Botany Bay

Botany Bay
Sting Ray Harbour; Botanist Bay[citation needed]
an open oceanic embayment
Aerial photo of Sydney showing Botany Bay in the foreground.
Name origin: great quantity of plants
Country	Australia
State	New South Wales
Region	Greater Metropolitan Sydney
Municipalities	Botany Bay, Randwick, Rockdale, Sutherland
Primary source	Georges River
- location	Taren Point
- coordinates	34°0′35.994″S 151°7′47.6394″E
Secondary source	Cooks River
- location	Kyeemagh
- coordinates	33°56′57″S 151°10′06″E
Mouth	Tasman Sea
- location	Kurnell
- coordinates	33°59′52.7994″S 151°13′58.8″E
Length	10 km (6 mi)
Depth	11.4 m (37 ft)
Volume	440,815.8 m3 (15,567,263 cu ft)
Basin	54.9 km2 (21 sq mi)
Area	39.6 km2 (15 sq mi)
Website: NSW Environment & Heritage webpage

For other uses, see Botany Bay (disambiguation).

Botany Bay, an open oceanic embayment, is located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) south of the Sydney central business district. Botany Bay has its source in the confluence of the Georges River at Taren Point and the Cooks River at Kyeemagh and flows 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) to the east before meeting its mouth, the Tasman Sea, midpoint between La Perouse and Kurnell.

The total catchment area of the bay is approximately 55 square kilometres (21 sq mi) and the area surrounding the bay is generally managed by Roads and Maritime Services.

Despite its relative shallowness, the bay serves as greater metropolitan Sydney's main cargo seaport, located at Port Botany, with facilities managed by Sydney Ports Corporation. Two runways of Sydney Airport extend into the bay. Botany Bay National Park is located on the northern and southern headlands of the bay.

On 29 April 1770, Botany Bay was the site of James Cook's first landing of HMS Endeavour on the continent of Australia, after his extensive navigation of New Zealand. Later the British planned Botany Bay as the site for a penal colony. Out of these plans came the first European habitation of Australia at Sydney Cove.

The land adjacent to Botany Bay was occupied for many thousands of years by the Tharawal and Eora Aboriginal peoples and their associated clans. They used the bay as an important source of food and a place for trade.

History

Aboriginal history

Archaeological evidence from the shores of Botany Bay has yielded evidence of Aboriginal settlement dating back 5,000 years. The Aboriginal people of Sydney were known as the Eora with sub-groups derived from the languages they spoke. The people living between the Cooks River and the Georges River were the Bidjigal clan; on the southern shores of the bay were the Gweagal clan; while on the northern shore it was the Kameygal clan.

European history

Isaac Smith became the first European to set foot on eastern Australian soil, Cook telling him "Jump out, Isaac" as the ship's boat touched the shore at Botany Bay.

Captain James Cook first landed at Kurnell, on the southern banks of Botany Bay, on Saturday 29 April 1770, when navigating his way around Australia on his ship, HMS Endeavour. Cook's landing marked the beginning of Britain's interest in Australia and in the eventual colonisation of this new ‘southern continent’. Initially the name Sting Ray Harbour was used by Cook and other journal keepers on his expedition, for the stingrays they caught. That name was also recorded on an Admiralty chart. Cook's log for 6 May 1770 records "The great quantity of these sort of fish found in this place occasioned my giving it the name of Stingrays Harbour". However, in his journal (prepared later from his log), he changed to "The great quantity of plants Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander found in this place occasioned my giving it the name of Botany Bay". Initially the name Botanist Bay was also sometimes used.^{[citation needed]}

Governor Arthur Phillip sailed the armed tender HMS Supply into the bay on 18 January 1788. Two days later the remaining ships of the First Fleet arrived to found the planned penal colony. Finding that the sandy infertile soil of the site in fact rendered it most unsuitable for settlement,^{[citation needed]} Phillip decided instead to move to the excellent natural harbour of Port Jackson to the north.

On the morning of 24 January the French exploratory expedition of Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse was seen outside Botany Bay. On 26 January, the Supply left the bay to move up to Port Jackson. It anchored in Sydney Cove and the British Flag "Queen Anne" was hoisted on shore. On the afternoon of 26 January, the remaining ships of First Fleet arrived at Sydney Cove.

In 1789, Captain John Hunter surveyed Botany Bay after returning from the Cape of Good Hope, trading for grain. The good supply of fresh water in the area led to the expansion of its population in the 19th century.

Landmarks

Monument at La Perouse.

Sydney Airport, Australia's busiest airport, sits on northwestern side of Botany Bay. Land was reclaimed from the bay to extend its first north-south runway and build a second one parallel to it. On 30 November 1961 an incident occurred involving Ansett-ANA Flight 325, a Vickers Viscount aircraft, that crashed into Botany Bay nine minutes after taking off from Sydney Airport. All fifteen people on board died in the accident. The wreckage was recovered from the bay by Police and Navy clearance divers and HMAS Kimbla.

The first container terminal at Port Botany, to the east of the airport, was completed during the 1970s, and is the largest container terminal in Sydney. A second container terminal was completed during the 1980s and bulk liquid storage facilities are located on the northern and southern edge of the bay. A third container terminal was completed in 2011 and is scheduled to be operational during 2013.

The land around the headlands of the bay is protected by the National Parks and Wildlife Service as Botany Bay National Park. On the northern side of the mouth of the bay is the historic site of La Perouse, and to the south is Kurnell. Despite its relative isolation, the southern shore of the bay is dominated by an unusual mixture of pristine national park and heavy industrial use that includes Kurnell Desalination Plant, the Caltex Oil Refinery, sewer treatment, and historical sand mining facilities. On the southern side of the bay, a section of water has been fenced off under the authority of the National Parks and Wildlife Service at Towra Point for environmental conservation purposes.

The western shores of the bay feature many popular swimming beaches including Brighton-Le-Sands and is highly urbanised.

Marine life

Botany Bay has a diverse marine population, and the area around its entrance is a popular area for scuba diving. In recent times, the Botany Bay Watch Project has begun with volunteers assisting to monitor and protect the Bay Catchment and its unique marine life.

The world's largest population of weedy sea dragon ever surveyed is found at the 'Steps' dive site, on the Kurnell side of the Botany Bay National Park. Weedy sea dragons are just one of hundreds of territorial marine creatures found within Botany Bay. The eastern blue grouper is the state fish of New South Wales; and are commonly found following divers along the shore line of Botany Bay.

Popular culture

• Despite the move to Sydney Cove, for many years the Australian penal colony would be referred to as "Botany Bay" in England - and in convict ballads such as Ireland's "The Fields of Athenry".
• A song named "Botany Bay" was performed in the 1890s, based on older tunes.
• A song entitled "The Shores of Botany Bay" was written by Brian Warfield and recorded by The Wolfe Tones in the early 1970s. This satirical song deals with a group of Irishmen volunteering for the transportation process in the hopes of finding wealth in Australia.
• In the 1941 historical novel Botany Bay by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall, the protagonist, after various adventures and misadventures in England, gets transported to Botany Bay. A movie based on the book starring Alan Ladd and James Mason was shot in 1953.
• In the Star Trek universe, the SS Botany Bay is the sleeper ship that Khan Noonien Singh and his genetically modified followers are discovered on by Captain James T. Kirk and crew (the name was retained from an earlier draft of the script, when the ship was a prisoner transport).
• In the Stargate SG-1 episode "Prisoners", Daniel Jackson compares the British planned use of Botany Bay to the prison planet SG-1 is sent.
• The song "Jim Jones at Botany Bay" (aka "Jim Jones") is about a prisoner who is going to Botany Bay. The song has been recorded several times, including a well-known version by Bob Dylan.
• In the book Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, Abel Magwitch refers to returning to England from Botany Bay.
• In the musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street by Stephen Sondheim it is mentioned that Sweeney was sent to Botany Bay by Judge Turpin 15 years prior to the events in the musical.
• In the Paul and Storm song "The Captain's Wife's Lament", the Captain's Wife's cries could be heard "from here to Botany Bay"
• In The Three Musketeers, Alexandre Dumas refers to Botany Bay as the character Milady sits and ponders her captivity. "it is d'Artagnan who holds her prisoner and is about to send her to some filthy Botany Bay"
• In the MMORPG RuneScape Botany Bay is an area in the game designed to show accounts caught using illegal macros (or "bots") being punished.
• In the 'The Water Babies' film Masterman threatens to send Tom to Botany Bay.

Gallery

• 

  The mouth of Botany Bay as it meets the Tasman Sea, as viewed from the air, above Kurnell.

• 

  The mouth of Botany Bay from the air.

• 

  Botany Bay, view from Kurnell.

• 

  Black-eyed Sue and Sweet Poll of Plymouth, England mourning their lovers who are soon to be transported to Botany Bay, 1792.

• 

  Bicentennial Monument at Brighton-Le-Sands.

Bibliography

• Tench, Watkin (2006). Anacharsis, ed. Le texte fondateur de l'Australie, récit de voyage d'un capitaine de la First Fleet durant l'Expédition à Botany Bay (in French). p. 320. ISBN 2-914777-30-2. 
• Forster, George (2008). Allgemeines historisches Taschenbuch, oder, Abriss der merkwuridgsten neuen Welt Begebenheiten enthaltend fur 1787 [Neuholland und die brittische Colonie in Botany-Bay/New Holland and the British colony at Botany Bay] (in German). Canberra: National Library of Australia. 
• Expédition à Botany Bay, La fondation de l'Australie coloniale (in French). 

External links

• NSW Environment & Heritage webpage