A Brief History
Waverley's Emblem & Waverley's Seal, also see Local Studies
Pre-Contact:
There is clear evidence - in the form of significant Aboriginal rock carvings in particular - that Aboriginal people occupied sites in the area now known as Waverley in the period before European settlement. An important type of tool was first found in the region and is still known as the Bondi point.
The indigenous people of the area at the time of European settlement have generally been referred to as the Sydney people or the Eora (Eora means "the people"). One theory describes the Eora as a sub-group of the Darug language group which occupied the Cumberland Plain west to the Blue Mountains. However, another theory suggests that they were a distinct language group of their own.
There is no clear evidence for the name or names of the particular band(s) of the Eora that roamed what is now the Waverley area. Most sources agree on the Cadigal but there are sources which name the Biddigal and Birrabirragal bands as well.
A number of place names within Waverley - most famously Bondi - have been based on words derived from Aboriginal languages of the Sydney region.
Waverley Library has a good collection of works on the Aboriginal people of Sydney and pre-contact history. There is also a file in the Local History section on the subject of the Aboriginal history of the Waverley area which goes into more detail on the topic than can be addressed here. For a general overview see Aboriginal history of the Waverley area: a discussion paper.
Post-Contact:
Captain Cook would have seen the foreshores of what we now call the Municipality of Waverley when, after anchoring his ship in Botany Bay, he went exploring in a small boat around the coast to Port Jackson, known to most people these days as Sydney Harbour.
Waverley was the second Sydney suburb to become a municipality. This happened on June 13, 1859, when Sir William Denison, who was the Governor-General and also the Governor-in-Chief of the Colony of New South Wales, proclaimed the establishment of "The Municipality of Waverley".
Sir William agreed to do this after he had received a petition asking him to, signed by 70 people who lived in what were then three country areas named Waverley, Bondi and Little Coogee.
The first land grant in Waverley was made 50 years before it was made a Municipality when Governor Bligh gave 81 hectares to a Mr. William Roberts. That piece of land covered what is now most of the business and residential area of Bondi Beach.
At one of its earliest meetings, in December, 1859, the new Waverley Council divided the Municipality into three wards (or sections), and named them Bondi, Waverley and Nelson. Later a fourth ward was added and called Lawson. Now those wards are named Bondi, Waverley, Hunter and Lawson.
Hunter covers North Bondi and Dover Heights, Bondi of course covers Bondi Beach and the residential area behind it, Waverley covers Waverley and Lawson covers Bondi Junction down to Bronte Beach.
Like most newly settled areas, Waverley grew along with the development of public transport. For instance, in modern times, Bondi Junction became a bigger and more important commercial area after the eastern suburbs railway to the Bondi Junction terminal was completed in 1979.
Indigenous History:
A good introduction to indigenous history in Sydney can be found at www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/barani. Barani is an Aboriginal word from the Eora people meaning "yesterday".
