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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.
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.
POSITION:
Waverley Municipality is situated on the Pacific Ocean about 6.5km east
of Sydney's central business area. It has three boundaries, one along
the Pacific Ocean, another along its boundary with the Municipality of
Woollahra and the third along the boundary with the Municipality of
Randwick. Along the ocean boundary are Waverley's three most famous
beaches, Bondi, Tamarama and Bronte.
TOPOGRAPHY:
The total area of Waverley is 890 hectares and if you could have seen it
before all the houses were built, you would have noticed that most of it
was flat, low lying sand with slopes of sand and rock. Fortunately,
there is also rock underneath the sand, or it would be very difficult to
erect large buildings. The coastline is mostly very rugged and rises as
high as 61 metres above the ocean in some places and is as low as 4.5
metres in the Bondi Beach area.
VEGETATION:
Because of the sandy soil covering most of Waverley, there were very few
big trees when the first settlers arrived to live in the area. Coastal
scrub and poor grass made up the natural vegetation and only the
hardiest of shrubs could survive. But now many imported shrubs grow very
well with careful attention and there are many attractive parks and
gardens. See also
the "Aboriginal History of the Waverley Area" in the Items
of Historical Interest within this site. |
