BOTANY BAY: Matthew Flinders & the Coastal Landforms of SE Australia

BAY 1: Botany Bay, NSW Tom Thumb voyage with George Bass Matthew Flinders undertook his first voyage of discovery with George Bass, with whom he had struck up a friendship on the way to Australia on the Reliance in 1795. At this time Bass was 24 and Flinders 21. They sailed out of Sydney Heads in the Tom Thumb, a boat of (keel) length 8 feet (2.5m) only one month after their arrival in Sydney. Along with Bass' general assistant (or servant), the boy William Martin, they reached Botany Bay (site of Captain Cook's landing in 1770) and managed to travel 20 miles (32 kms) further upstream along the Georges River than any previous explorer (presumably this included a considerable amount of walking). Martin also travelled with Bass and Flinders on the second Tom Thumb expedition to Lake Illawarra, and seems to have been a competent sailor. He is the youngest explorer of Australia's early colonial history. While exploring they took notes and sketched maps as well as they could. The first Tom Thumb adventure was over when the three adventurers returned to Sydney nine days after leaving. Their report to Governor Hunter encouraged settlement in the area of Banks Town, on the Georges River, two years later. 'Thus it was in the present case; so that a little boat of eight feet long, called Tom Thumb, with a crew composed of ourselves [Bass and Flinders] and a boy, was the best equipment to be procured for the first outset. In the month following the arrival of the ships, we proceeded round in this boat, to Botany Bay; and ascending George's River, one of two which falls into the bay, explored its winding course about twenty miles beyond where Governor Hunter's survey had been carried ... ' - Matthew Flinders inTerra Australis
Botany Bay, NSW Botany Bay opens to the sea through heads of sandstone (see photo right). These headlands contain national parks and important historical sites, including Captain Cook's landing place. Points of interest on the headlands with historical names include Endeavour Light, Cape Banks, Sutherland Point, Inscription Point and Cape Solander. The heads are of the same sandstone that runs north and south from Sydney along the central coast of NSW. During the glacial period the sea was lower; this depression contained a river (rather than a salt-water bay). Botany Bay is a moderately large coastal indentation not far south of Sydney Harbour. It is quite similar to Port Phillip Bay, Victoria (but not as large). The Georges River drains into the bay. As a low coastal area Botany Bay is subject to silting, and with time can be expected to become shallower. During the end of the recent glacial it was invaded by the rising sea. Botany Bay contains important wetland habitats. Around the inner shores of the bay are sandy shores and mud flats. Some of the tidal areas on the bay's southern side form aquatic reserves. Behind these are residential suburbs of Sydney. Much of the shore has been modified for industrial and transportation purposes. Shipping facilities and Sydney Airport runways are located on reclaimed land that projects into original parts of the bay.	Photo 1: Heads of Botany Bay (north: left, south: right) Botany Bay - a short distance south of Sydney Photo 2: Port Botany, Botany Bay, northern side of bay Photo 3 (above): Botany Bay National Park sign, oil pipeline and wharf Photos 3 & 4 show environmental contradictions, Kurnell, Botany Bay Photo 4 (below): Oil tanker and Cook's Landing Place, Botany Bay NP
Kurnell, Captain Cook's Landing Place Pointing to a spot on the rock platform, the sign indicates the landing place of Captain Cook of the Endeavour, 28 April, 1770. Many monuments, memorials and plaques are concentrated in a small area here. These include ones devoted to Sir Joseph Banks, chief scientist of the Cook expedition, and the grave of Forby Sutherland, the first British subject to die in Australia, shortly after Cook's landing. Cook's Well There is also information noting that Cook's men collected water from a stream and wells in the sand nearby (photo below, right). As sand is porous it contains spaces through which water can pass, thereby permitting water to soak into a dug hole (i.e. a well). Even quite near to salt water, fresh water may be found by digging into the back portion of a beach or dune. Near the coast, fresh water beneath the water table seeps from a higher (inland) level to a lower level (at sea level), where it then seeps into the sea. It was fortunate that the landing place had a place to collect water, as sailing ships, with limited storage space below deck, had to periodically visit land to top up water supplies. [ Note: It is interesting to consider how this water was stored in the ship.]	The natives resolutely disputed the landing,'although they were but two and we were thirty or forty at least'. Parlying with these two continued for about a quarter of an hour, 'they remained resolute, so a musket was fired over them ... ' - Journal of Captain James Cook, 28 April, 1770 Photo 5: Captain Cook's 1770 Landing Place Photo 6: Cook's stream, near the 1770 Landing Place
La Perouse: location and history Examine the photos (right) of the La Perouse Museum, Monument, and environs. Note the Norfolk Island pine on left of photo; these trees add considerably to the character of much of coastal NSW. This area, part of the suburb named La Perouse, is found on the northern side of Botany Bay. Like Kurnell, on the southern side of the Bay, this area is very rich in history. Many monuments and plaques mark indigenous and European contributions to the area and to the wider society. This vicinity makes particular emphasis of the work of French maritime explorer, La Perouse. French sailors visiting Sydney since have paid tribute to his memory, adding plaques to this monument. The La Perouse expedition visited Botany Bay shortly after the First Fleet's arrival in 1788 (and some seven years prior to Flinders' first arrival in Sydney in 1795). Father Receveur, the expedition's priest and scientist, died at this time. Thus his is the oldest known and marked burial place of a European in eastern Australia, as well as the oldest marked grave of a chaplain, a French citizen, and a scientist in Australia. Visiting French sailors traditionally add wreaths to Receveur's grave (see photo and text right). Upon sailing out of Botany Bay, the La Perouse expedition vanished from history. The museum is dedicated to the mystery of this expedition, offering various suggestions regarding its fate.	Norfolk Island pine on left of photo Photo 7: La Perouse Museum (left), Monument (right) Photo 8: La Perouse Monument Left: in English, Right: in French Photo 9: Features at La Perouse Left: Snake Pit, Right: Receveur's Grave CLAUDE-FRANCOIS-JOSEPH RECEVEUR Born April 25th, 1757, Noel-Cerneux, France Died February 17th, 1788, Botany Bay, Australia Receveur's Grave states in Latin: Here lies L. Reçeveur French Priest of Friars Minor, Scientist in the Voyage Around the World under the leadership of de Lapérouse, died February 17th, 1788.
Adjacent to this site, near the small sandstone tower, present day aboriginal people gather. They produce craft items for sale. For many years there has been a 'snake pit' nearby, with snake handlers running public displays of venemous reptiles. The snake pit has been decorated with aboriginal motifs.
Botany Bay has a significant maritime history. By the time Matthew Flinders (age 21) and George Bass (age 24) arrived in Sydney in 1795, Botany Bay had been visited by Captains Cook, Phillip (with the First Fleet), La Perouse, and others. However, while the shores were somewhat familiar, little was known about the Georges River which flowed into the southwestern part of the bay. Interestingly, Botany Bay was intended as the site of the establishment of the British colony at New South Wales, based upon the strength of reports by Cook and others on the 1770 Endeavour expedition. However, when the first fleet arrived early in 1788 it appeared unsuitable. After several days the fleet sailed north to Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour) and settled at Sydney Cove. Thus, although the settlement was not at Botany Bay, people in Britain often referred to the infant settlement at Sydney as 'Botany Bay'. A number of Australian and British songs of the convict era also mentioned Botany Bay as the destination of many who broke the law. A famous reference to Botany Bay is the moving poem, Old Botany Bay, by Mary Gilmore (1865-1962). You may wish to look this up (in a book or on the Internet). The modern city of Sydney, the capital of NSW and largest city of Australia, has since expanded well beyond its original site of Sydney Cove. It has grown beyond Botany Bay to Port Hacking in the south, to Broken Bay in the north, to the coast in the east, and to the foot of the Blue Mountains in the west.

BAY 2: Port Hacking, NSW Tom Thumb II voyage with George Bass Matthew Flinders undertook his second voyage of expedition with George Bass in March 1796, in the second Tom Thumb. William Martin also shared this adventure with them. This trip by sailing out of Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour) into the open sea in their tiny boat, a prospect that would frighten many sailors of today. A current then carried their boat southwards, much further than expected. They ran short of water and their equipment became wet while approaching shore. The encounter with aborigines at Lake Illawarra was not without risk, but with some good humour and quick thinking, they escaped from a potentially dangerous situation. While Flinders distracted the men by cutting their hair and beards with his scissors, Bass dried out their wet provisions, including the gun powder. They then headed through the channel to the sea as rapidly as their vessel could carry them. Upon their return northwards from Lake Illawarra in Tom Thumb II, a violent storm at night almost destroyed the open boat and its crew of three, but luck permitted them to ride to shelter in one of the few safe places along the rugged coast, Wattamolla Beach (Providential Cove). The next day they explored the beach there, and then sailed north to their intended destination, Port Hacking, taking soundings at the entrance. Tom Thumb arrived back at Port Jackson seven days after leaving. Flinders mentions his association with George Bass very positively. Together, they formed an impressive exploration team ... (see following)
'In Mr George Bass, surgeon of the Reliance, I had the happiness to find a man whose ardour for discovery was not to be repressed by any obstacle, nor deterred by danger; and with this friend a determination was formed of completing the examination of the east coast of New South Wales, by all such opportunities as the duty of the ship and procurable means could admit.' - Matthew Flinders in Terra Australis	Photo 10: Bass and Flinders Point, northern side of Port Hacking (looking northwards, in the direction of Sydney - the distant cliff is Point Solander)
Port Hacking, NSW The area is made up of the sandstones that outcrop frequently in the Sydney region. The port, because of its sheltered nature, is protected from the high energy waves that strike the shore along the exposed coastline outside. Thus, while platforms and cliffs are present, they are not as strongly developed as elsewhere along the Sydney coast. The sandstone mass of the coastal area was gently pushed up to form a plateau of several hundred metreselevation some millions of years ago. Erosion by a small river carved a gorge into the plateau at this site, cutting down to the lower sea level of the glacial era. As sea level rose after the glacial, the valley became a bay. In general, the soils developed on sandstone are of low fertility. However, they are able to support a considerable variety of native vegetation that has developed upon them.	Photo 11: Port Hacking, looking inland, viewed from northern side
		Fire and landscape change An interesting point is the identification of fire as one of the processes involved in landform change in sandstone areas of the Sydney Basin. Fire kills grass, exposing soil to removal by rain. Fire passing over an area also heats rock, causing fragments to flake off the surface. Less frequently, but also importantly, tree trunks smoulder on the ground for several days, causing a deeper weakening of the rock below. Photo 12: Soil and rock on sandstone, exposed after fire (Photo taken at Penrith, NSW)
Royal National Park On the southern side of Port Hacking, next to the village of Bundeena, are the beaches and forested slopes of Royal National Park (see photo below). This national park was the first such protected area in Australia, and only the second such area in the world. In hot, dry periods fire is a risk within the eucalypt forests of the Sydney region.
Exploring Port Hacking ... 'Was employed in the examination of the port ... The shores of the port are mostly rocky; particularly on the north side; but there is no want of grass or wood ... streams which descend, apparently from the inland mountains, into the uppermost branch ... After sounding the entrance of Port Hacking in going out, and finding 3 1/2 fathoms of water, we steered NE by E for Cape Solander ... ' - Matthew Flinders in Terra Australis, 1 Apr 1796	Photo 13: Memorials at Bass and Flinders Point, Port Hacking, NSW