The History of Camp Waterman
In 2005, after just a few months of searching for a suitable location for Australia’s first Kadampa Buddhist Temple, we were blessed to find Camp Waterman, a purpose-built camp and spiritual retreat site.From the mid 1930s the Waterman family welcomed disadvantaged children to their property for holidays before donating the land to the Churches of Christ in 1944. The family offered the land as a memorial to William Waterman, their son, who went as a missionary to China and died there.
The camp has come a long way since the early days when campers would have to sleep on straw mattresses with no access to running water or other facilities.
Most of the current buildings at Camp Waterman were constructed following the 1960s bushfires. These destroyed the previous buildings which had been constructed by Mr Waterman himself.
In the early days the Camp was run mainly as a Christian camp but in the last decade or so the camp was used for a variety of different activities including weddings, sporting functions, orchestral recitals, meditation retreats, seminars, youth camps, backpackers accommodation and family getaways.
The local community have warmly welcomed us into the neighbourhood and are delighted that the tradition of spiritual retreat continues at the old Camp site.