At the time of European settlement the Canada Bay area was part of the traditional lands of the Wangal clan of Aboriginal people. The Wangal were a clan of the larger Darug language group or Aboriginal nation. Their lives were strongly focussed on the harbour and its foreshores, especially in food gathering.
Aboriginal people also hunted animals, harvested plants and gathered raw materials in the bushland fringing the harbour. The Hen & Chicken Bay area, along with Homebush Bay, was traditionally a major meeting place for Aboriginal people from Port Jackson and the wider Sydney region.
Before the arrival of white settlers, Cabarita Park was a typical rocky outcrop along the shores of the Parramatta River. Cabarita may have been derived from an Aboriginal word meaning ‘by the water’ or may have been derived from a place in Spain where Surveyor-General Mitchell worked under Wellington.
Correy’s Gardens Picnic Group
Cabarita Point was first sighted by the first European settlers in February 1788 – by Captain Hunter on his journey up the Parramatta River. The park was reserved as a recreation area in 1856, and first accessible by steamer in the 1850s.
Cabarita Terminus 1907
Early in its history the park was popular for picnics and watching boat races on the harbour. Part of the suburb was originally granted in 1795 to David Anderson, a private soldier in the NSW Corps. The grant was described as being at ‘Cabarita Point, at the upper part of the harbour’. Cabarita Park, a picnic area on Cabarita Point was known as Correy’s Gardens in the 1880s. This part of the river was the venue for early regattas, including the GPS schools ‘Head of the River’ before these races were moved to the Nepean River.
Cabarita Pool c1923
The park was dedicated for public use in 1880. Cabarita was linked to Burwood station by tram, and the park was popular with families for picnics. There was a segregated swimming pool, with one half for men and boys, the other for women and girls. Husbands and wives, as well as lovers, would lean on the dividing fence for a chat as the water swirled around their legs.
France Bay, Exile Bay and Canada Bay, adjacent to the park, commemorate a group of 58 French-Canadian exiles. After an 1838 rebellion in Canada these prisoners were sent to NSW and held in the Longbottom Stockade in Concord, at which time the 3 bays received these names. Cabarita Park was proclaimed a public park under the Public Parks Act 1912
I found this on Facebook and felt the need to share. A librarian somewhere has taken the time to arrange these books to bring us a very pertinent message. Simply brilliant!!! You need to read the titles from top left onwards
We all have some possessions, collected through the years; Some bring happy memories, others bring the tears. Not many from our childhood, we didn’t bother then, We were far too busy learning and counting up to ten. When maturity came through we started to collect. Some we threw away later, the special ones we kept….
The Longbottom Stockade was situated at the corner of Loftus Street (formerly Stockade Street) and Parramatta Road, in what was to become the Village of Longbottom (later Concord). “Longbottom” is a traditional English place name which derives from the old word “bottom”, once used in the north of England to describe low-lying, swampy alluvial ground….
A favourite pastime of residents is to walk along the waterfront to enjoy the peaceful vista. Not many of us know that between the “green lights” opposite the cove is a monument to one of Australia’s greatest rowing athletes, Henry Ernest Searle. Little is known of his childhood except that he came to Sydney when…
Mortlake was originally 30 hectares of land granted to John Miller, John Robertson and Benjamin Butcher in July 1795. This land was subsequently acquired by John Ward and then by his adopted heir, Alexander MacDonald. The area was originally called Bottle Point, the name used to designate the point at the head of the peninsula….
Harrow is a small town situated half-way between Melbourne and Adelaide, and the Johnny Mullagh story is a proud part of its history. The local museum features the history of Mullagh and his first XI cricket team, the first ever Australian sports team to tour the UK, and contains a life-size bronze statue of him….
