[Editor: This article about Foundation Day (Australia Day) was published in The Barrier Miner (Broken Hill, NSW), 26 January 1910.]
Foundation Day.
To-day is the anniversary of the day on which the first settlement of Australia was officially founded. On the 24th of January, 1788, Governor Phillip having examined Port Jackson and the adjacent land, went back to Botany Bay, where the fleet lay at anchor. On his return he found that the explorations which had been made of the shores of Botany Bay proved that place altogether unsuitable as a site for a settlement. He, therefore, ordered that the whole fleet should proceed to Port Jackson. It took two days to make the necessary arrangements, and remove the ships to the Sydney Cove. On the evening of the 26th of January, 1788, the Governor took formal possession of the country by hoisting the Union Jack on the headland now known as Dawes Point.
Thus, eighteen years after Cook landed on the shores of Botany Bay, the actual settlement of Australia began. It was on the 28th of April, 1770, that Cook landed. The place where he first set foot on the Australian Continent is definitely known, as Cook’s entries in his log are so exact and his bearings so distinctly given, that it is certain he first stepped ashore at 8 o’clock on that Saturday afternoon on the large rock under the shore end of the jetty shown in the picture. The monument was erected by the Hon. Thomas Holt. The land in the vicinity was given away in 1815, but in 1890 was bought back from the then holders, and dedicated to the public for all time under the name of “Captain Cook’s Landing-place.” The dedication ceremony was performed by Sir Frederick Darley, late Chief Justice and Lieutenant-Governor.
Every visitor to Sydney should visit this interesting and beautiful spot. It is only about seven or eight miles from Sydney, and may be reached either by the Botany tram or the railway to Rockdale and tram to Lady Robinson’s Beach — now known as Brighton. The visitor then has a trip across Botany Bay, the “Landing Place” being at Kurnell, on the further side of the bay. The trustees have built a cottage on the reserve, where accommodation for a limited number of visitors is supplied. Camping parties are allowed to use the reserve, and for their convenience fireplaces, firewood, and fresh water are available. Swings for children, summer houses, shelter sheds, and all those facilities for picnic parties which are so generously provided by the Government all around Sydney (with Broken Hill money) are available at Kurnell, so that it is altogether one of the most charming of Sydney’s many delightful picnic grounds.
Source:
The Barrier Miner (Broken Hill, NSW), 26 January 1910, p. 2
Editor’s notes:
Hon. = an abbreviation of “honourable”, especially used as a style to refer to government ministers, or as a courtesy to members of parliament (as a style, it is commonly capitalised, e.g. “the Hon. Member”)
Kurnell = a beachside suburb of Sydney (New South Wales), located to the south of the city; it was the first landing place in Australia of explorer James Cook
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