Botany Bay National Park

Before the end of April 1770, the English bark (also spelled "barque") Endeavour anchored at a bay in terra australis, the Great Southern Land, and Captain James Cook and his crew came ashore.

Later, in a voyage father north as he mapped the coast, he was to claim the continent for England, calling it New South Wales.

• The date of Captain Cook's landing is recorded as having occurred on April 29, 1770. The plaque on the Captain Cook monument at Botany Bay National Park has April 28, 1770, as the date of this landing. This difference in dates may be due to the use of nautical, as opposed to civil, dates at the time of Captain Cook's voyage.

South of Sydney city centre

Captain Cook's first landing place in Australia is in Botany Bay. The site is now part of the Botany Bay National Park, about 15 kilometres south of the Sydney city centre.

La Perouse and Kurnell

The national park is in two parts separated by the bay, the nothern part in the suburb of La Perouse, the southern part in Kurnell close to the Cronulla beaches. The park straddles both of the bay's headlands.

Cook's landing place is in Kurnell, while La Perouse marks the site of French explorer Comte de Lapérouse's landing place in Botany Bay in early 1788, just days after Captain Arthur Phillip landed in Sydney Cove to establish the first British settlement in Australia.

Face to face with Aborigines

Botany Bay is where the English explorers were recorded as first coming face to face with the continent's original inhabitants, the Australian Aborigines. "All they seemed to want was for us to be gone," wrote Captain Cook.

Picnic and leisure site

Botany Bay National Park, at less than 450 hectares, is considerably smaller in relation to other New South Wales national parks such as the Royal National Park just south of it across Port Hacking.

While an entry fee is charged for vehicles entering the Kurnell section of the Botany Bay national park, entry is free to the Le Perouse section.

Aside from its historical importance, the park is an intimate, less-crowded, family-oriented picnic and leisure site with 15-minute to 2.5-hour walking tracks, rated from easy to medium difficulty.

Insight into history

An insight into the stories of exploration and colonisation is to be gleaned at the Lapérouse Museum in the north and the Discovery Centre in the south.

Water activities

Fishing is allowed in the park (but you do need a fishing licence) and there are good spots for snorkeling and scuba-diving. Hand spears and spear guns are not permitted.

Whale watching

The Kurnell section of the park is particularly popular in the whale migration season with good viewing vantage points at Cape Solander.

Bring a picnic hamper

There is no kiosk in the park so if going on a picnic, pack a picnic hamper.

Getting there

If driving from the city centre to La Perouse, get on Southern Cross Dr all the way to Eastlakes, exit into Wentworth Ave which later becomes Bunnerong Rd. Bunnerong Rd then joins Anzac Pde which ends in La Perouse.

An alternative but pretty straightforward (although slower) route is to take Oxford St up to Taylor Square just past Bourke St, then turning right into Flinders St which becomes Anzac Pde after crossing South Dowling St. Follow Anzac Pde all the way to La Perouse.

To get to Kurnell, take the Princes Highway and take the left fork into Rocky Point Rd just past Kogarah. Rocky Point Rd becomes Taren Point Rd after the Captain Cook Bridge. Turn left at Captain Cook Dr and follow the road all the way to the park.

If you wish to take public transport, there are buses from the city to La Perouse, and from Cronulla railway station (take the train from Sydney) to Kurnell.

• The Rocks: Birthplace of Australia
• Royal National Park
• Whale Migration
• Latest Features