Location: Dawes Point Tar-Ra, Sydney CBD
Country: Gadigal
LGA: City of Sydney
Region: The Rocks
Website: http://www.therocks.com/venues/dawes-point-park-(tar-ra)
Map: Below
Dawes Point Tar-Ra, on Gadigal Country, is the site of European Australia’s first astronomical observatory. To the Gadigal people, this place was known as Tar-ra and Tullagalla. It is now overshadowed by Sydney Harbour Bridge.
The observatory was established in 1788 by William Dawes (1762–1836), the young British naval officer, scientist, astronomer, engineer, surveyor, teacher and administrator, for whom the peninsula is named. (More >>, More >> )
Dawes sailed from Britain on the HMS Sirius, the flagship of the so-called First Fleet, which arrived in Sydney Cove on 26 January, 1788. He was soon befriended by a young local woman, Patyegarang, who taught him her people’s language. Dawes recorded his conversations with Patyegarang in notebooks and took them back to England. They were recovered in the early 1990s by Ngarigu scholar Jakelin Troy. Since then, First Nations people have used Dawes’ notebooks and other sources to revive ‘the Sydney Language’ and recover some of the knowledge it encodes. (You can download Professor Troy’s book below.)
Credits
Feature photo at the top of page: Joseph Lycett, 1827, watercolour of Sydney Harbour, as seen from North Shore. Dawes Point is the peninsula jutting into the harbour on the far right. Courtesy Dixon Gallery, State Library of NSW.
Gallery: Photos by Merrill Findlay, 10 January 2024.
williamdawes.org
The Aboriginal language of Sydney is one of many Indigenous languages spoken in Australia. Almost destroyed in the whirlwind of colonisation, it was documented by William Dawes, an officer of the First Fleet of 1787–88.
THE NOTEBOOKS OF WILLIAM DAWES ON
THE ABORIGINAL LANGUAGE OF SYDNEY
The notebooks of Lieutenant William Dawes are the major source of information about the Aboriginal language of Sydney. They contain information of significance to Aboriginal communities of New South Wales, to linguists, historians, residents of Sydney, and many others.
This website is the result of a collaboration between the Hans Rausing Endangered Languages Project and the SOAS University of London Library Special Collections.
Its aim is to promote recognition of the Indigenous language of Sydney, to provide resources for the communities revitalising their languages, and to enable easy access to the notebooks through the publication of high quality images and a new electronic text version.
Explore williamdawes.org … or go directly to the notebook page index.
de Grijs, Richard, and Andrew P. Jacob. 2023 Sydney’s Scientific Beginnings: William Dawes’ Observatories in Context
Jakelin Troy, 1993, The Sydney Language,
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Post created 29 January 2025.