Kamay Botany Bay National Park (North and South) and Towra Point Nature Reserve

Item details

Name of item: Kamay Botany Bay National Park (North and South) and Towra Point Nature Reserve
Other name/s: La Perouse Monument, Tomb of Pere Receveur, Macquarie Watchtower, Cable Station
Type of item: Landscape
Group/Collection: Aboriginal
Category: Place of significance
Location: Lat: -34.019494 Long: 151.225815
Primary address: Cape Solander Drive, Kurnell, NSW 2231
Parish: Sutherland
County: Cumberland
Local govt. area: Sutherland
Local Aboriginal Land Council: La Perouse
Property description
Lot/Volume CodeLot/Volume NumberSection NumberPlan/Folio CodePlan/Folio Number
LOT1 DP1014443
LOT1 DP1030269
LOT5 DP1110408
PART LOT456 DP1137279
LOT7334 DP1162374
LOT31 DP217907
LOT3 DP232077
LOT101 DP555205
LOT1 DP556396
LOT1 DP706164
LOT4 DP732257
LOT119 DP752064
LOT145 DP752064
LOT101 DP777967
LOT102 DP777967
LOT103 DP777967
LOT104 DP777967
LOT105 DP777967
LOT106 DP777967
LOT107 DP777967
LOT108 DP777967
LOT109 DP777967
LOT114 DP777967
PART LOT2 DP856868
LOT71 DP908
LOT72 DP908
LOT73 DP908
LOT74 DP908
LOT75 DP908
LOT76 DP908
LOT85 DP908
LOT1 DP90998

Boundary:

Kamay Botany Bay National Park comprises an area of about 492 ha on the north and south sandstone headlands to Botany Bay. It is located about 14 km from the centre of Sydney. The listing boundary also includes Towra Point Nature Reserve, a 386.4 ha peninsula located to the south west of Kurnell village in Botany Bay. (Towra Point Nature Reserve Plan of Management)
All addresses
Street AddressSuburb/townLGAParishCountyType
Cape Solander DriveKurnellSutherlandSutherlandCumberlandPrimary Address
Anzac ParadeLa PerouseRandwickBotanyCumberlandAlternate Address
Captain Cook DriveKurnellSutherlandSutherlandCumberlandAlternate Address

Owner/s

Organisation NameOwner CategoryDate Ownership Updated
National Parks and Wildlife ServiceState Government 

Statement of significance:

Kamay Botany Bay National Park and Towra Point Nature Reserve are of outstanding state heritage significance as a rare place demonstrating the continuous history of occupation of the east coast of Australia. The place holds clear and valuable evidence of Indigenous occupation prior to European settlement and the natural history of the state. It is also the place where the shared history of Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australia began. It was the place where Lieutenant James Cook first stepped ashore to claim the country for Britain and plays a central role in the European history of arrival, the history of Indigenous resistance, dispossession and devastation through illness, land grants, cultivation and development.

Traditional Aboriginal custodians of the land and the current Aboriginal community have strong historical association with Kamay Botany Bay National Park and Towra Point Nature Reserve. Gweagal warriors resisted the arrival of Cook and continue to be important symbols of Aboriginal resilience. There are two important burial repatriation sites within the curtilage which are designated Aboriginal Places and have high social significance for the Aboriginal community.

The place is also significant for its historical association with important European explorers and scientists and their life's work. These include James Cook, Joseph Banks, Daniel Solander, Compte de Laperouse, Pere Receveur and Joseph Lepaute Dagelet. It is also associated with the First Fleet and the first Governor of NSW, Arthur Phillip.

The place is of state significance for the technical achievement of Banks and Solander who during their visit in 1770 made the first important collection of fauna and flora from Australia which included some items that had never before been described and classified. Previous archaeological excavations indicate that Kamay Botany Bay National Park and Towra Point Nature Reserve have significance for their high level of archaeological potential.

Kamay Botany Bay National Park and Towra Point Nature Reserve have aesthetic value as landmark headlands and natural areas with a collection of historic monuments that, combined, have important symbolism to the state of NSW. Both northern and southern parts of the national park, together with the nature reserve, contain a valuable research resource relating to Indigenous occupation, the natural history of the State and the early settlement of the colony.

Kamay Botany Bay National Park and Towra Point Nature Reserve are of state heritage significance as they contains rare remnant vegetation and flora communities and is a critical link in the network of parks and reserves that conserve the biodiversity of NSW.

The La Perouse part the national park provides evidence of the history of French exploration in the Pacific in the late 19th century and continues to have ongoing cultural associations with the French community today.
Date significance updated: 29 Jul 13
Note: The State Heritage Inventory provides information about heritage items listed by local and State government agencies. The State Heritage Inventory is continually being updated by local and State agencies as new information becomes available. Read the Department of Premier and Cabinet copyright and disclaimer.

Description

Physical description: The total area of the listing is 878 hectares. 492 hectares comprises Kamay Botany Bay National Park situated on the north and south sandstone headlands of Botany Bay. The headlands create the dramatic entrance to Botany Bay which is located about 14 km south of the centre of Sydney. The listing boundary also includes the Towra Point Nature Reserve, an area of 386.4 hectares of wetlands located to the west of Kurnell village in Botany Bay. (DECCW, 2002 Botany Bay National Park PoM; and DECCW, 2001 Towra Point Nature Reserve PoM).

Northern Section
Approximately 168 hectares of Kamay Botany Bay National Park is located on the northern headland and includes Cape Banks, coastland at Cruwee Cove, Henry Head, Congwong Beach, scrub covered dune to Anzac Parade and the peninsular on the north-eastern corner of Botany Bay known as La Perouse Headland. As Bare Island and the causeway joining it to the mainland are already listed on the State Heritage Register they are not included in the curtilage of this listing.

The coast is characterised by rocky sandstone cliffs demonstrating a fine example of the stratification of Hawkesbury sandstone. The cliff formations are punctuated by large gorges, the result of eroded basalt dykes which formed in the sedimentary rock in the early Tertiary period. (DECCW, 2002)

The sandy soils are covered with diverse vegetation comprising over 350 species once common in the eastern suburbs of Sydney including rare species and communities. The most common vegetation cover is heath Banksia community (Banksia ericofolia), prickly tea tree (Leptospermum juniperinum) and paperbark (Melaleuca nodosa). To the west of the park is a thick covering of coastal tea tree scrub (Leptospermum laevigatum) consisting of coast banksia (Banksia intergrifloria) and bangalay (Eucalyptus botryoides). In sheltered areas such as behind little Congwong Bay, lies a low closed forest of smooth barked apple (Angophora costata). (DECCW, 2002)

There are several examples of vegetation communities in the park which are considered rare including the wet heath between Henry Head and Cape Banks and the closed forest around Happy Valley. The stands of Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub are considered to be an endangered community. An area of land bordering on Grose St contains over 140 species including pants regarded as rare and the last remaining example of the full diversity of Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub. It also contains several endangered freshwater swamps. This part of the park also attracts over 70 species of native birds as well as a number of species of possum, flying fox, bats and snakes. (DECCW 2002)

The northern section of Kamay Botany Bay National Park contains a number of sites relating to the pre-contact Aboriginal occupation of the place including rock engravings and a number of shell middens. (Sheppard 2009)

The La Perouse Headland:
The La Perouse Headland contains significant historic items including; Macquarie Watchtower, Laperouse Monument, Pere Receveur's grave, the Cable Station which is now the La Perouse Museum, the Coast Cemetery, fortifications including Henry Head Battery and Fort Banks and, the site of the Happy Valley settlement.

Macquarie Watchtower (pre-1822):
Macquarie Watchtower is a two storey, octagonal Sydney sandstone tower approximately 7 metres tall, built in the early 1820s (Randwick & District Historical Society, 1989, 12). The walls are topped by a castellated parapet, that was reconstructed circa 1961. The structure has window openings which have been in-filled with sandstone blocks and an entry door on the southern facade (Sheppard, J., La Perouse Headland Conservation Management Plan, 2008).

The former Cable Station, now La Perouse Museum:
The former Cable Station, that now houses Laperouse Museum is a two storey rendered masonry building situated on a grassy knoll of La Perouse Headland facing north overlooking Frenchmans Bay. The orientation of the building is attributed to the positioning of the telegraph cable which came ashore at Frenchmans Bay. Designed by the Colonial Architects office the building has a single storey veranda on its northern facade and a u shaped plan. Originally symmetrical the building has had additional bays added to ether end of the building. (Sheppard 2009)

Also situated on the La Perouse Headland is a monument to the French expedition of 1788 led by Jean-Franois de Galaup Laperouse and the grave of Pere Receveur. The Laperouse monument has a central obelisk topped by a spherical brass astrolabe. It is mounted on base and surrounded by a low wall topped with a steel picket fence. Numerous plaques have been placed around the monument commemorating the voyages of other French ships. The headstone and tomb of Pere Receveur, the priest and naturalist of the French expedition, was erected many years after his death. Initially the grave was marked by an inscription on a tree and over time became more formalised.

Behind Congwong Beach is the location of a former settlement known as Happy Valley that was a collection of shacks erected during the Depression. The shacks have been removed and vegetation has regenerated. There is potential for archaeology dating from this period of occupation.

There are coastal fortifications located on Henry Head and Cape Banks designed and constructed by the British army from the late 19th century onwards.

Behind the headland is the original Coast Hospital Cemetery which is now a designated Aboriginal Place; the Dharawal Resting Place - Coast Hospital Cemetery. Containing approximately 3000 burials there are some headstones and the remains of a paved stone road to the site. Aboriginal ancestral remains were reburied within the Dharawal Resting Place (previously known as the Little Bay Cemetery Resting Place) in 2002 and 2005. (http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/aboriginalplaces/DharawalCoastHospitalCemetery.htm)


Southern Section
The southern section of Kamay Botany Bay National Park covers an area of about 324 hectares on the eastern end of the Kurnell Peninsula.

The area of the park to the north east of Kurnell village is bounded by the waters of Botany Bay and large rock platforms. This area, which is sometimes referred to as "The Meeting Place", extends over approximately 20 hectares of the eastern part of the park.

The Meeting Place precinct contains a large number of items of pre-contact Aboriginal heritage, shell middens, burial sites, a bora ring, birthing tree and other items of Aboriginal heritage significance. It also contains post contact heritage items of significance to both European and Aboriginal history.

The Meeting Place contains a number of monuments and memorials to Cook, the botanist Solander, Sir Joseph Banks and Forby Sutherland, an Endeavour crew member who died at Botany Bay. It also contains Alpha House previously known as the Kurnell accommodation house, constructed by the Captain Cooks Landing Place Trust in 1902. The accommodation house was built on the remains of two earlier dwellings and a cellar of one of these remains beneath the cottage.

An important element, historically and environmentally is the stream that flows into Botany Bay near the landing place. It was here that Cook and his party restocked their fresh water supplies under the careful eye of the local Aboriginal people. There have been a number of archaeological excavations in this area and on the flat between the wharf and the stream and in the vicinity of the Alpha House site. The area is considered to have high archaeological potential. The place is marked by a plaque and by more recent interpretive works.

To the southern and eastern boundary of the park follows the 40 metre high Hawkesbury sandstone cliff landscape of Cape Solander which is punctuated by deep narrow gorges at Tabagai Gap and Yena Gap. Further to the south this rocky coastal boundary gives way to sand dunes which extend south to Potter Point . Within the cliff landscape and dunes of this area there have been archaeological excavations and it is considered these areas also have archaeological potential. Dune landscape characterises the southern part of the park inland. Vegetation is mainly Kurnell dune forest which grows on the sand hills which overlook the coast where Cook is said to have landed. There are pockets of dry eucalypt forest on the higher reaches and this forest continues over Cape Solander Drive and up to the sandstone heights approaching the sandstone cliffs falling to the ocean on the east. (DECCW 2002)

The area down to Potters Point supports heath lands on sandstone and heath on dunes, which are characterised by old man banksia (Banksia serrata), sheoak (Allocasuarina distyla) and grass trees (Xanthorrhoea resinosa). There are also wetlands on sandstone and wetlands in dunes which sustain native grasses (Gahnia sieberana and Scirpus littoralis), lemon scented bottlebrush (Callistemon citrinus), and heath banksia (Banksia ericifolia) which are rare in the Sydney region. As well as pockets of dry eucalyptus forest, there are also several pockets of Kurnell dune forest in the southern reaches of the Park and important patches of littoral rainforest. (DECCW 2002)

Among the diversity of fauna living on the Kurnell peninsula are endangered or vulnerable species. The threatened green and gold bell frog (Litoria aurea) and the threatened tinkling froglet (Crinia tinnula) have been recorded in the southern part of the park along with the more common eastern long-necked tortoise (Chelodina longicollis). 96 species of bird frequent the scrub, forest wetlands and shores of the Kurnell peninsula. Some of the species noted to be of local, state or regional significance are the Japanese snipe, whimbrel, arctic jaeger, common eastern tern, peregrine falcon, red-necked stint, the threatened powerful owl, silvereye, red-browed finch, New Holland honey eater and the surperb fairy wren. (DECCW 2002 op cit)

Towra Point Nature Reserve
Within the nature reserve is the Towra Point Keeping Place Aboriginal Place which is an Aboriginal reburial site where ancestral remains have been returned to Country. Evidence of past Aboriginal occupation (campsites evidenced by shell middens and stone artefact scatters) can be found in the local area. Local vegetation is dominated by sclerophyll forest and includes coast banksia and tea tree.
(http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/aboriginalplaces/TowraPointKeepingPlace.htm)

The RAMSAR listed wetlands reserve of 386 ha is located on the shores of Botany and Wooloware Bays to the west of Kurnell village. The Towra Point landscape of alluvial and marine sands supports vegetation communities that are now rare in the Sydney region. There are vegetated dunes and coastal banksia woodlands, littoral rainforest patches and
stands of rare bangalay and swamp oak forests. There are also a few stands of the magenta brush cherry (Syzygium paniculatum), a species listed as vulnerable. Importantly the area contains saltmarshes which support a rare sedge, (Gahnia filum) which grows at the edge of the marshes, located on the land side of Mangroves. The Towra Point wetlands are home to a large variety of local and migrating wading and shorebird species as well being the second most important breeding site for the little tern (Sternula albifrons) and the only breeding place in the Sydney region. Other species which live in the wetlands include the pied oyster catcher (Haematopis longirostris), terek sandpiper (Tringa terek) and the peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus) all of which are listed as threatened in NSW. Full details of the vegetation communities at Towra Point can be found in Towra Point Nature Reserve Plan of Management. (DECCW 2001)
Physical condition and/or
Archaeological potential: 		While part of the bushland areas of the park have previously been subject to farming and suburban development (La Perouse headland) the park and the nature reserve contains some of the best examples of original vegetation in the south east Sydney regions and support a host of endangered and vulnerable species of fauna.
There is a high level of archaeological potential over most of the park relating to Aboriginal cultural heritage as well as European arrival and exploration such as the French expedition's garden evidence of other activity during their visit.
The Macquarie Watchtower is in fair condition.
Date condition updated:13 Dec 12
Further information: Relatively intact
Current use: National Park, natural and heritage conservation, research and recreation
Former use: Aboriginal land, the Southern section was farm land, recreation

History

Historical notes: Geological History
Botany Bay lies within a small tectonic depression known as the Botany Basin which in turn is situated within the larger Sydney Basin comprising modified sedimentary deposits laid down about 270 million years ago during the Primean period. The northern and southern headlands featuring Hawkesbury sandstone cliffs which were formed during the Triassic period, between 200 and 250 million years ago. (Tuck 2008).

On the Kurnell peninsular, about 20,000 years ago at the height of the ice age the Kurnell headland was a sandstone hill. The old dunes formed much of what is now Botany Bay and the Kurnell headland. Between 18000 and 10000 years ago as the sea level rose seagrass, salt marsh and mangroves developed and moved inland. The first evidence of Indigenous occupation of the area appears to be about 12000 years ago. At this time the swales of the old dunes contained swamps.( Bear 2011)

By 7400 years ago the sea levels stopped rising and the cliffs and rock platforms at Kurnell were eroded by wave action to form sheer cliffs. Between 9000 and 6000 years ago the Kurnell isthmus began to form as the mud and sand of the Georges River built up.

The locations now known as Sliver Beach and Bonna Point were subject to a build up of sand from about 6500 years ago. At about the same time a series of parallel dunes formed behind Bate Beach and Towra Point as the Georges River estuary shifted and sand and mud was dropped to the north of the Kurnell isthmus. The mud and sand deposit breached sea level and a dune formed on the deposit. This dune was vegetated with Kurnell dune forest, treed wetland, littoral rainforest, mangroves, sheoaks and saltmarsh.

From 4500 years ago swamps developed in the low parts of the dunes and a series of moving dunes formed as a result of violent weather events. These new dunes covered the peninsular and the tidal flats of Botany Bay. Here again, swamps formed in these new dunes allowing soils and dune forest to develop. As these dunes eroded, sandstone was exposed and eventually sandstone heath colonised that area. Between 3000 and 2000 years ago the sea level dropped to current levels. (Bear 2011)

Aboriginal people pre-contact
Most archaeological evidence relates to Indigenous occupation in the area from about 3000 - 2000 years ago. People living to the south of Botany Bay to Nowra were of the Dharawal language group. The people moving through and living in the Kurnell area were the northern most clan of the Dharawal speakers, the Gweagal. On the northern headland the people were most likely Cadigal people of the Darug language group. (Tuck 2008)

The people living on the headlands and shores at the entrance to Botany Bay benefited from the many food and other resources and the mild climate of the area. On both shorelines are many midden sites providing evidence of the rich variety of sea foods enjoyed by the Indigenous people, aside from the reptiles and mammals which also lived in the heath and forests. Fishing was the major source of food for the Indigenous people of the area. Fish hooks were made from turban shells and fishing lines and nets were also made from bark and native grasses. Timber from the forests at Kurnell and La Perouse provided bark for huts, canoes, coolamons, and lomandra leaves were woven together to make bags. (Tuck, 2008)

Many of the local plants were edible such as the roots of the common fern and Warrigal, a spinach like leafy plant that grew along the local fresh water streams on both northern and southern headlands. Other foods included the nectar from Banksia flowers and witchetty grubs which lived in the stems of Banksia and Wattle. (Merv Ryan cited in Andersen and Hamilton, 2006)

Because of its bountiful resources, the north and south headlands of Botany Bay were important ceremonial gathering places for the Dharawal on the south of Botany Bay and the Darug on the northern shores. At Kurnell there are several important ceremonial sites including a bora ring used for rites and an ochre pit located near the current site of the oil refinery which provided pigment for such ceremonies. (Tuck 2008, Andersen and Hamilton, 2006)

Kurnell was possibly a semi-permanent home for the Gweagal. A marker tree distinguished by a ring-shaped hole in its trunk marks the site of a women's camp. The area also contains carved trees from which the bark for canoes and coolamons were taken and a women's birthing site indicating the intensive use of the area by the pre-contact Gweagal community. (Merv. Ryan, cited in Andersen and Hamilton, 2006).

'Kurnell' as a name has two possible origins: 1) a corruption of a Dharawal Aboriginal word 'cunthal' or kundel', perhaps for 'wild carrot'; 2) a corruption of the surname of John Connell, the first (European) settler in the area (Sutherland Shire Council, www).

Aboriginal ancestral remains have been reburied in the park. These remains, taken from the Botany Bay region, were stored in various museum collections until repatriation. For Aboriginal people, the return of ancestors' remains to Country is highly significant because it then reunites ancestors with Country (http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/aboriginalplaces/TowraPointKeepingPlace.htm)

Similarly, the La Perouse section of the park contains evidence of every day lives of Aboriginal people before European settlement including middens and engravings which illustrate the everyday observations and preoccupations of the Indigenous people pre European contact (Sheppard, 2009).

Arrival of Cook
In the days preceding 29 April 1770 Dharawal people of the southern coastal area between Nowra and Kurnell observed a large "white bird" (oral tradition of the local people) or floating island which was Lieutenant James Cook's Endeavour, as it passed along the coast towards the headlands of Kamay ( Botany Bay). The Endeavour entered Botany Bay and lay anchor opposite the location of a small bark hut 'village' on the southern shores of Kamay Botany Bay. Here James Cook and some of his crew prepared to land on the shores of Gweagal country. It is now understood that Cook's bold arrival and landing on Dharawal land was a severe breach of Indigenous etiquette, and an affront to the traditional owners of the land at Kurnell and was the cause of the events that then unfolded. (Aunty Beryl Timbery cited in Andersen and Hamilton 2006)

In traditional Aboriginal culture it is customary for visitors to wait to be invited to approach the custodians of that area so when Cook and his men landed, the local people attempted to discourage the strangers from entering land: two warriors painted in ceremonial ochre threatened the British with spears to which Cook ordered either one or two muskets fired. (Banks's and Cook's accounts as noted in A Contextual history of Botany Bay, Maria Nugent, 2005). One shot found its mark and hit one of the warriors who ran to find a shield and continued the defence of his country. As Cook and his party landed, a spear was thrown by one of the warriors before they retreated and commenced to ignore the intruders for the entire time the British were anchored in the bay. This according to Nugent is consistent with the customary right of country owners to demand to meet visitors on their own terms.

During the following eight days the passengers and crew of the Endeavour explored the shores and hinterland areas around Botany Bay. The main purpose of visiting Botany Bay was to obtain fresh water for the next leg of the journey. On the second day of their stay, Cook and his men found a stream located near the bark hut village from which they replenished the ships water supplies. The stream still flows today.

The location of the Endeavor's landfall and Cook's claim of the east coast of the continent for Britain is now commonly known as Captain Cook's Landing Place.

One of the most significant activities undertaken that week was the botanical collecting undertaken by naturalists and botanists, Sir Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander, the brilliant young pupil of Carolus Linnaeus. On completing his studies in Sweden, Solander travelled to England to promote the Linnaean system of classification and soon took up a position classifying collections at the British Museum. He was employed by Banks in 1868 to assist him on Cook's voyage of exploration (Australian Dictionary of Biography).

Banks and Solander collected a large number of plant and animal specimens at Botany Bay, including many which had not been collected or described previously and became the type specimens of species and genera, including the Banksia, named for Joseph Banks. Much of the collection work was carried out near the landing place and in the area now known as Towra Point and its wetlands, and on the northern shore of Botany Bay.

The extent and quality of the specimens collected led Cook to name the bay Botany Bay in acknowledgment of the important work undertaken by Banks and Solander. Besides being described and classified by Solander, every specimen was sketched by Sydney Parkinson. These sketches were rendered as watercolours when Banks and Solander returned to England and then engraved and later included in the publication Banks Florilegium.

Arrival of Phillip
On 18 January 1788, eighteen years after the first visit by the British, Governor Arthur Phillip arrived at Botany Bay with the First Fleet where it was intended to establish the first British settlement in the colony. While anchored in Botany Bay a number of officers established seemingly friendly contact with the Aboriginal people, exchanging whistling tunes, confirming humanity and gender and exchanging gifts, and on the southern shores by introducing a child travelling with the fleet to the Aboriginal people there. (Tuck 2008; Nugent 2005; Clendinnen 2003)

Phillip was disappointed at the lack of water on the shores of the bay and dismayed by the large numbers of Aboriginal people inhabiting the place. By 26 January 1788 Phillip had left Botany Bay and sailed for Port Jackson where the first settlement in Australia was made.

Arrival of Laperouse
At the same time Botany Bay was visited by the French expedition under the command of Jean-Francois Galaup de Laperouse whose frigates, La Boussole and Astrolabe anchored near Frenchman's Beach on 24th January 1788. Captain Hunter of the first fleet established contact with the French in the absence of Governor Phillip.

The French ships had sailed from Samoa where they had been involved in a battle with the Samoans. Numerous people on both sides were killed and injured. One of those injured in the event was the expedition's priest and naturalist, Pere Receveur. Receveur died at La Perouse on 17 February 1788 and was the first French person to be buried on the mainland. He was interred in a headland grave marked with a common headstone. In 1829 a tomb was erected over the site of his grave. (Dan Tuck 2008)

The French spent 6 weeks at La Perouse during which time they repaired damage done during the Samoan battle. An observatory was established on the northern headland for the use of Joseph Lepaute Dagelet whose observations and scientific experiments are among the first European scientific endeavours in Australia. Dagelet undertook calculations on map positions of Botany Bay and carried out astronomical observations which he later shared with Englishman William Dawes. (http://www.migrationheritage.nsw.gov.au/exhibition/objectsthroughtime/dagelet/)

The departure of Phillip and then Laperouse from Botany Bay marked a period of time where, at least on the southern shores of the bay, Aboriginal people did not come into much contact with Europeans. Kurnell headland was a remote spot and was not subject to a land grant until 1815. On the northern shores of the bay the La Perouse peninsula remained relatively unsettled until the 1860s and 1880s when a pioneering fishing community worked the waters at Botany Bay and lived in La Perouse. (Tuck 2008; Clendenning 2003; Karskens 2009)

While their land was not immediately settled by Europeans white colonisation had a profound impact on the people of the area, the most significant being the spread of disease such as smallpox. There are caves at Little Bay just north of the northern section of the Botany Bay National Park and also a cave on Cape Solander in the southern section of the park in which it is believed that skeletal remains from these outbreaks were found. This has not been confirmed. (Andersen and Hamilton 2006)

Settlement during the 19th and 20th centuries - La Perouse
By 1830 the land which is now the northern section of Botany Bay National Park was dedicated as a Government Reserve. From about 1820 a small contingent of Government troops were stationed at La Perouse headland to scout for the unexpected arrival of ships and to monitor and control smuggling activity. By 1822 these troops were housed in "Macquarie's Tower", a sandstone castellated watchtower.

Convicts also attempted to escape via the unguarded shores of Botany Bay. To control this as well as smugglers, and control shipping, Macquarie had the tower built in the early 1820s. It is the oldest building in Randwick municipality and among the earliest colonial structures in Australia (Randwick & District Historial Society, 1989, 12).

From 1829 when the monuments to Laperouse and Pere Receveur were erected the watchtower was used as accommodation for a caretaker employed to look after the La Perouse Monument and the tomb of Pere Receveur. These monuments are still frequently visited by the French and are the site of events such as a memorial ceremony on Bastille Day each year, mass to Pere Receveur and Laperouse Day. (Tuck, 2008; OEH Comments on Draft Text, 2012).

In 1831 the watchtower was acquired by the Customs Department to house a tide waiter, or customs officer, and two boatmen who manned the La Perouse customs house outstation (Tuck, 2008).

In 1868 the district's first seat of public education, Botany Heads Provisional School, opened in the Macquarie Tower. Customs Officer, Michael McDermott was one of the citizens whose petition for the establishment of a school guarnateed an attendance of 25 students. He offered a room in the tower and formal education began for the children of local Aboriginal people, gardeners, fishermen and customs employees (R&DHS, 1989, 12). The first pupils included McDermott's own family. Miss O'Brien was the first teacher and she stayed until the end of 1872. An adjoining room was built onto the tower. The school was called Delaperouse. The building that was first erected became dilapidated with aleaking roof and walls so a new location was purchased and that is where the school is today (Williams, 1988, 19).

By 1869, in response to the perceived threat of armed attack by foreign forces, a program to bolster the colony's defences was in place and a military road was constructed to the La Perouse headland. By 1871 a gun battery was in place on Henry Head and in 1881 a large 'mass concrete' fort was under construction on Bare Island and was operational by 1890.

In 1873 customs officer Michael McDermott erected an additional building about 3.6 x 3m (at the Macquarie Tower) for school use. Isolation, inadequate accommodation and falling attendance brought the school to a close in 1890, but an increase in the local school age population prompted re-opening in 1892 as the La Perouse Public School. It was relocated to Bunnerong Road in 1910 (R&DHS, 1989, 12-13).

In 1876 La Perouse headland was the site where the overseas underwater telegraphic cable emerged. The first makeshift facility of tents and huts was replaced in 1881 by a brick Cable Station sited centrally on the west of the headland overlooking Frenchman's Beach. After 1917 when it was no longer used as offices for the telegraph company it became a nurses' home and later a home run by the Salvation Army Most recently it is used as the La Perouse Museum. (Tuck, 2008).

In 1877 war broke out between Russia and Britain's ally, Turkey. The ability of the Czar's Pacific Fleet to attack an outpost of the British Empire could not be ignored and British military experts, Major General Sir William Jervois and Lt. COlonel Sir Peter Scratchley arrived in 1877 to advise on defence. Their recommendations for Botany Bay included the fortification of Bare Island. Scratchley's plan for Bare Island included five gun emplacements connected by bomb-proof passages. Specifications were drawn up by the Colonial Architect, who selected John McLeod as the contractor. Fortifications were completed by 1885 and in 1889 work started on the barracks within the fort. In 1890 a Royal Commission on defence found Bare Island's concrete construction to be shoddy. The fort was subject to continual repair. By 1902 Bare Island Fort was redundant, its guns never having been fired in anger. War Veterans resided in the barracks between 1912 and 1963, World Wars 1 and II excepted. Randwick and District Historical Society took up caretaker occupancy of Bare Island in 1963 and established a museum in the barracks. In 1967 the island was declared an hstiroc site and placed under the control of the NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service. The Historical Society vacated in 1976 (R&DHS, 1989, 13-14).

Many Aboriginal people who had traditionally lived in the La Perouse area left after the establishment of European settlement but by the 1870s Aboriginal people, including descendents from families associated with La Perouse and Botany Bay, along with Aboriginal people from the south coast, began to return to the area. When George Thornton, the government's Protector of Aborigines, started removing Aboriginal people from urban areas he was successfully lobbied by a group from La Perouse who were allowed to remain at the La Perouse camp. Thornton even constructed huts for them at the camp, justifying the decision to parliament by arguing that the camp was economically viable. By 1881 there were two camps with 35 Aboriginal people recorded to be living at La Perouse and a further 15 in Botany Bay within the boundaries of what is today Kamay Botany Bay National Park. (La Perouse Mission Church SHR Nomination OEH 2012)

In 1881 there was an outbreak of smallpox in the colony. To deal with the epidemic an isolation hospital was established at Little Bay which became known as the Coast Hospital and later in 1934 became Prince Henry Hospital. Associated with the Coast Hospital is the Coast Cemetery which is located south of the hospital and now is enclosed by Kamay Botany Bay National Park.

The Coast Hospital Cemetery is an Aboriginal Place and is an important burial, repatriation, and reburial site for the La Perouse and Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land councils and Dharawal Aboriginal people. In 1881, the first part of the Coast Hospital Cemetery was opened. This section was used until 1897, when a northern burial section was established and used until 1952. The cemetery was used as a burial ground for the La Perouse Aboriginal reserve; though, the cemetery was predominantly used as a burial ground for infectious disease patients from Prince Henry Hospital. There are 90 marked graves in the Coast Hospital Cemetery, though it is estimated that up to 3000 people are buried there.
The area was selected as an Aboriginal repatriation and reburial site because of its long-standing significance to the local Aboriginal people. The cemetery contains the burials of several family members. Aboriginal ancestral remains were reburied within the Dharawal Resting Place (previously known as the Little Bay Cemetery Resting Place) in 2002 and 2005. Members of the La Perouse and Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land councils and other Dharawal descendents regularly visit the area, maintaining close connections to Country and ancestors. (http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/aboriginalplaces/DharawalCoastHospitalCemetery.htm)

A small Anglican Aboriginal mission was established in the area in 1885 and a church built in1894. In 1895 the camp at Frenchmans Bay, La Perouse was gazetted as an Aboriginal Reserve. The people who lived there worked as fishermen, in the Chinese Gardens, at the timber mills and wool washes in the area or made boomerang and other artefacts for sale to tourists who flocked to the area after the construction of the tramway to La Perouse at the turn of the century. Many women and children crafted shell decorations for sale. (La Perouse Mission Church SHR Nomination OEH 2012)

During the Great Depression, La Perouse was the site of a shanty town known as Happy Valley which was located within the boundaries of the Botany Bay National Park behind Congwong Beach. Those who arrived at Happy Valley simply selected a spot and erected their home from corrugated iron or whatever could be found. Reputedly there was a lot of positive interaction between residents at Happy Valley and those on the Aboriginal Reserve. While life was hard at Happy Valley some residents revelled in the carefree existence where without a job one could swim at the beach all day. In 1939, after intense lobbying by the neighbouring Golf Club, Randwick Council moved all the residents to more suitable accommodation and demolished the shanty town. (migrationheritage.nsw.gov.au/exhibition/atthebeach/happy-valley/)

During the 1960s a wave of new white residents arrived at La Perouse and lobbied for the removal of the reserve at Yarra Bay. The Aboriginal community has resisted these efforts and the La Perouse community remains one of the strongest and most established Aboriginal communities in Sydney. (Dan Tuck 2008 Op cit)

Settlement in the 19th and 20th Century - Kurnell
In 1815 Governor Macquarie made a grant of 700 acres of land to James Birnie at Kurnell. Here he established a farm, raising vegetables and stock and constructing a homestead on the site of the current Alpha House near Captain Cooks Landing Place in the Kamay Botany Bay National Park.

In 1821 another grant was made of 1000 acres at the nearby Quibray Bay to John Connell, a free settler who arrived in NSW in 1801 and set up a large iron mongery in Sydney. When in 1828 Birnie was declared insane, Connell bought Alpha Farm and by 1838 he owned almost the entire Kurnell peninsula. His grandson John inherited the estate on John senior's death in 1851. He cleared the land heavily and sold the timber to the Sydney market. (www.ssec.org.au/our_environment/our_bioregion/kurnell/history/occupation/earliestsettlers)

Facing financial ruin in 1860, John Connell Jr mortgaged his landholdings at Kurnell to Thomas Holt who took ownership in 1861. Holt, a successful wool merchant and member of the Legislative Council, was a prominent and influential figure in NSW ( Australian Dictionary of Biography).

Holt established a scientific oyster farming program at Quibray Bay, attempted to raise sheep on specially planted pastures of imported grass and dabbled in timber getting and even coal mining on the Kurnell peninsula. This work was done with the assistance of a large number of employees including a number of Aboriginal people including William Rowley, a Gweagal man, who was also an enterprising local fisherman born at Towra Point. (Dan Tuck 2008 Op cit)

Despite Holt's efforts at Kurnell none of the enterprises were very successful and by 1881 he began subdividing the estate. Even this exercise was not successful and a number of unsold lots within the current national park were set aside as a public reserve in the 1899 along with an area similarly reserved at an earlier date. The reserve, totalling 100 hectares at the time, was managed by a Trust under the auspices of the Department of Lands. (Sue Andersen and Mary Ann Hamilton 2006 Op cit)

From the 1820s Captain Cook's Landing Place was a popular destination for people with an interest in European history in Australia. Many people visited various places of interest such as the plaque at Inscription Point which had been installed by the Philosophical Society of Australasia in the early 1820s (Design 5 Architects & Biosis Research and Geoffrey Brittan 2006 The Meeting Place Heritage Assessment). In 1870 Thomas Holt erected Cook's Obelisk to mark the European arrival at Botany Bay. To cope with the area's increasing visitation Holt built the first wharf at Kurnell just adjacent to the Obelisk and a steam ferry began to operate some time around 1882 (ibid).

The reserve was the responsibility of the Department of Lands up until 1967 and was managed by a Trust right up until 1974. The Trust employed a caretaker and field staff to maintain the reserve. It also spent considerable time and money on siting and erecting monuments to Cook and his crew. In 1918 the Trust erected the Solander Obelisk and in 1947 the Banks Memorial. (Sue Andersen and Mary Ann Hamilton 2006 Op cit)

A cottage was erected on the site of the first Alpha Farm House which provided accommodation for visitors as well as for the Reserve caretaker whose wife operated a kiosk from the kitchen.(ibid)

In the years after WWII, while under the management of the Trust, the area became a hugely popular holiday destination for campers. Families who faithfully returned to camp there each year set up semi-permanent camps in small timber cabins and tents painted with calcimine for weatherproofing and with stoves, and camp beds. Most of their food they brought with them but fresh milk was sourced daily from the caretaker's wife who managed a herd of cows which roamed the reserve. Holiday camping at the park continued until around 1977 when the National Parks and Wildlife Service discontinued this use and disposed of the semi-permanent dwellings. (ibid)

Like at La Perouse, the Kurnell section of Botany Bay National Park had a shanty town. This was established in the cliff overhangs and caves overlooking the Pacific Ocean at Cape Solander and Tabbagi Gap. The earliest dwelling was built in 1919 and others were constructed during the Great Depression in the 1930s. These dwellings were constructed of tin and timber, and stoves and other home wares were installed to make the place comfortable. They continued to be used during the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s by recreational fishermen and local eccentrics. (ibid)

The Aboriginal people of La Perouse retained a strong link with the Kurnell section of the Botany Bay National Park throughout the 20th century. Kurnell was a frequent destination for family groups who would travel over by ferry and spend the day fishing, swimming, foraging for bush foods. The banks of Cooks Stream was a source of warrigal greens and further afield one could find five corner berries, wombat berries and sarsaparilla. (ibid)

Sonny Simms who grew up at La Perouse in the 1930s and 40s recalled that the resources of the bay, its fish and shellfish, were an important supplement to the family's food resources when his father left and his mother became the sole provider for her family of 9 children. The family would travel to Kurnell where their mother taught them how to catch fish, lobster and abalone. The fish caught would be cooked up in an old five gallon drum and eaten on the spot. (ibid)

Other resources found in the park and at Towra Point were the mangrove knees which up until the late 1960s were harvested to make boomerangs for the tourist trade. The shells for the La Perouse women's shell craft work were collected from the beach at Wanda. (Elder Gloria Ardler cited in Andersen and Hamilton 2006)

The huge sand dunes and their large freshwater ponds were a strong memory for Sonny Simms who as a child regularly swam in these. The dunes survived relatively unaffected up until the 1950s when the Caltex Oil Refinery was established there. It was not until the Sydney building boom in the late 1960s and 1970s that the demand for sand resulted in the dunes becoming degraded by sand mining over much of the Kurnell peninsula. (ibid).

In 1957 a fire swept through the Macquarie Watchtower at La Perouse, killing one woman, Mrs Mary Donnelly. Her husband, Henry was at work at the Captain Cook Landing Trust, Kurnell. All their possessions were destroyed (Daily Mirror, 1/10/1957).

In 1967 the Reserve at Kurnell was handed over to the National Parks and Wildlife Service which, besides its environmental charter, had custody of historic sites of which Captain Cook's Landing Place at Kurnell was one. By 1974 National Parks and Wildlife Service was able to take on the full management of the Park and the Reserve Trust was disbanded. The Botany Bay National Park was finally gazetted in 1988. (ibid).

The La Perouse Museum was established in 198 by a group of Australian citizens and French residents in Australia. Funding was secured as a NSW Bicentennial Coucnil project, with further support from the French government. The 1882 Cable Station building at La Perouse was made available for the facility. From its 1988 inception until October 2017, the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service was responsible for management of the site, maintenance of the building and infrastructure, including its collection. By the mid-2010s, the museum had become largely a volunteer-run facility (Randwick City Council, 28/9/2021).

Under the management of National Parks and Wildlife Service much work has been done to redress the balance in articulating the Aboriginal and European historical and cultural values of the place. This is evidenced in renaming the longstanding Commemoration Day ceremony as the Meeting of Cultures ceremony and the structured involvement of local Aboriginal elders in the ceremony. In addition Aboriginal people have been closely involved in other important events in the park such as the start to the Olympic Torch Relay in 2000 which was commenced by one of the Aboriginal Park Rangers.(ibid) A significant amount of work has been done to the interpret the history and connections of the site in particular in opening interpretive walks and re-opening the freshwater stream (submission from NPW, OEH 2013).

Perhaps the most significant events to have been held in the park in recent years have been the repatriation burials. These events are of great importance to the local Aboriginal community as local Elders received back the remains of their ancestors from public institutions where they were studied and regarded as curiosities to their own land.(ibid, 2013)

The La Perouse museum precinct, Botany Bay National Park is to be reinvigorated with NSW Government and Randwick City Council moving to lease the historic site (NPWS, 22/8/16).

In 2017 Randwick City Council entered into a lease agreement with NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service for the La Perouse Museum and Headland for a 21 year period, with a 21 year extension option. In 2018, Counciul appointed professional museum staff to develop core museum services, operations, and programs. Under Council's managment, over 70,000 people have visited the museum and made use of exhibitions, education programs, a research service and a revamped volunteer program. Council has commissioned a draft La Perouse Master plan and is developing draft concept plans for both, to restore the building to modern standards, expand its footprint. A final design and amending the existing plan of management would be required to be prepared, exhibited and decided, Consultation with the Aboriginal community will take priority as the next step in this process, to inform its further development (ibid, 2021)..

In 2018 a $50 million upgrade of facilities in Kamay Botany Bay National Park will be carried out for the 250th anniversary in 2020 of the arrival of HMS Endeavour. The federal and state governments will share the cost of works, centred on the historic area at Kurnell, including a new aquatic memorial to Captain Cook at the original mooring site, ferry wharves at La Perouse and Kurnell and a new visitors centre (Trembath, 2018). Celebrations started in Plymouth, England on the weekend of 25-26/8/2018 to mark 250 years since Cook set sail for Australia. Local (Australian) maritime historians (a combination of Australia on the Map and the history and heritage division of the Australasian Hydrographic Society) are pushing for establishmenty of a Cook Heritage Trail along the east coast of Australia. This would stretch from Point Hicks (near Cann River, Victoria) to Point Danger on the Queensland border - as part of the Restoring Cook's Legacy 2020 project and include commemorative plaques at, or near, all of Cook's 28 named features. Amateur historians are calling for a redraw of our east coast map and renaming of land features according to Cook's (ship) log (Pitt, 2018, 14).

Following community consultation in 2020, NPWS announced the design of a new Visitors' Centre and related visitor infrastructure in Kamay Botany Bay National Park at Kurnell has been selected. The Kamay 2020 project board chose the concept design by Neeson Murcutt + Neille, after a multi-stage tender process and public exhibition. NPWS will now work closely with key stakeholders including the local Aboriginal community to develop design details before seeking planning approvals. Construction is anticipated to commence in late 2021 (NPWS, 30/3/2021).

An Aboriginal ranger organisation will work alongside National Parks and Wildlife Service as an equal partner in managing Kamay Botany Bay National Park and Towra Point Reserve. The move - a first in NSW - is described as "a momentous partnership and another step towards reconciliation". Up till now, Gamay Rangers have undertaken natural and cultural resource management activities on cultural areas within the area and on conservation land owned by the La Perouse Local Aboriginal Land Council. They will now have the same operational authority as NPWS rangers and field officers in Kamay Botany Bay National Park and Towra Point Nature Reserve. NSW Minister for Environment James Griffin said the move was an important recognition of the Gamay Rangers' expertise and knowledge in caring for Countr (Trembath, 2022).

"As honorary national park rangers, the Gamay crew will work alongside the NPWS team on park to share traditional knowledge and techniques, and be involved in the operations of the national parks on their Country," Minister Griffin said.
"This is a momentous partnership and another step towards reconciliation. As the site of first contact in 1770 between the Gweagal and Bidjigal people and Europeans, Kamay Botany Bay National Park is one of the most significant reserves in Australia." NPWS will continue managing Kamay Botany Bay National Park and Towra Point Nature Reserve, and the Gamay Rangers will support NPWS with conservation and compliance work, including protection of marine mammals.
NPWS recently trained the Gamay Rangers in how to safely attempt the dangerous and delicate job of rescuing whales entangled off the coast. La Perouse Local Aboriginal Land Council CEO Chris Ingrey said they were excited to work in partnership with the NPWS to contribute to the protection of sea Country around Botany Bay. "As saltwater people, the protection and enhancement of our sea country is vital as it has sustained our people for thousands of years and today it still provides for cultural fishing activities within our community," he said. "The whales, in particular the humpback whale, is a significant ancestor being (totem) of our people and to have our people trained and ready to participate in dangerous operations that aim to save our totems was one of our goals (ibid, 2022).

The controversial development of the Kamay Ferry Wharves has (21 July 2022) been approved to go ahead, despite strong community opposition over environmental concerns (Roychowdury, 2022).

Historic themes

Australian theme (abbrev)New South Wales themeLocal theme
1. Environment-Tracing the evolution of a continent's special environments Environment - naturally evolved-Activities associated with the physical surroundings that support human life and influence or shape human cultures. Parks-
1. Environment-Tracing the evolution of a continent's special environments Environment - naturally evolved-Activities associated with the physical surroundings that support human life and influence or shape human cultures. Environment/Contact: What do we know of the Contact Environment?-Environment (Natural) Control
1. Environment-Tracing the evolution of a continent's special environments Environment - naturally evolved-Activities associated with the physical surroundings that support human life and influence or shape human cultures. Other open space-
1. Environment-Tracing the evolution of a continent's special environments Environment - naturally evolved-Activities associated with the physical surroundings that support human life and influence or shape human cultures. Park reserve-
1. Environment-Tracing the evolution of a continent's special environments Environment - naturally evolved-Activities associated with the physical surroundings that support human life and influence or shape human cultures. Changing the environment-
1. Environment-Tracing the evolution of a continent's special environments Environment - naturally evolved-Activities associated with the physical surroundings that support human life and influence or shape human cultures. Cultural: Conserving and protecting natural features-
1. Environment-Tracing the evolution of a continent's special environments Environment - naturally evolved-Activities associated with the physical surroundings that support human life and influence or shape human cultures. Cultural - Coasts and coastal features supporting human activities-
2. Peopling-Peopling the continent Aboriginal cultures and interactions with other cultures-Activities associated with maintaining, developing, experiencing and remembering Aboriginal cultural identities and practices, past and present. Dharawal Nation - welcoming visitors-
2. Peopling-Peopling the continent Aboriginal cultures and interactions with other cultures-Activities associated with maintaining, developing, experiencing and remembering Aboriginal cultural identities and practices, past and present. All nations - place of first contact between Aboriginal and European peoples-
2. Peopling-Peopling the continent Aboriginal cultures and interactions with other cultures-Activities associated with maintaining, developing, experiencing and remembering Aboriginal cultural identities and practices, past and present. All nations - living under the Aborigines Protection Act 1909-1969-
2. Peopling-Peopling the continent Aboriginal cultures and interactions with other cultures-Activities associated with maintaining, developing, experiencing and remembering Aboriginal cultural identities and practices, past and present. All nations - places of battle or other early interactions between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples-
2. Peopling-Peopling the continent Aboriginal cultures and interactions with other cultures-Activities associated with maintaining, developing, experiencing and remembering Aboriginal cultural identities and practices, past and present. All nations - controlling dispossesed peoples-
2. Peopling-Peopling the continent Aboriginal cultures and interactions with other cultures-Activities associated with maintaining, developing, experiencing and remembering Aboriginal cultural identities and practices, past and present. Aboriginal Culture-
2. Peopling-Peopling the continent Aboriginal cultures and interactions with other cultures-Activities associated with maintaining, developing, experiencing and remembering Aboriginal cultural identities and practices, past and present. All nations - reconciliation events-
2. Peopling-Peopling the continent Aboriginal cultures and interactions with other cultures-Activities associated with maintaining, developing, experiencing and remembering Aboriginal cultural identities and practices, past and present. All nations - Aboriginal Reserve sites-
2. Peopling-Peopling the continent Aboriginal cultures and interactions with other cultures-Activities associated with maintaining, developing, experiencing and remembering Aboriginal cultural identities and practices, past and present. Bidjigal tribe - Eora nation-
2. Peopling-Peopling the continent Aboriginal cultures and interactions with other cultures-Activities associated with maintaining, developing, experiencing and remembering Aboriginal cultural identities and practices, past and present. Cadigal tribe - Eora nation-
2. Peopling-Peopling the continent Aboriginal cultures and interactions with other cultures-Activities associated with maintaining, developing, experiencing and remembering Aboriginal cultural identities and practices, past and present. Dharawal Nation - contact sites-
2. Peopling-Peopling the continent Aboriginal cultures and interactions with other cultures-Activities associated with maintaining, developing, experiencing and remembering Aboriginal cultural identities and practices, past and present. Dharawal nation - sites evidencing occupation and ceremonial use-
2. Peopling-Peopling the continent Ethnic influences-Activities associated with common cultural traditions and peoples of shared descent, and with exchanges between such traditions and peoples. French explorers and naturalists-
3. Economy-Developing local, regional and national economies Agriculture-Activities relating to the cultivation and rearing of plant and animal species, usually for commercial purposes, can include aquaculture Private farming-
3. Economy-Developing local, regional and national economies Agriculture-Activities relating to the cultivation and rearing of plant and animal species, usually for commercial purposes, can include aquaculture Clearing land for farming-
3. Economy-Developing local, regional and national economies Environment - cultural landscape-Activities associated with the interactions between humans, human societies and the shaping of their physical surroundings Significant Places How are significant places marked in the landscape by, or for, different groups-Monuments and Sites
3. Economy-Developing local, regional and national economies Environment - cultural landscape-Activities associated with the interactions between humans, human societies and the shaping of their physical surroundings Sydney and Australian Landmark-
3. Economy-Developing local, regional and national economies Environment - cultural landscape-Activities associated with the interactions between humans, human societies and the shaping of their physical surroundings Landscapes of military activities-
3. Economy-Developing local, regional and national economies Environment - cultural landscape-Activities associated with the interactions between humans, human societies and the shaping of their physical surroundings Landscapes of remembrance-
3. Economy-Developing local, regional and national economies Environment - cultural landscape-Activities associated with the interactions between humans, human societies and the shaping of their physical surroundings Landscapes of cultural and natural interaction-
3. Economy-Developing local, regional and national economies Environment - cultural landscape-Activities associated with the interactions between humans, human societies and the shaping of their physical surroundings Landscapes of urban amenity-
3. Economy-Developing local, regional and national economies Environment - cultural landscape-Activities associated with the interactions between humans, human societies and the shaping of their physical surroundings Places important in developing conservation processes-
3. Economy-Developing local, regional and national economies Environment - cultural landscape-Activities associated with the interactions between humans, human societies and the shaping of their physical surroundings Landscapes of segregation-
3. Economy-Developing local, regional and national economies Environment - cultural landscape-Activities associated with the interactions between humans, human societies and the shaping of their physical surroundings Landscapes of coastal swimming, diving, surfing and sunbathing-
3. Economy-Developing local, regional and national economies Environment - cultural landscape-Activities associated with the interactions between humans, human societies and the shaping of their physical surroundings Landscapes used for self reliant recreation-
3. Economy-Developing local, regional and national economies Environment - cultural landscape-Activities associated with the interactions between humans, human societies and the shaping of their physical surroundings Significant tree(s) providing urban amenity-
3. Economy-Developing local, regional and national economies Environment - cultural landscape-Activities associated with the interactions between humans, human societies and the shaping of their physical surroundings Landscapes and parklands of distinctive styles-
3. Economy-Developing local, regional and national economies Environment - cultural landscape-Activities associated with the interactions between humans, human societies and the shaping of their physical surroundings Landscapes of scenic beauty-
3. Economy-Developing local, regional and national economies Environment - cultural landscape-Activities associated with the interactions between humans, human societies and the shaping of their physical surroundings Significant plantings(s) of remembrance-
3. Economy-Developing local, regional and national economies Events-Activities and processes that mark the consequences of natural and cultural occurences Developing national landmarks-
3. Economy-Developing local, regional and national economies Events-Activities and processes that mark the consequences of natural and cultural occurences Holding opening and dedication ceremonies-
3. Economy-Developing local, regional and national economies Events-Activities and processes that mark the consequences of natural and cultural occurences Providing a venue for significant events-
3. Economy-Developing local, regional and national economies Events-Activities and processes that mark the consequences of natural and cultural occurences Commemorating a major event-
3. Economy-Developing local, regional and national economies Exploration-Activities associated with making places previously unknown to a cultural group known to them. Routes taken by Captain James Cook-
3. Economy-Developing local, regional and national economies Exploration-Activities associated with making places previously unknown to a cultural group known to them. Routes taken by Jean-Francois de Galaup, Comte de Laperouse-
3. Economy-Developing local, regional and national economies Exploration-Activities associated with making places previously unknown to a cultural group known to them. Exploring and surveying for the Crown-
3. Economy-Developing local, regional and national economies Pastoralism-Activities associated with the breeding, raising, processing and distribution of livestock for human use Agisting and fattening stock for slaughter-
3. Economy-Developing local, regional and national economies Science-Activities associated with systematic observations, experiments and processes for the explanation of observable phenomena Scientific promotion and education-
3. Economy-Developing local, regional and national economies Science-Activities associated with systematic observations, experiments and processes for the explanation of observable phenomena Researching botany and botanical processes-
3. Economy-Developing local, regional and national economies Science-Activities associated with systematic observations, experiments and processes for the explanation of observable phenomena Researching biology and biological processes-
3. Economy-Developing local, regional and national economies Science-Activities associated with systematic observations, experiments and processes for the explanation of observable phenomena Researching fauna-
4. Settlement-Building settlements, towns and cities Accommodation-Activities associated with the provision of accommodation, and particular types of accommodation – does not include architectural styles – use the theme of Creative Endeavour for such activities. Residential-
4. Settlement-Building settlements, towns and cities Accommodation-Activities associated with the provision of accommodation, and particular types of accommodation – does not include architectural styles – use the theme of Creative Endeavour for such activities. Building settlements, towns and cities-National Theme 4
4. Settlement-Building settlements, towns and cities Accommodation-Activities associated with the provision of accommodation, and particular types of accommodation – does not include architectural styles – use the theme of Creative Endeavour for such activities. Adapted heritage building or structure-
4. Settlement-Building settlements, towns and cities Land tenure-Activities and processes for identifying forms of ownership and occupancy of land and water, both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Administering and alienating Crown lands-
4. Settlement-Building settlements, towns and cities Land tenure-Activities and processes for identifying forms of ownership and occupancy of land and water, both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Living on the fringes without formal occupancy-
4. Settlement-Building settlements, towns and cities Land tenure-Activities and processes for identifying forms of ownership and occupancy of land and water, both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Changing land uses - from rural to suburban-
4. Settlement-Building settlements, towns and cities Land tenure-Activities and processes for identifying forms of ownership and occupancy of land and water, both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Changing land uses - from rural to suburban-
4. Settlement-Building settlements, towns and cities Towns, suburbs and villages-Activities associated with creating, planning and managing urban functions, landscapes and lifestyles in towns, suburbs and villages Developing suburbia-
4. Settlement-Building settlements, towns and cities Towns, suburbs and villages-Activities associated with creating, planning and managing urban functions, landscapes and lifestyles in towns, suburbs and villages Vernacular hamlets and settlements-
4. Settlement-Building settlements, towns and cities Towns, suburbs and villages-Activities associated with creating, planning and managing urban functions, landscapes and lifestyles in towns, suburbs and villages Role of transport in settlement-
4. Settlement-Building settlements, towns and cities Towns, suburbs and villages-Activities associated with creating, planning and managing urban functions, landscapes and lifestyles in towns, suburbs and villages Developing towns in response to topography-
4. Settlement-Building settlements, towns and cities Towns, suburbs and villages-Activities associated with creating, planning and managing urban functions, landscapes and lifestyles in towns, suburbs and villages Cultural Social and religious life-
4. Settlement-Building settlements, towns and cities Towns, suburbs and villages-Activities associated with creating, planning and managing urban functions, landscapes and lifestyles in towns, suburbs and villages community park-
4. Settlement-Building settlements, towns and cities Towns, suburbs and villages-Activities associated with creating, planning and managing urban functions, landscapes and lifestyles in towns, suburbs and villages Shaping coastal settlement-
4. Settlement-Building settlements, towns and cities Towns, suburbs and villages-Activities associated with creating, planning and managing urban functions, landscapes and lifestyles in towns, suburbs and villages A Picturesque Residential District-
4. Settlement-Building settlements, towns and cities Towns, suburbs and villages-Activities associated with creating, planning and managing urban functions, landscapes and lifestyles in towns, suburbs and villages A quiet Rural District-
4. Settlement-Building settlements, towns and cities Towns, suburbs and villages-Activities associated with creating, planning and managing urban functions, landscapes and lifestyles in towns, suburbs and villages Creating landmark structures and places in suburban settings-
5. Working-Working Labour-Activities associated with work practises and organised and unorganised labour Fishing for a living-
7. Governing-Governing Government and Administration-Activities associated with the governance of local areas, regions, the State and the nation, and the administration of public programs - includes both principled and corrupt activities. State government-
7. Governing-Governing Government and Administration-Activities associated with the governance of local areas, regions, the State and the nation, and the administration of public programs - includes both principled and corrupt activities. Colonial government-
7. Governing-Governing Government and Administration-Activities associated with the governance of local areas, regions, the State and the nation, and the administration of public programs - includes both principled and corrupt activities. Sydney's colonial settlement; Shipping-
7. Governing-Governing Government and Administration-Activities associated with the governance of local areas, regions, the State and the nation, and the administration of public programs - includes both principled and corrupt activities. Developing roles for government - administration of land-
7. Governing-Governing Government and Administration-Activities associated with the governance of local areas, regions, the State and the nation, and the administration of public programs - includes both principled and corrupt activities. Open Space Provision-
7. Governing-Governing Government and Administration-Activities associated with the governance of local areas, regions, the State and the nation, and the administration of public programs - includes both principled and corrupt activities. resumption for heritage conservation-
7. Governing-Governing Government and Administration-Activities associated with the governance of local areas, regions, the State and the nation, and the administration of public programs - includes both principled and corrupt activities. Federal Government-
7. Governing-Governing Government and Administration-Activities associated with the governance of local areas, regions, the State and the nation, and the administration of public programs - includes both principled and corrupt activities. Developing roles for government - parks and open spaces-
7. Governing-Governing Government and Administration-Activities associated with the governance of local areas, regions, the State and the nation, and the administration of public programs - includes both principled and corrupt activities. Developing roles for government - public land administration-
7. Governing-Governing Government and Administration-Activities associated with the governance of local areas, regions, the State and the nation, and the administration of public programs - includes both principled and corrupt activities. Developing roles for government - providing community facilities-
7. Governing-Governing Government and Administration-Activities associated with the governance of local areas, regions, the State and the nation, and the administration of public programs - includes both principled and corrupt activities. Creating and displaying Coats of Arms and official emblems and symbols-
7. Governing-Governing Government and Administration-Activities associated with the governance of local areas, regions, the State and the nation, and the administration of public programs - includes both principled and corrupt activities. Developing roles for government - scientific research-
7. Governing-Governing Government and Administration-Activities associated with the governance of local areas, regions, the State and the nation, and the administration of public programs - includes both principled and corrupt activities. Developing roles for government - building and operating public infrastructure-
7. Governing-Governing Government and Administration-Activities associated with the governance of local areas, regions, the State and the nation, and the administration of public programs - includes both principled and corrupt activities. Developing roles for government - conserving cultural and natural heritage-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life Creative endeavour-Activities associated with the production and performance of literary, artistic, architectural and other imaginative, interpretive or inventive works; and/or associated with the production and expression of cultural phenomena; and/or environments that have inspired such creative activities. Monuments-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life Creative endeavour-Activities associated with the production and performance of literary, artistic, architectural and other imaginative, interpretive or inventive works; and/or associated with the production and expression of cultural phenomena; and/or environments that have inspired such creative activities. Developing cultural institutions and ways of life-National Theme 8
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life Creative endeavour-Activities associated with the production and performance of literary, artistic, architectural and other imaginative, interpretive or inventive works; and/or associated with the production and expression of cultural phenomena; and/or environments that have inspired such creative activities. Parks and public gardens-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life Creative endeavour-Activities associated with the production and performance of literary, artistic, architectural and other imaginative, interpretive or inventive works; and/or associated with the production and expression of cultural phenomena; and/or environments that have inspired such creative activities. Capturing iconic landscapes in art-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life Creative endeavour-Activities associated with the production and performance of literary, artistic, architectural and other imaginative, interpretive or inventive works; and/or associated with the production and expression of cultural phenomena; and/or environments that have inspired such creative activities. Designing to evoke nationalistic feelings-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life Creative endeavour-Activities associated with the production and performance of literary, artistic, architectural and other imaginative, interpretive or inventive works; and/or associated with the production and expression of cultural phenomena; and/or environments that have inspired such creative activities. Landscaping - 20th century interwar-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life Creative endeavour-Activities associated with the production and performance of literary, artistic, architectural and other imaginative, interpretive or inventive works; and/or associated with the production and expression of cultural phenomena; and/or environments that have inspired such creative activities. Landscaping - 20th century post WW2-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life Creative endeavour-Activities associated with the production and performance of literary, artistic, architectural and other imaginative, interpretive or inventive works; and/or associated with the production and expression of cultural phenomena; and/or environments that have inspired such creative activities. Creating Aboriginal art sites (pre - European contact)-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life Creative endeavour-Activities associated with the production and performance of literary, artistic, architectural and other imaginative, interpretive or inventive works; and/or associated with the production and expression of cultural phenomena; and/or environments that have inspired such creative activities. Landscaping - Federation period-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life Creative endeavour-Activities associated with the production and performance of literary, artistic, architectural and other imaginative, interpretive or inventive works; and/or associated with the production and expression of cultural phenomena; and/or environments that have inspired such creative activities. Creating works of art-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life Creative endeavour-Activities associated with the production and performance of literary, artistic, architectural and other imaginative, interpretive or inventive works; and/or associated with the production and expression of cultural phenomena; and/or environments that have inspired such creative activities. Creating works of literature-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life Creative endeavour-Activities associated with the production and performance of literary, artistic, architectural and other imaginative, interpretive or inventive works; and/or associated with the production and expression of cultural phenomena; and/or environments that have inspired such creative activities. Illustrations in response to Banks' and Solander's scientific collections-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life Creative endeavour-Activities associated with the production and performance of literary, artistic, architectural and other imaginative, interpretive or inventive works; and/or associated with the production and expression of cultural phenomena; and/or environments that have inspired such creative activities. Making and acting in films-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life Creative endeavour-Activities associated with the production and performance of literary, artistic, architectural and other imaginative, interpretive or inventive works; and/or associated with the production and expression of cultural phenomena; and/or environments that have inspired such creative activities. Inspirational environments and events-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life Creative endeavour-Activities associated with the production and performance of literary, artistic, architectural and other imaginative, interpretive or inventive works; and/or associated with the production and expression of cultural phenomena; and/or environments that have inspired such creative activities. Performing important ceremonies and rituals-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life Domestic life-Activities associated with creating, maintaining, living in and working around houses and institutions. Ways of life 1900-1950-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life Domestic life-Activities associated with creating, maintaining, living in and working around houses and institutions. Ways of life 1950-2000-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life Domestic life-Activities associated with creating, maintaining, living in and working around houses and institutions. Ways of life 1788-1850-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life Domestic life-Activities associated with creating, maintaining, living in and working around houses and institutions. Ways of life 1850-1900-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life Domestic life-Activities associated with creating, maintaining, living in and working around houses and institutions. Living in a bushland setting-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life Domestic life-Activities associated with creating, maintaining, living in and working around houses and institutions. Ornamental Garden-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life Domestic life-Activities associated with creating, maintaining, living in and working around houses and institutions. Holidaying near the sea-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life Domestic life-Activities associated with creating, maintaining, living in and working around houses and institutions. Living on the urban fringe-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life Leisure-Activities associated with recreation and relaxation Outdoor relief-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life Leisure-Activities associated with recreation and relaxation community park-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life Leisure-Activities associated with recreation and relaxation Outdoor concerts and performances-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life Leisure-Activities associated with recreation and relaxation Going to a wildlife sancutary-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life Leisure-Activities associated with recreation and relaxation Tourism-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life Leisure-Activities associated with recreation and relaxation Activities associated with relaxation and recreation-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life Leisure-Activities associated with recreation and relaxation Going to a museum-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life Leisure-Activities associated with recreation and relaxation Going to the beach-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life Leisure-Activities associated with recreation and relaxation Visiting heritage places-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life Leisure-Activities associated with recreation and relaxation Going to the park-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life Leisure-Activities associated with recreation and relaxation Enjoying picnics-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life Leisure-Activities associated with recreation and relaxation Going bushwalking-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life Leisure-Activities associated with recreation and relaxation Going swimming-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life Leisure-Activities associated with recreation and relaxation Going boating and sailing-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life Leisure-Activities associated with recreation and relaxation Visiting lookouts and places of natural beauty-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life Leisure-Activities associated with recreation and relaxation Enjoying public parks and gardens-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life Leisure-Activities associated with recreation and relaxation Going fishing-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life Leisure-Activities associated with recreation and relaxation Gathering at landmark places to socialise-
9. Phases of Life-Marking the phases of life Persons-Activities of, and associations with, identifiable individuals, families and communal groups Associations with Captain James Cook - British Naval Officer and explorer-
9. Phases of Life-Marking the phases of life Persons-Activities of, and associations with, identifiable individuals, families and communal groups Associations with Sir Joseph Banks - naturalist/botanist-
9. Phases of Life-Marking the phases of life Persons-Activities of, and associations with, identifiable individuals, families and communal groups Associations with Daniel Solander, naturalist, botanist,assistant at the British Museum-
9. Phases of Life-Marking the phases of life Persons-Activities of, and associations with, identifiable individuals, families and communal groups Associations with Sydney Parkinson - artist and illustrator of scientific collections-

Assessment of significance

SHR Criteria a)
[Historical significance] 		The geological and botanical features of Kamay Botany Bay National Park and Towra Point Nature Reserve are of state heritage significance for their ability to demonstrate the natural history of the state.

Kamay Botany Bay National Park and Towra Point Nature Reserve also have the ability to clearly demonstrate Indigenous pre-contact history of the state and to demonstrate aspects of the way of life of the Aboriginal people before European settlement.

Kamay Botany Bay Park is of exceptional heritage significance for the state as the place where the shared Indigenous and European history of Australia began. It was the place where Lieutenant James Cook first stepped ashore to claim the country for Britain and the first meeting place between Indigenous people and the colonisers. The place plays a central role in the European history of arrival and the history of Indigenous dispossession and devastation through illness, land grants, cultivation and development. The meeting of Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australia is a story that is central to the development of the colony and of symbolic importance to the state .

Kamay Botany Bay National Park is historically significant as it was the first point of landing of the first fleet of settlers in Australia and the site of later developments in colonial defences and customs regulation. It also demonstrates the early development of communications in the colony. The park is historically significant as it contains evidence of French exploration during the late 18th century.

Kamay Botany Bay National Park and Towra Point Nature Reserve are historically significant as the place where Joseph Banks's and Daniel Solander's unique botanical collection was sourced and later classified using the Linnaean system of classification. Kurnell Peninsula and Towra Point were the sites of the first scientific investigation of the east coast of Australia by British scientists.

The former Cable Station at La Perouse is significant for its role in telegraphic communication connecting New Zealand with Australia by sub-marine cable for the first time in 1876.
SHR Criteria b)
[Associative significance] 		Traditional Aboriginal owners of the land and the current Aboriginal community have strong historical association with Kamay Botany Bay National Park and Towra Point Nature Reserve. The place is associated with the Gweagal warriors who resisted the arrival of arrival of Cook and the crew of the Endeavour.

Kamay Botany Bay National Park and Towra Point Nature Reserve is significant for its association with important European explorers and scientists and their life's work. These include James Cook, Joseph Banks, Daniel Solander, Comte de Laperouse, Pere Receveur and Joseph Lepaute Dagelet.

Kamay Botany Bay National Park has an important association with the First Fleet and Governor Arthur Phillip, first Governor of NSW. Governor Macquarie is also associated with the site as he commissioned the erection of the earliest known sandstone tower building in Australia, the Macquarie Watchtower. The place is also associated with French explorers under the command of Comte de Laperouse who were the first Europeans to stay in the place for an extended period of 6 weeks.

The Kurnell peninsula has an important association with one of the colony's noted entrepreneurs and politicians, Thomas Holt. It also has historic association with members of the Aboriginal community who lived and worked with the first settlers on the Kurnell peninsula. The place also has historical association with the Aboriginal people who lived at La Perouse throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and whose descendents continue to live in the area.
SHR Criteria c)
[Aesthetic significance] 		The cliffs edging the sea side entrance to Kamay Botany Bay National Park in both the northern and southern sections are of state heritage significance for their strong and dramatic landmark qualities that take on a symbolic aspect in relation to the historic events that took place after the Endeavour laid anchor inside Botany Bay and Cook stepped onto Dharawal land.

As well as the natural features of the site there are significant structures which have aesthetic value. The former cable station was designed by the noted colonial architect, James Barnet. The two storey octagonal sandstone tower with castellated turret top built in circa1811, as a military guardhouse and lookout station, is a distinctive feature on the headland. The Doric column memorial to the Laperouse expedition is another feature of the grouping on the northern headland. On the southern headland a commemorative obelisk marking Captain Cook's landing site erected in to 1822 is another distinctive landmark.

The green peninsula of Towra Point Nature Reserve is an aesthetically appealing natural landscape amidst an otherwise industrial or suburban setting on the south side of Botany Bay.
SHR Criteria d)
[Social significance] 		Both the northern and southern sections of the Botany Bay National Park are of State heritage significance for members of the local and state-wide Aboriginal community as it is the site of the first meeting of Indigenous and European cultures. For many people who live locally and throughout the state it is the home of their ancestors, it is the place where their ancestors are buried and where they lived before Europeans arrived. It is also important to Aboriginal people as one of the earliest sites of resistance to British colonisation. The place is also an important site of cultural renewal as the story of the arrival of Cook and those that followed remains an important story within the Aboriginal community.

The Towra Point Keeping Place Aboriginal Place and the Dharawal Resting Place - Coast Hospital Cemetery repatriation sites are highly significant places to members of the La Perouse Local Aboriginal Land Council and the Dharawal Aboriginal people associated with Botany Bay. Visitation to these sites enables Dharawal people to maintain close connections to Country and ancestors.

Cook's landing place is important to the European community as it marks the arrival of the British and the establishment of Britain's southern-most colony. It is regarded as the birthplace of the European Australian Nation and the first meeting place of Aboriginal and British communities.

The northern shores of Botany Bay, the La Perouse peninsula, has a very special association for the French community in Australia and French people overseas as it was the last landfall of the noted French explorer, Jean-Francois Galaup de Laperouse. The esteem the expedition is held in is marked by the Monument to Laperouse commissioned in 1829 by the French and the annual ceremonies celebrating the visit of Laperouse.
SHR Criteria e)
[Research potential] 		The place is of state significance as a place of important technical achievement with the collecting efforts of Banks and Solander who during their visit in 1770 made the first important collection of fauna and flora from Australia. The Banks and Solander collection included many items that had never before been described and classified. The publication of Banks's Florilegium, a full colour edition which included illustrations and descriptions of the entire collection from the voyage in 1770, was the culmination of Banks's and Solander's work.

Previous archaeological excavations indicate that Kamay Botany Bay National Park and Towra Point Nature Reserve have significance for their high level of archaeological potential.

The La Perouse headland is significant as the place where the crew of Laperouse's expedition of exploration made camp was where Joseph Lapaute Dagelet set up his observatory and made the first astronomical observations in Australia.
SHR Criteria f)
[Rarity] 		Kamay Botany Bay National Park is a unique place with state level rarity values as it is the place where the British colonisers first stepped ashore in Eastern Australia and the meeting place of Indigenous and white colonial Australia.

Kamay Botany Bay National Park and the Towra Point Nature Reserve wetlands contain rare remnant vegetation and fauna communities threatened and endangered species and vegetation communities such as: the Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub community, the littoral rainforest and Kurnell dune forest, a vast array of threatened and endangered bird species such as the little tern, frogs such as the green and gold bell frog and mammals like the grey headed flying fox. The park is an important link in the network of parks and reserves in NSW and plays an important role in conserving the biodiversity of the State.
SHR Criteria g)
[Representativeness] 		Kamay Botany Bay National Park contains evidence of the intensive occupation by Indigenous people before the arrival and settlement by Europeans and is representative of the pre-contact Indigenous cultural landscape.

The remnant vegetation communities of Towra Point Nature Reserve and Kamay Botany Bay National Park are representative of the original vegetation communities which would have been evident from Sydney Cove to Port Hacking.

Kamay Botany Bay National Park is a representative example of a site with an extensive grouping of memorials commemorating highly significant historic events: the historic meeting of Indigenous and British cultures, the exploration of Captain James Cook, the important scientific collection work undertaken on the site by Banks and Solander, the noted French explorer Comte de Laperouse and his party.

Towra Point Nature Reserve and Kamay Botany Bay National Park represent the role of parks and reserves in the conservation of biodiversity.
Integrity/Intactness: Substantially intact.
Assessment criteria: Items are assessed against the PDF State Heritage Register (SHR) Criteria to determine the level of significance. Refer to the Listings below for the level of statutory protection.

Recommended management:

Recommendations

Management CategoryDescriptionDate Updated
Recommended ManagementReview a Conservation Management Plan (CMP) 
Recommended ManagementPrepare a maintenance schedule or guidelines 
Recommended ManagementCarry out interpretation, promotion and/or education 

Procedures /Exemptions

Section of actDescriptionTitleCommentsAction date
CMP-EndorseConservation Plan submitted for endorsementCMP (La Perouse Headland) submitted for endorsement  
57(2)Exemption to allow workHeritage Act - Site Specific Exemptions HERITAGE ACT 1977

ORDER UNDER SECTION 57(2)
To Grant Site Specific Exemptions from Approval

Kamay Botany Bay National Park (North and South) and Towra Point Nature Reserve

SHR No. 1918

I, the Minister for Heritage, on the recommendation of the Heritage Council of New South Wales, in pursuance of section 57(2) of the Heritage Act 1977 (NSW), do, by this my order, grant an exemption from section 57(1) of that Act in respect of the engaging in or carrying out of any activities described in Schedule "C" by the [owner, mortgagee or lessee of the land] described in Schedule "B" on the item described in Schedule "A".


The Hon Robyn Parker, MP.
Minister for Heritage
Sydney, Day of 2013


SCHEDULE "A"

The item known as the Kamay Botany Bay National Park (North and South) and Towra Point Nature Reserve, situated on the land described in Schedule "B".


SCHEDULE "B"

All those pieces or parcels of land known as Lot 1 of Deposited Plan 1014443, Lot 1 of DP 1030269, Lot 5 of DP 1110408, Lot 7334 of DP 1162374, Lot 31 of DP 217907, Lot 3 of DP 232077, Lot 101 of DP 555205, Lot 1 of DP 556396, Lot 1 of DP 706164, Lot 4 of DP 732257, Lot 119 of DP 752064, Lot 145 of DP 752064, Lot 104 of DP 777967, Lot 101 of DP 777967, Lot 102 of DP 777967, Lot 106 of DP 777967, Lot 103 of DP 777967, Lot 105 of DP 777967, Lot 107 of DP 777967, Lot 108 of DP 777967, Lot 109 of DP 777967, Part Lot 2 of DP 856868, Lot 71 of DP 908, Lot 72 of DP 908, Lot 73 of DP 908, Lot 74 of DP 908, Lot 75 of DP 908, Lot 76 of DP 908, Lot 85 of DP 908, Lot 1 of DP 90998, Parish of Sutherland, County of Cumberland shown on the plan catalogued HC 2565 in the office of the Heritage Council of New South Wales.


SCHEDULE "C"

The following activities do not require approval under 57(1) of the Heritage Act 1977 providing they do not impact the significant fabric or cultural landscapes of Kamay Botany Bay National Park or Towra Point Nature reserve.

Exempt activities are as follows:

- Activities identified as having an acceptable level of heritage impact in a Plan of Management for Kamay Botany Bay National Park or Towra Point Nature Reserve.

- Cultural practices by Aboriginal people and the sharing of these practices with others.

- Conservation works and activities clearly identified in the maintenance schedules or schedule of works outlined in a Conservation Management Plan for the site or elements within the site which has been endorsed by the Heritage Council of NSW.

- Temporary infrastructure associated with Festivals, filming and events.

Bush regeneration activities including re-vegetation that do not involve any impacts on archaeological resources and relics.

- Threatened species and communities recovery and pest management activities.

- Emergency management and response activities related to significant incidents, which may require immediate and urgent action.

- New tracks, track maintenance, upgrades and improvements which do not materially affect the significance of the park and do not involve any impacts on archaeological resources and relics.

- Infrastructure maintenance and improvement including: energy saving works and the installation of sustainable technologies (solar power, water tanks etc), electrical supply infrastructure, navigation aids, water and sewerage pipelines, pump stations and pits, existing toilet facilities and enclosed infrastructure, fences, erosion control and soil conservation works, Park User Fee infrastructure (including parking metres and E-tag technologies), maintenance of existing roads, fire and other trails and tracks, including sub-grade, pavement and drainage works where these works do not involve any impacts on archaeological resources or structures identified as being significant.

- Maintenance and upgrade of existing visitor facilities including toilets, bbqs, picnic shelters, signage, car parks, walking track, fencing, bollards, road barriers and road works.

- New walking paths and seating on La Perouse Headland as identified in the final approved La Perouse headland Interpretive Landscape Plan.

- Beach re-nourishment activities.

- Roadside vegetation control including manual, mechanical and chemical treatment of non-culturally significant vegetation.

- Asset management zone vegetation control manual, mechanical and chemical treatment of non-culturally significant vegetation.

- Signage associated with park use and management.

- Environmental rehabilitation work including temporary silt fencing, tree planting, and weed removal and rubbish removal.

- Demolition of the Sydney Pistol Club buildings and rifle range at Cape Banks and all associated remediation works.

- Demolition of the toilet block at the entry to La Perouse Headland loop road and all associated remediation works.

- Activities affecting the movable heritage that forms the collection of the Laperouse Museum in the former Cable Station building.

- Solar panels on a concrete pad with security fencing and associated cabling for electricity to supply Henry Head Lighthouse. 		Nov 29 2013
57(2)Exemption to allow workStandard Exemptions HERITAGE ACT 1977

ORDER UNDER SECTION 57(2) TO GRANT STANDARD EXEMPTIONS FROM APPROVAL

I, Penny Sharpe, the Minister for Heritage, on the recommendation of the Heritage Council of New South Wales and under section 57(2) of the Heritage Act 1977:

revoke the order made on 2 June 2022 and published in the Government Gazette Number 262 of 17 June 2022; and

grant an exemption from section 57(1) of the Act in respect of the engaging in or carrying out the class of activities described in clause 2 Schedule A in such circumstances specified by the relevant standards in clause 2 Schedule A and General Conditions in clause 3 Schedule A.

This Order takes effect on the date it is published in the NSW Government Gazette.

Dated this 29th day of October 2025
The Hon Penny Sharpe MLC
Minister for Heritage

For more information on standard exemptions click on the link below. 		Nov 7 2025

PDF Standard exemptions for engaging in or carrying out activities / works otherwise prohibited by section 57(1) of the Heritage Act 1977

Listings

Heritage ListingListing TitleListing NumberGazette DateGazette NumberGazette Page
Heritage Act - State Heritage Register 0191829 Nov 13 1625397 & 539

References, internet links & images

TypeAuthorYearTitleInternet Links
Written 2011Draft Kamay Botany Bay La Perouse Headland and Bare Island Interpretation, Landscape and Architectural Plan
WrittenAndersen, Sue and Hamilton, MaryAnn2006Kamay Botany Bay Oral History
WrittenBear, Virginia2011Kurnell Peninsula, a guide to the plants animals, ecology and landscapes
WrittenClendinnen, Inga2003Dancing with Strangers
WrittenContext Pty Ltd with Urban Initiatives; Dan Tuck Archaeology; Jill Shepperd Heritage Consultants2008The Meeting Place Precinct: Conservation Management Plan View detail
WrittenDaily Mirror1957Fire Death in Old Home
WrittenDan Tuck Archaeologist & Heritage Consultant2008La Perouse Headland: A Shared History
WrittenDECCW2010Towra Point - internationally significant wetlands
WrittenDECCW2002Botany Bay National Park Plan of Management
WrittenDECCW2001Towra Point Nature Reserve Plan of Management
WrittenDesign5 Architects, Biosis Research and Geoffrey Britton2006Heritage Assessment for the Meeting Place
WrittenDictionary of Biography2011Essays on Danial Solander, Joseph Banks, Compte de La Perouse, Pere Receuver
WrittenJill Sheppard Heritage Consultants P/L2009La Perouse Headland: Botany Bay National Park - Conservation Management Plan: Stage 2 - Final Report (volume 2 of 3)
WrittenKarskens, Grace2009Colony
WrittenMigration Heritage Centre2011At the Beach Exhibition
WrittenNeeson Murcutt Architects P/L2019Kamay Botanic Bay National Park, Kurnell: Master Plan
WrittenNeeson Murcutt Architects; Sue Barnsley Design & Freeman Ryan Design2017Kamay Botany Bay National Park Master Plan
WrittenNSW National Parks and Wildlife Service2020Kamay Botany Bay National Park Plan of Management
WrittenNSW Office of Environment and Heritage2013NSW Atlas of Aboriginal Places View detail
WrittenNugent, Maria2005A Contextual History of Botany Bay View detail
WrittenPitt, Helen2018'Cook's legacy back on the map'
WrittenRandwick & District Historical Society1989A Randwick Ramble - Part 3 - La Perouse to Maroubra - a guide to historic places
WrittenRoychowdury, Swagatalakshmi2022Kamay Ferry Wharves development approved
WrittenSutherland Shire Council 'Kurnell' View detail
WrittenSutherland Shire Environment Centre2011  View detail
WrittenTrembath, Murray2022Aboriginal organisation Gamay Rangers to partner NPWS in managing Kamay Botany Bay National Park and Towra Point Nature Reserve View detail
WrittenTrembath, Murray2020Conservation work on Cook obelisk at Kurnell ahead of 250th anniversary commemoration View detail
WrittenTrembath, Murray2018'$50m Park Work'
WrittenWilliams, Iris, in Individual Heritage Group, La Perouse – the place, the people and the sea - a collection of writing by members of the Aboriginal Community1988'School in the customs house'

Note: internet links may be to web pages, documents or images.
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Data source

The information for this entry comes from the following source:
Name: Heritage NSW
Database number: 5061543
File number: 12/04200; 10/8180

Every effort has been made to ensure that information contained in the State Heritage Inventory is correct. If you find any errors or omissions please send your comments to the Database Manager.

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