LAPEROUSE

Twenty-two students and their teacher from the Lycée Condorcet  (French School)  in Maroubra celebrated the end of the school term with a visit to La Perouse. The Laperouse story, in the Museum,  has been compressed into less than a quarter of the space that it occupied when the collection was gifted to Australia by the French Government in 1988.  Major items like the Receveur Tree Stump are no longer in the Museum but have been returned to France.  John Winch’s tapestry (seen in background during visit of school from Villers-Bretonneux )  which marked the entry to the Museum has been moved upstairs to a room now available for hire for ‘conferences’.  Stencilling, sympathetic to the architectural period of the Museum and to the Laperouse story (such as in this photograph ) has now been painted over.

The students today were very interested in the remaining items and replicas from the wreck of l’Astrolabe.  The Wrecks Room, seen in this photograph , has been dismantled and some of the items from the room are now located in the two rooms which contain remnants of the original exhibition. The students lay on the floor of the former Wrecks Room so they could look at the specially commissioned mural (link to artist)  and imagine the last glimpses experienced by officers, scientists and crew of l’Astrolabe.

Students at the Laperouse Monument.  The monument was commissioned by Hyacinthe de Bougainville on his visit to Sydney in 1825 (the new storyboard in the Museum records this as 1824, the year of Louis Duperry’s visit)

Link to further information of the Wrecks Room

In 1994 Bob Carr listed Congwong Beach to Henry Head as one of his top “Foot Paths” .  He had this to say:

For another exploration of a landmark site head for La Perouse.  Visit the La Perouse Museum, a bicentennial gift to Australia managed by the NP&WS.  It’s open from 10 am to 4.30 pm, seven days a week. There is a marvellous walk that provides grand views over the entrance to Botany Bay. You reach it by crossing Congwong Beach, turning left at the end of the beach and starting on a track that takes you through eucalypt woodland, up behind Little Congwong Beach and then even higher above Botany Bay to some old gun placements at Henry Head. I recommend you then retrace your steps. But, before you do, stand there and imagine Cook, La Perouse or the First Fleet limping into this bay and the first Australians standing on these cliffs and beaches watching in anger and bewilderment.

FULL ARTICLE  -  Walks On The Mild Side, Sydney Morning Herald, 27/10/1994* - Bob Carr
Walk for a day in a national park near Sydney and you’ll clear your head and arteries. For a day, you’ll become part of the ancient character of this continent. The appeal of bushwalking is the appeal of propelling yourself, under your own steam, through changing landscapes - say, from coastal heath through to dry forest woodland. Or into a rainforest pocket beneath a sandstone cliff and up onto an alpine plateau. And, if it’s wilderness or near-wilderness, you will emerge with a sense of what the continent was like for those hardiest of all walkers, the Australian Aborigines, who had the continent to themselves for 40,000 years. European Australians began acknowledging the beauty of Australia’s mountains, coasts and forests at about the turn of the century. This change was reflected in the paintings of the Heidelberg school and

(* Bob Carr became Premier of NSW in March 1995) (more…)

To celebrate International National Parks Day some of the Little Bay cubs gave up sport for the day and joined their parents and leader for a walk in Botany Bay National Park at La Perouse. The highlights of the day were the sighting of a very well camouflaged Eastern Water Dragon and a grove of Patersonia. Other plants of interest included the Lasiopetalum ferrugineum,

“Pink Five Corners” Styphelia triflora

and cone and flower of Isopogon anethifolius not listed on Park Species list. Nearby a number of specimens of Petrophile pulchella

Elsewhere in the Park and down on the beach Kensington Cubs did a clean up of rubbish and weeds under the supervision of local Field Officer Steve Chapple.  Link to walk September 2008 for further plant species.

To celebrate the 800th Anniversary of the founding of the Franciscan order members of the Franciscan parish of Deeragun, Townsville, are conducting a pilgrimage to important Catholic sites in Sydney. The leaders of the group are Franciscan Friar Giles Setter and Mary-Ellen Pattinson. Mary-Ellen is an Education Consultant for the Townsville Catholic Education Office and is interested in including the Receveur story in the curriculum. When the group arrived today they immediately headed for the La Perouse headland to pay their respects at Receveur’s Grave. The group will be leaving on Sunday. The Receveur Grave is a very important site for Catholics and particularly Franciscans, because it is on the La Perouse headland that the first Christian services, Roman Catholic Masses, were celebrated in colonial Australia. The first burial mass in Australia was for Receveur. It was performed by fellow chaplain and noted physicist and geologist on the Laperouse expedition, Abbé Jean-Andre Mongez. Each year St Andrew’s Catholic Church at Malabar hosts the Pere Receveur Mass. See details for 2009.

The Headland is now regarded as a site of major significance for catholic pilgrims from around the world as evidenced by the high visitations to the site. In 2008 it attracted pilgrims visiting Sydney for World Youth Day.

The group pictured at the Laperouse Monument and graveside with Fr Paul Ghanem, from Waverley OFM. More details on Receveur.

Just a few of the species to be observed in the area between the Lookout (south of Grose Street) and the golf course road near the Happy Valley Bridge:

(Left-Right) Leucopogon ericoides - small flower distinguised by white hairs; Hardenbergia violacea - Native violet; Glossodia major - Orchid (not on species list for the Park);Drosera peltata - Sundew; Bossiaea scolopendria. Look out for      Chloanthes stoechadis which has regenerated after being cut out three years ago (Photo of current regrowth and when in flower). Look forward to flowering in the future. Link to Species List of La Perouse Link to Spring walk 2008

The Sky’s the Limit! An evening lecture and star-gazing

6 pm – 9 pm Saturday 22 August

Come stargazing in the Gardens to celebrate Galileo’s contribution to astronomy and Darwin’s 200^th birthday. Join well-known astronomer Prof. Fred Watson (more…)

Presented by: Friends of the Laperouse Museum Hyacinthe de Bougainville visited Sydney in 1825 and stayed for around three months. Some say he was a spy, others attest to an affair with a married woman. The most tangible reminder of the Bougainville sojourn are his diaries and the Laperouse Monument and Receveur Tomb. A short walk around these landmarks as well as Australia’s first Customs Station will be followed with refreshments on the verandah of the Laperouse Museum.

The De Bougainville is currently being used to dredge part of Botany Bay.

Where: La Perouse Headland, Botany Bay National Park Anzac Parade La Perouse 2036

Cost: Free. Bookings essential. Phone: 0409 698 321 Email: laperouse@bigpond.com

Photographs: On the Walk and At Morning Tea on the Verandah

A new survey into who visits national parks and what they like to do has highlighted the importance of the state’s park system to communities and local economies, reporting 38 million visits to NSW national parks in 2008.The study was the first of its kind undertaken in NSW and involved more than 15,700 telephone surveys.   Read the full report (NationalParkVisitsNSW.pdf - 1.89MB).

Survey results showed the five most popular national parks were Blue Mountains, Royal, Ku-ring-gai Chase, Lane Cove and Kosciusko.

Sydney, the most populous National Parks region fared below the Blue Mountains, Sydney South, Sydney North, Central Coast and Hunter,South Coast, Northern Rivers.

Sydney Region includes the northern section of Botany Bay at La Perouse (including Congwong and Little Congwong beaches and the historic La Perouse headland), Wolli Creek, Sydney Harbour beaches and islands as well as western Sydney parks such as Leacock, Mulgoa, Scheyville, Bents Basin, Kemps Creek, Cattai, Rouse Hill, Windsor Downs.  While over 20% of the population of NSW live in the Sydney Region catchment the Parks in this region attract less than 7% of the visits. By contrast Lane Cove and Kuring-gai, in the Northern Region are two of the most popular parks. These parks offer well supported volunteering opportunities are responsive to visitor and local community needs and conduct plenty of reasonably priced events to suit families.

Bushwalking was the most popular activity in all our parks  - 54%, followed by water sports 17% (including swimming & surfing 10%; fishing 4%) and picnicking came in around 14%.

Males 25-49 were the most represented users at 53% (population = 49%) while females 18-24 and 50+ and couples over 35 with children were least likely to visit. 

Randwick City Council has commenced the remediation of the Frenchmans Bay Landfill Site. This project is the a result of ongoing community consultations, in particular with the Aboriginal Land Council. The project includes:

remediation of Lot 29 Murrong Place to residential standard; reshaping and capping all other areas to recreational land standard; stabilise and revegetate the sand dunes along Frenchmans Bay; link the coastal walkway from the bush tucker track to Endeavour Avenue with a concrete pathway; installation of park benches to take advantage of the views; plant the entire area with low growing shrubs and; formalise the existing beach access track.

The total cost of this project is cost $1.7million, and Council anticipates that it will be completed by 30 June 2009.

For Plan -  Frenchman’s Bay remediation plan. (PDF 420KB)

The Sydney Coastal Councils Group was established in 1989 to promote co-ordination between member councils on environmental and natural resource management issues relating to the sustainable management of the urban coastal environment.

The Group consists of 15 councils adjacent to Sydney marine and estuarine environments and associated waterways (Botany Bay, Hornsby, Leichhardt, Manly, Mosman, North Sydney, Pittwater, Randwick, Rockdale, Sutherland, City of Sydney, Warringah, Waverley, Willoughby and Woollahra). The Group represents over 1.3 million Sydneysiders. This area encompasses the waterways of Broken Bay; Pittwater; Port Jackson, the lower Lane Cove River, Middle and North Harbour; Botany Bay, the Lower Georges and Cooks River; and Port Hacking.  Further information at: http://www.sydneycoastalcouncils.com.au/

On 20th February, 2009,  Craig Morrison, Irene and Bruce Thom, and Geoff Withycombe came to inspect the Coastal Walk  between Prince Henry and Cape Banks.  Observed during the walk (far right) - making moulds to produce fake rocks. 

The Coastal Walk from Clovelly to Cronulla was launched in March 2008.  There are issues of access associated with stretches around the south eastern golf courses, from Yarra Bay to Sir Joseph Banks Park, and around Sydney Airport.  In addition pathways need to be clearly marked, basic facilities should be made available (example toilets need to be open at Cape Banks), static interpretation should be provided for major heritage items, and supporting material available from the major public landholders such as National Parks, Councils and Department of Lands.

Further information about the Coastal Walk at:  http://www.walkingcoastalsydney.com.au/