Waverley has a rich and diverse heritage, with people congregating along the coastline for thousands of years and making their mark on the local area. 

ABORIGINAL LAND

Waverley’s story begins with the traditional custodians of the land, the Bidjigal, Birrabiragal and Gadigal people who occupy the Sydney coast. Aboriginal occupation in Australia dates back over 60,000 years. At the time of First Contact in 1770, Aboriginal people had been living in the Sydney region for at least 20,000 years. These successive generations of people had lived through an ice age which significantly changed the coastline and form of Sydney Harbour. Much of the archaeological history that remains dates from about 5-6,000 years ago, as any older historical sites now sit underwater due to coastline changes. Gadigal land stretches from the south side of Port Jackson from South Head to Long Cove, and Gadigal people witnessed the arrival of the First Fleet in Sydney Cove in 1788.

The early years of the colony were mainly focused in the area around Warrane/Tank Stream, but there are reports of conflict between the Gadigal and the colonists at Pannerong/Rose Bay and of two convict rush cutters being killed by Aboriginal people in 1788. The smallpox epidemic of 1789 was devastating to the Gadigal. Contemporary reports indicate that there were only three survivors of the initial outbreak, and subsequent outbreaks ensured that the fragmentation and dispersion of the Gadigal and neighbouring groups continued. Gadigal land continued to be used by local and visiting Aboriginals into the early 1800s, for fishing, camping, and ceremonial activities.

Gradually colonial activity forced surviving Aboriginal groups to combine into new social groups, referred to as ‘tribes’ in early colonial historical documents. In the Greater Sydney area colonists referred to three tribes- Botany Bay, Georges River, and Sydney.

By the 1830s, many of the local Aboriginals who had survived colonial conflict and disease began moving south to the Illawarra and further afield. Of those who stayed, there is little historical documentation.

ABORIGINAL LEADERS

John Waterman wrote in his Recollections of Sydney (1923)

“I lived in Sydney twelve years, from 1841 to 1853. During this period I often saw the remnant of the Sydney Tribe of Aborigines. There were, say, in 1846, about eight of them, men and gins. King Bungarabee was the chief, and two others, Jacky Jacky and Rickety Dick…”

Rickety Dick (William Warral) become known by his nickname after becoming paralysed in his lower limbs. After he lost use of his legs, he camped near South Head Road, just beyond Rose Bay until his death in 1863. Campsites at Marevera/Ben Buckler were reported in the 1870s, as well as in Centennial Park and Double Bay. There was an influx of Aboriginal people moving back onto Gadigal land from this time, resulting in the establishment of an Aboriginal Reserve in 1894 at La Perouse.

Cora Gooseberry was a cousin of William Warrell, and one of the wives of Broken Bay man Bungaree and a senior woman of Coastal Sydney. She built strong relationships with colonial Sydneysiders, and was a source of knowledge on significant and sacred sites in the area.

In the late 1880s, corroborees were staged as entertainment on the lawns of the Bondi Royal Aquarium and Pleasure Grounds at Tamarama. Aboriginal people from all over the country were brought in for the performances, and were a regular feature of the social calendar.

SITES OF SIGNIFICANCE

Some significant Aboriginal history sites in Waverley include the rock carvings at the Bondi Golf Course, Ben Buckler Reserve and the coastal walk at Mackenzie's Point.

An article from the Sydney Morning Herald on March 9, 1996 reported that “Sydney sits astride a gigantic Aboriginal art gallery” and included a photograph of an Aboriginal engraving found under a garage floor in the Eastern Suburbs.

Other archaeological history includes the Bondi Points, named after Bondi Beach, because the Australian Museum first collected them from a large site at the northern end of the beach in 1899. First called 'chipped-back surgical knives' because they are shaped like a scalpel or penknife blade, the name 'Bondi' was given to them in 1943. Nowadays these kinds of tools, along with the remnants of an Aboriginal midden containing shellfish debris, and other stone implements and artefacts (grindstone, nose ornaments, scrapers, spear points, etc.) are buried under Queen Elizabeth Drive. Items which were saved from the site are on display at the Australian Museum, Sydney. 

More local stories and First Nations history can be found at Bondi Story Room.