43-399: The Henry Head Battery is an artillery battery on the northern side of the entrance to Botany Bay at Henry Head, La Perouse, New South Wales Australia . Constructed between 1892 - 1895 with 2 BL 6-inch Mk V disappearing guns , the fort operated until 1910, after which it became obsolete. The battery, along with two six-inch (152.4 mm – diameter) gun emplacements and observation posts,
86-663: A fire, was bought and rebuilt by the Royal Navy in November 1781, retaining her original name. The newly purchased vessel was fitted out and coppered at Deptford Dockyard between December 1781 and April 1782, for a total sum of £6,152.11s.4d. When completed she carried 10 guns, four 6-pounder long guns, and six 18-pounder carronades . She was commissioned for service under her first commander, Lieutenant Bayntun Prideaux in January 1782, and went out to North America later that year. She spent
129-532: A single line branched off to serve Long Bay Gaol . The line was double track throughout. The line reached La Perouse in stages from 1900 to 1902. The Loop is the circular track that was built as part of the Sydney tram terminus at La Perouse. Closure was supported by the NRMA , but generally went against public opinion. Nevertheless, closure became Labor government policy and the system was wound down in stages, with withdrawal of
172-734: Is displayed in the Powerhouse Museum , Sydney. Small models of all the First Fleet ships are displayed in the Museum of Sydney . The Sirius wrecksite is protected by the Commonwealth Historic Shipwrecks Act 1976 and is listed on the Australian National Heritage List . An Urban Transit Authority First Fleet ferry was named after Sirius in 1984. Bas-relief memorials to the ship were erected in
215-672: Is known as the La Perouse Mission Church . A kiosk was built in 1896 to cater for tourists who came to see the attractions, including snake-handling shows. During the Great Depression , from the late 1920s, many severely affected low-income families took up residence here in settlements beside the Aboriginal reserve. The small island just inside the heads was described by Captain James Cook as "a small bare island". Bare Island
258-549: Is located on Cape Banks. This facility was part of the Eastern Command Fixed Defences unit, it was designed and positioned in a way that would allow it to protect the approaches to Botany Bay in the event of a sea born attack during the World War II period. Henry Head Battery , constructed 1892–1895, operated until 1910, when the fort became obsolete. The battery along with two gun-emplacements and observation posts
301-728: Is now known as the La Perouse peninsula. After completing the building of a longboat (to replace one lost in the attack in the Navigator Islands) and obtaining wood and water, the French departed for New Caledonia , Santa Cruz , the Solomons , and the Louisiades . Lapérouse wrote in his journals that he expected to be back in France by December 1788, but the two ships vanished. The last official sighting of
344-527: Is the northern headland of Botany Bay . It is notable for its old military outpost at Bare Island and the Kamay Botany Bay National Park . Congwong Bay Beach, Little Congwong Beach, and the beach at Frenchmans Bay provide protected swimming areas in Botany Bay. La Perouse is one of few Sydney suburbs with a French name, others being Sans Souci and Vaucluse . Kurnell is located opposite, on
387-559: The military of Australia is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . La Perouse, New South Wales La Perouse is a suburb in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales , Australia. The suburb of La Perouse is located about 14 kilometres (8.7 mi) southeast of the Sydney central business district , in the City of Randwick . The La Perouse peninsula
430-544: The Tasman Sea . The area around the La Perouse peninsula is considered to be one of the best scuba diving sites in NSW. Bare Island has a number of dive sites, some of which extend to over 19 metres in depth. The reef around the area is extensive. There are also a number of dives around the mainland at La Perouse. Scuba divers here can see the common (weedy) sea dragon , pygmy pipefish , big-belly seahorses and other fish common in
473-406: The "Mystery of Lapérouse". The mission was called "Opération Vanikoro-Sur les traces des épaves de Lapérouse 2005". A further similar mission was mounted in 2008. Between 16 September and 15 October 2008 two French Navy boats set out from Nouméa (New Caledonia) for a voyage to Vanikoro, recreating that section of the final journey of discovery made by Lapérouse. The first building in the area
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#1732869005762516-608: The British ship, the Sirius . The expedition's naturalist and chaplain, Father Louis Receveur , died in February after a skirmish the previous December in Samoa with the inhabitants, in which Paul Antoine Fleuriot de Langle , commander of Astrolabe and 12 other members of the French expedition were killed. Receveur, injured in that skirmish, died at Botany Bay and was buried at Frenchmans Cove below
559-578: The French expedition was in March 1788 when British lookouts stationed at the South Head of Port Jackson saw the expedition sail from Botany Bay. The French expedition was wrecked a short time later on the reefs of Vanikoro in the Solomon Islands during a cyclone sometime during April or May 1788, the circumstances remained a mystery for 40 years. Some of the mystery was solved in 1826 when items associated with
602-411: The French left on 10 March for New Caledonia , Santa Cruz , the Solomons , the Louisiades , and the western and southern coasts of Australia. The French fleet and all on board were never seen again. The documents carried by Sirius would be its only testament. Decades later it was discovered that Lapérouse's expedition had been shipwrecked on the island of Vanikoro . Sirius left Port Jackson under
645-596: The French ships were found on an island in the Santa Cruz group, with wreckage of the ships themselves discovered in 1964. More recently two major expeditions have been mounted to explore the sites in Vanikoro. In May 2005, the wreck was formally identified as that of the Boussole . The 2005 expedition was embarked aboard Jacques Cartier , a French naval vessel. The ship supported a multi-discipline scientific team to investigate
688-1027: The South’. Upon King Louis XVI's orders, Lapérouse departed Brest, France , in command of the Astrolabe and Boussole on 1 August 1785 on a scientific voyage of the Pacific inspired by the voyages of Cook. La Perouse in Sydney's south is named after the leader of this French expedition. Lapérouse's two ships sailed to New South Wales after 12 of his men had been attacked and killed in the Navigator Islands ( Samoa ). Astrolabe and Boussole arrived off Botany Bay on 24 January just six days after Captain Arthur Phillip (1738–1814) had anchored just west of Bare Island, in HMS ; Supply . On 26 January 1788, as Captain John Hunter
731-456: The Sydney area. Little Congwong Beach is popular for snorkeling , and it has also been used for decades as an unofficial nude beach. 33°59′35″S 151°14′36″E / 33.99306°S 151.24333°E / -33.99306; 151.24333 HMS Sirius (1786) HMS Sirius was the flagship of the First Fleet , which set out from Portsmouth , England, in 1787 to establish
774-402: The area, with boomerang -throwing demonstrations often held on weekends and Aboriginal guided tours operating from Yarra Bay House during the week. Aboriginal artefacts are produced and sold by locals. The Snake Man of La Perouse has an outdoor reptile show is also a tourist attraction in the pit, at The Loop, on Sunday afternoons. The reptile shows were begun by the legendary Professor Fox in
817-636: The colonists with only one navy ship. Many artefacts have been retrieved from the Sirius wreck. They include three anchors and two carronades . Objects are displayed in the Norfolk Island Museum . Another anchor, as well as a cannon, are on display in Macquarie Place , Sydney. Other Sirius artefacts including an anchor can be viewed at the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney. A detailed 1:24 scale model of Sirius
860-561: The command of Hunter on 2 October 1788, when she was sent back to the Cape of Good Hope to get flour and other supplies. The complete voyage, which took more than seven months to complete, returned just in time to save the near-starving colony. In 1789, she was refitted in Mosman Bay , which was originally named Great Sirius Cove after the vessel. The name lives on in the adjacent Sirius Cove (formerly "Little Sirius Cove"). On 19 March 1790, Sirius
903-526: The first European colony in New South Wales , Australia. In 1790, the ship was wrecked on the reef, south east of Kingston Pier, in Slaughter Bay, Norfolk Island . Sirius had been converted from the merchantman Berwick . There has been confusion over the early history of Berwick . A note about her by future New South Wales governor Philip Gidley King , describing her as a former 'East country man',
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#1732869005762946-567: The first link in telegraph communications between New Zealand and the rest of the world. After the cessation of telegraph communications, the building served as a home for orphans run by the Salvation Army , with the children attending La Perouse Public School when this first opened in the early 1950s. Visitors can learn about the Indigenous significance of the area from the Aboriginal people of
989-406: The following day. The British cordially received the French. Sirius ' s captains, through their officers, offered assistance and asked if Lapérouse needed supplies. However the French leader and the British commanders never met personally. Lapérouse also took the opportunity to send his journals, some charts and some letters back to Europe with Sirius . After obtaining wood and fresh water,
1032-460: The headland that is now called La Perouse, not far from the Lapérouse Museum. The place was marked by a tin plate but the local Aboriginal people quickly removed it. The British replaced it with another and tended the site. In 1824, the tree was inscribed by Victor-Charles Lottin (1781–1846), an ensign visiting with Louis Isidore Duperrey . The following year, Hyacinthe de Bougainville paid for
1075-586: The last part of the American War of Independence there, transferring to the West Indies in June 1784. Paid off in February 1785 she was initially laid up before being fitted for sea between September and December 1786 for service with the First Fleet. She was nominally rated as a sixth-rate , allowing her to be commanded by a post-captain , though she retained her armament of only 10 guns, and on 12 October 1786 Berwick
1118-434: The last service, to La Perouse in 1961. The line followed the current route of Transdev John Holland bus route 394X. Wharves are being built at La Perouse and southward at Kurnell , for a ferry service between them. According to the 2021 census of Population, there were 366 people in La Perouse. The La Perouse Museum contains maps, scientific instruments and relics recovered from French explorers. A walking trail from
1161-498: The late 19th century and resumed by George Cann just after the Great War in 1918. The tradition was continued by members of the Cann family, until recently, and other snake handlers since. La Perouse has a few cafés and restaurants around the historic precinct, close to Frenchmans Bay. The New South Wales Golf Club , a links –style golf course, is at La Perouse, facing both Botany Bay and
1204-689: The museum to the Endeavour Lighthouse has views across the bay to the site of Captain Cook's Landing Place. The large Lapérouse Monument is an obelisk erected in 1825 by the French, located close to the museum. Another memorial marks the grave of Father Receveur. The fortified Bare Island is linked by a footbridge. The museum was originally built as cable station to house the operation of the first submarine telegraph communications cable laid between Australia and Nelson in New Zealand. This cable also served as
1247-465: The northern shore of Botany Bay west of Bare Island on 26 January 1788. Captain Arthur Phillip and the first fleet of convicts had arrived in Botany Bay a few days earlier. Louis XVI of France had commissioned Lapérouse to explore the Pacific. In April 1770 James Cook 's expedition had sailed onto the east coast of Australia whilst exploring the south Pacific searching for Terra Australis or ‘Land of
1290-561: The southern headland of Botany Bay. La Perouse was known as "Gooriwal" to the Muruora-dial people of the area. The Gameygal or Kameygal clan of the Dharug people probably lived between the mouth of the Cooks River and present-day La Perouse, including the La Perouse area. La Perouse was named after the French navigator Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse (1741–88), who landed on
1333-502: The tombstone that is on the site today. It was designed by Government Architect George Cookney (1799–1876). Receveur was the second European to be buried on the East Coast of Australia, the first being Forby Sutherland from Cook's 1770 expedition who is buried at nearby Kurnell on the other side of the Botany Bay headlands. The French stayed at Botany Bay for six weeks and built a stockade, observatory and garden for fresh produce on what
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1376-578: Was accepted. The commander of the Fleet, Captain Phillip, ordered that two British naval vessels, HMS Sirius and Supply , meet the French. Contrary to popular belief, the French did not have orders to claim Terra Australis for France and the arrival of the French ships Astrolabe and Boussole and their meeting with the ships of the British expedition was cordial and followed normal protocols. Lapérouse subsequently sent his journals and letters to Europe with
1419-605: Was carrying the Larcum Kendall K1 marine chronometer used by Captain James Cook on his second and third voyages around the world. She arrived in Botany Bay on 20 January 1788, two days after Supply , according to the journals of Hunter and First Lieutenant (later Rear Admiral) William Bradley The 252-day voyage had gone via Rio de Janeiro and the Cape of Good Hope and covered more than 15,000 miles (24,000 km). It
1462-535: Was fortified in 1885, according to a design by colonial architect, James Barnet (1827–1904), and fitted with heavy guns. In 1912 Bare Island became a retirement home for war veterans, which continued to operate until 1963, when it was handed over to the New South Wales Parks and Wildlife Service for use as a museum and tourist attraction. Apart from the fortification on Bare Island two other fortifications are located within La Perouse, one of them, Fort Banks
1505-465: Was honourably acquitted. He was appointed as Phillip's successor as Governor of New South Wales in February 1795, though he did not return to the colony until September. One of the sailors on Sirius , Jacob Nagle , wrote a first-hand account of the ship's last voyage, wreck, and the crew's stranding. With the settlement in New South Wales still on the brink of starvation, the loss of Sirius left
1548-567: Was interpreted for many years as relating to the East Indies trade; however, analysis of the maritime nomenclature of the time suggests that this description referred instead to ships participating in the Baltic trade. Berwick was likely built in 1780 by Christopher Watson and Co. of Rotherhithe , who also built another ship of the First Fleet, Prince of Wales . Berwick had a burthen of 511 83 ⁄ 94 tons (bm) and, after being burnt in
1591-404: Was moving the First Fleet around to Port Jackson after finding Botany Bay unsuitable for a Settlement, Lapérouse was sailing into Botany Bay, anchoring there just eight days after the British had. The British received Lapérouse courteously and offered him any assistance he might need. The French were far better provisioned than the British were, and extended the same courtesy but neither offer
1634-498: Was quickly decided that Botany Bay was unsuitable for a penal settlement and an alternative location was sought. While waiting to move, a large gale arose preventing any sailing; during this period the French expeditionary fleet of Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse arrived in Botany Bay. The colony was established at Sydney Cove in Port Jackson when Governor Phillip arrived on 26 January aboard Supply . Sirius arrived
1677-458: Was re-employed during World War II to defend the approaches to Botany Bay. During WWII, it was armed with two 18-pounder Mk IV field guns and two QF 3-pounder Hotchkiss guns. The underground bunker and tunnel complex consisted of vaulted ammunition storage rooms with double walls and ceilings, which were designed to stop them collapsing in the event of a direct hit. The remains of the fortifications can still be seen. This article about
1720-554: Was recommissioned for use during the second World War. La Perouse has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: The former La Perouse tram line branched from Oxford Street at Taylor Square in Darlinghurst to run south along Flinders Street, then into its own tram reservation along the eastern side of Anzac Parade beside Moore Park . It then proceeded down the centre of Anzac Parade through Maroubra Junction, and Malabar to its balloon loop terminus at La Perouse. At Malabar,
1763-744: Was renamed Sirius , after the southern star Sirius . Sirius sailed from The Motherbank, Ryde, Isle of Wight on 13 May 1787 as the flagship of the eleven-vessel First Fleet, under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip (Governor-designate of the new colony ). Phillip transferred to the Armed Tender HMS Supply at Cape Town , with Second Captain John Hunter remaining in command of Sirius . Also on board were Marine Major Robert Ross , who would be responsible for colony security and surgeons George Bouchier Worgan and Thomas Jamison . Midshipman Daniel Southwell recorded that Sirius
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1806-408: Was the octagonal stone tower constructed in 1820–22 as accommodation for a small guard of soldiers stationed there to prevent smuggling, and the tower still stands today. By 1885, an Aboriginal reserve had been established in the suburb and a number of missions were operated in the area. The original church was dismantled and moved to the corner of Elaroo and Adina Avenues, where it still stands. It
1849-428: Was wrecked on a reef at Norfolk Island while landing stores. Among those who witnessed the ship's demise from shore was Thomas Jamison , the surgeon for the penal settlement. Jamison would eventually become Surgeon-General of New South Wales. Sirius ' s crew was stranded on Norfolk Island until they were rescued on 21 February 1791. Hunter returned to England aboard Waaksamheyd where he faced court martial and
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