The traditional owners of the Kurnell Peninsula are the Gweagal people of the Dharawal nation who were traditionally less nomadic than inland tribes due to the abundance of seafood and flora in the region. This was confirmed by archaeological evidence of midden piles, rock carvings and paintings. The richness of flora and fauna in the area, as well as the ready supply of fresh water and supplies for tool making, supported a large community with an estimated population of 1500 (as reported by Governor Phillip in 1788). This community engaged in fishing, hunting and gathering, as well as constructing tools and canoes, and guarded sacred clay puts on their territorial land. They were the northernmost tribe of the Dharawal-speaking people.
On the 29th of April 1770 the Endeavour, captained by Lieutenant (later Captain) James Cook, entered what is today known as Botany Bay (named Kamay by the traditional owners) in search of safe harbour and fresh water and landed on its southern shore. On approaching they encountered approximately thirty Aborigines. This first recorded contact between Indigenous peoples and the British in Eastern Australia was marked by confusion on the part of both the landing party and local people, with shots fired and stones thrown, as indicated in Cook’s journal:
Click here to see part 2 of the history of the Kurnell Peninsula
On the 29th of April 1770 the Endeavour, captained by Lieutenant (later Captain) James Cook, entered what is today known as Botany Bay (named Kamay by the traditional owners) in search of safe harbour and fresh water and landed on its southern shore. On approaching they encountered approximately thirty Aborigines. This first recorded contact between Indigenous peoples and the British in Eastern Australia was marked by confusion on the part of both the landing party and local people, with shots fired and stones thrown, as indicated in Cook’s journal:
I thought that they beckoned us to come ashore, but in this we were mistaken, for as soon as we put the boat in they again came to oppose us I fired a musket between the two which had no effect one of them took up a stone and threw at us
- Cook's journal, 29 April 1770
This date symbolised the start of British colonisation in Australia—an event that has been commemorated since 1822 and is marked by a monument at Cape Solander—but for Indigenous Australians it also marks the beginning of dispossession of their land.
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| Source: www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/heritage/photodb/imagesearch.pl?proc=detail;barcode_no=dig007764 |
Cook explored and charted the Bay, naming it Stingrays Bay after the large quantity of rays present, over the next eight days while based at the Kurnell Peninsula. During this time botanist Joseph Banks and naturalist Daniel Solander recorded the vast variety of flora and fauna in the Kurnell region, collecting 83 unique plant specimens and in light of these discoveries the area was renamed Botany Bay. In his writings Cook described the area as a paradise with the land and sea providing everything necessary for life and recommended it as a place that could be cultivated easily with good soils. His reports also informed the subsequent declaration of terra nullius, beginning the process of British possession of the continent.
Following Cook’s favourable report Captain Arthur Phillip arrived at Kurnell Peninsula eighteen years later with the First Fleet in January 1788, associating the region with convictism for most of the nineteenth century. However unlike Cook he saw the area as unsuitable for settlement and cultivation, and despite raising the British flag at Point Sutherland he immediately began transferring the fleet to Port Jackson from which the city of Sydney emerged.
It was not until 1815 that settlement began at Kurnell Peninsula with James Birnie acquiring the first official land grant in the area. While there Birine established a farm, market garden, dairy and a homestead whilst also pursuing walking and other shipping interests. John Connell later took over this land in 1828 and within a decade had acquired almost the entire Peninsula. He engaged in the transport of timber from Hacking River and the Kurnell area to the Sydney market and was responsible for the construction of a canal to Woolooware Bay to float timber into Botany Bay. Over time this land was taken over by Thomas Holt who undertook pastoral activities and in so doing undertook extensive clearing and cultivating, culling of the local dingo populations, felling of local woodlands, and caused grasscover loss on Kurnell’s sand dunes due to sheep and cattle grazing. The environmental consequences of this settlement can still be witnessed today with remains of split-rail fences still obvious at Towra Point and the continuing destruction of the sand dunes. During this period a fishing village was also established at the Eastern tip of the Peninsula, occupied predominantly by the Aboriginal population. With the development of an Aboriginal camp across the bay at La Perouse many of these inhabitants moved to the reserve. During this time the Peninsula had also been classified as a possible site for Sydney’s noxious trades and waste following an 1883 Royal Commission Report and fears over the bubonic plague.
In 1899 the area marked years earlier as Captain Cook’s Landing Place was resumed by the State Government for use as a public park/reserve. The next year saw legislation to clear the debts of Holt’s tenants and the conversion of much of the Peninsula to freehold with livestock and poultry production continuing for the next half century. During the 1920s with the construction of Sydney’s airport in Botany Bay the Peninsula was indirectly affected by the associated dredging which altered wave direction and increased erosion. In the 1930s the Kurnell sand dunes began to be mined to support the construction industry after an attempt by councillors to include it in a National Park failed. Sand mining at Kurnell continues today and has significantly weakened the Peninsula as well as removing a premier feature of the landscape.
Following Cook’s favourable report Captain Arthur Phillip arrived at Kurnell Peninsula eighteen years later with the First Fleet in January 1788, associating the region with convictism for most of the nineteenth century. However unlike Cook he saw the area as unsuitable for settlement and cultivation, and despite raising the British flag at Point Sutherland he immediately began transferring the fleet to Port Jackson from which the city of Sydney emerged.
It was not until 1815 that settlement began at Kurnell Peninsula with James Birnie acquiring the first official land grant in the area. While there Birine established a farm, market garden, dairy and a homestead whilst also pursuing walking and other shipping interests. John Connell later took over this land in 1828 and within a decade had acquired almost the entire Peninsula. He engaged in the transport of timber from Hacking River and the Kurnell area to the Sydney market and was responsible for the construction of a canal to Woolooware Bay to float timber into Botany Bay. Over time this land was taken over by Thomas Holt who undertook pastoral activities and in so doing undertook extensive clearing and cultivating, culling of the local dingo populations, felling of local woodlands, and caused grasscover loss on Kurnell’s sand dunes due to sheep and cattle grazing. The environmental consequences of this settlement can still be witnessed today with remains of split-rail fences still obvious at Towra Point and the continuing destruction of the sand dunes. During this period a fishing village was also established at the Eastern tip of the Peninsula, occupied predominantly by the Aboriginal population. With the development of an Aboriginal camp across the bay at La Perouse many of these inhabitants moved to the reserve. During this time the Peninsula had also been classified as a possible site for Sydney’s noxious trades and waste following an 1883 Royal Commission Report and fears over the bubonic plague.
In 1899 the area marked years earlier as Captain Cook’s Landing Place was resumed by the State Government for use as a public park/reserve. The next year saw legislation to clear the debts of Holt’s tenants and the conversion of much of the Peninsula to freehold with livestock and poultry production continuing for the next half century. During the 1920s with the construction of Sydney’s airport in Botany Bay the Peninsula was indirectly affected by the associated dredging which altered wave direction and increased erosion. In the 1930s the Kurnell sand dunes began to be mined to support the construction industry after an attempt by councillors to include it in a National Park failed. Sand mining at Kurnell continues today and has significantly weakened the Peninsula as well as removing a premier feature of the landscape.
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| Source: www.theleader.com.au/news/local/news/general/desal-plant-used-kurnell-sand/1673416.aspx |
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