rear, a loft and some rooms that were used for accommodation.

By late 1825, the first school in the Camden area run by Charles Gordon was operating from Kirkham, and through February 1826 the first regular Protestant church services were also being held there.

In 1827, the Reverend Thomas Hassell held a Christmas service in the stable loft attended by the family and up to fifty convicts.

During John Norton's minority, Kirkham was managed by Captain Coghill, who had previously worked part of the farm.

Despite his many business interests, Oxley was "much embarrassed in his pecuniary circumstances" at the time of his death, so much so that the Executive Council felt compelled to come to the assistance of his widow and two sons.

[5][1] An advertisement in The Sydney Morning Herald edition of 6 December 1870 noted its improvements (all 'first class and in good repair') included about 429 hectares (1,060 acres) of fine rich arable land, spacious brick-built family residence (with ten apartments, kitchen, servants' rooms, dairy, wine house and numerous outbuildings), several well-arranged dwelling houses ('labourers' dwellings'), a superior steam flour mill (with horizontal 10-horse power engine, boiler, French stones, machinery and gear in perfect working order), spacious granary, a superior cottage (of 7 rooms with outbuildings, garden etc.

White was an important figure in the horse racing industry: a long term committee member of the Australian Jockey Club and its chairman in 1880 and from 1883-90.

White also bred horses at his Segenhoe property and built the lavish heritage-listed Big Stable Newmarket in Randwick.

Hunt had earlier carried out substantial extensions to White's Sydney villa, Cranbrook, at Rose Bay (Bellevue Hill).

The Godden Mackay 1998 conservation management plan suggests a likely date of mid-late 19th century, based on physical evidence.

[11][1] The Stables are constructed of between 350 and 450 thick masonry walls, now with a rough cast cement render on stone foundations.

Landscape works were undertaken including plantings on Kirkham Lane around the dam and on the loop entry road.

The Kirkham Lane boundary has two mature lines of trees which appear to be silky oaks (Grevillea robusta) and sweet gums (Liquidambar styraciflua).

[12][1] The homestead garden has a range of mature trees, one of which that is prominent is a Himalayan cedar (Cedrus deodara) near the rear service courtyard.

A couple of other large deciduous trees are also in the vicinity and may be sweet gums or perhaps pin oaks (Quercus palustris) by branch pattern.

[12][1] The view from the house's front rose garden east over paddocks is framed by mature trees on Northern and Southern sides.

[1] Near a modern toilet block north-west of the Stables is a large hybrid plane tree (Platanus x acerifolia).

[1] The Kirkham Stables precinct provides evidence of a continuity of farming operations dating from the earliest period of settlement to the present.

Surveyor Lieutenant John Oxley, an engineer and important figure in the early development of Australia, established Kirkham.

[13][1] Kirkham Stables was listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 11 August 2000 having satisfied the following criteria.

Kirkham Stables and its broader setting provide evidence of an early Australian land grant and the earliest period rural activity outside central Sydney and Parramatta.

[14][1] The place is important in demonstrating aesthetic characteristics and/or a high degree of creative or technical achievement in New South Wales.

The Kirkham Stables is a large and impressive Colonial Georgian style building which provides evidence of a formal understanding of design and taste in that period.

The Kirkham Stables precinct, including the late Victorian period homestead and timber store, retains a pleasant farm character and a visual relationship to and from adjoining historic properties and key approaches.

Documentary evidence indicates archaeological potential in regard to previous structures and paddocks in areas near Kirkham Stables.