Location: La Perouse and Kurnell, Sydney, NSW
Country: Gadigal and Gweagal
LGA: Sutherland Shire and City of Randwick
Region: Eastern and Southeastern suburbs
Website: https://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/visit-a-park/parks/kamay-botany-bay-national-park
Map: below
The Kamay-Botany Bay astro-sites are difficult to write about because interactions here between the region’s First Peoples and Europeans in 1770, 1788, and in later years, have been so profoundly consequential. Future IAT posts will acknowledge this heritage in the spirit of truth-telling, with reference to the following themes:
- What Kamay, and the concept of Country, (land, waters and sky) means to the Bay’s First Peoples >>
- How Gadigal and Gweagal people understood their Sky Country
- The astronomical science and skylore of the Bay’s First Peoples
- British observations of the 1769 Transit of Venus in Tahiti, which brought the British barque Endeavour into the Pacific Ocean
- James Cook and his entourage’s exploration of the Bay’s foreshores in 1770
- The theft and repatriation of Gweagal spears and shield stolen by Cook, his passengers and crew members
- the contribution Polynesian astronomer/navigator Tupaia, who joined the Endeavour in Tahiti
- the arrival of the eleven British ships of the so-called First Fleet, in 1788
- the arrival, soon after, of the two French ships of Compte de La Pérouse‘s scientific expedition
- the professional relationship between the English astronomer William Dawes and French astronomer Joseph Lepaute Dagelet
- the ongoing impacts on First Peoples in Australia and the Pacific of the British invasion and colonisation of their homelands (including the loss of thousands of years of knowledge and skills)
- the revival and revitalisation by First Peoples of languages, knowledge, skills and lore, including astronomy and celestial navigation in the Pacific
- the impacts of recent development on the Bay’s ecosystems
- the extraordinary cultural diversity of communities now living around the Bay and their rich astronomical heritages
Top feature image: Nuwi, traditional canoes, a bronze sculpture by Theresa Ardler and Julie Squires installed on the Bay’s foreshore. Photo by Merrill Findlay, 9 January 2024.
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Page published 9 November 2024. Last revised 18 September 2025.