Page 142 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Sydney

140  SY DNEY AREA B Y AREA

o Captain Cook’s
Landing Place
Captain Cook Drive, Kamay Botany Bay
National Park, Kurnell. Tel 9668 2000.
@ 987. Toll Gate: Open 7am–7:30pm
daily (to 5:30pm Jun & Jul). Visitor
Centre: Open 9:30am–4:30pm
daily. Closed 25 Dec. & 7
∑ nationalparks.nsw.gov.au
Although it is difficult to get to,
visitors will find this place worth
the effort. It is, after all, one
of Australia’s most impor tant
European historic sites. Here
James Cook, botanists Daniel
Solander and Joseph Banks Pampas grass and banana plants in the garden at Elizabeth Farm
and the crew of HMS Endeavour
landed on 29 April 1770. and the importance of their a Elizabeth Farm
Aboriginal peoples with spears conservation; an interesting 70 Alice St, Rosehill. Tel 9635 9488. 4
were shot at. One, hit in the exhi bition detailing Cook’s Parramatta.  Parramatta or Gran ville.
legs, returned with a shield exploration of the area; and Open 10am–4pm Wed–Sun (daily
to defend himself. an introduction to Aboriginal in Jan, NSW school hols & pub hols).
Nowadays people can cast a customs and culture. Closed Good Fri, 25 Dec. & 8 7 -
fishing line from the rock where ∑ sydneylivingmuseums.com.au
the Europeans stepped ashore. p Sydney
Nearby are the site of a well The discovery of fertile land
where, Cook recorded, a Olympic Park at Parramatta, and the harvest-
shore party “found fresh water Homebush Bay. Tel 9714 7888. ing of its first successful grain
sufficient to water the ship” and  Olympic Park. Visitor Centre crop in 1790, helped save the
a monument which marks the (1 Showground Rd): Open 9am– fledgling colony from starva tion
first recorded Euro pean burial 5pm daily. Closed 1 Jan, Good Fri, and led to the rapid develop-
in Australia. 25 & 26 Dec. 8 7 S - ment of the area.
There are also monuments ∑ sydneyolympicpark.com.au This zone was the location
to Solander, Banks and Cook, of several of Australia’s first
but it is the peaceful ambience Once host to the 27th Summer Colonial land grants. In 1793,
that is most impressive. Now Olympic Games and Paralym pic John Macarthur, who became
part of Kamay Botany Bay Games, Sydney Olympic Park a wealthy farmer and sheep
National Park, Captain Cook’s is situated at Homebush Bay, breeder, was granted 40 ha
Landing Place has lovely walks, 14 km (8.5 miles) west of the (100 acres) of land at Parra-
some accessible to wheelchairs, city centre. The interactive matta. He named the property
where visitors may roam and “ANZ Stadium Explore Tour” after his wife and this was to be
observe the flora which led gives a taste of some of the Elizabeth’s home for the rest of
to the naming of Botany Bay. stadium’s best-loved sporting her life. Macarthur was often
The Visitor Centre in the moments. For nature lovers, absent from the farm as the
park focuses on a number of there is a tour of the five wet- centre of his wool opera tions
themes: the bay’s wetlands lands of the Bicentennial Park. had moved to Camden.
You can buy tickets for tours Part of the house, a simple
at the Visitor Centre. stone cottage built in 1793,
Other facilities at the park still remains and it is the oldest
include the Aquatic Centre, with
a kids’ waterpark, and the Tennis
Centre, where you can play in
the footsteps of such greats as
Lleyton Hewitt. There are picnic
areas and cafés throughout the
park that provide a welcome
rest stop for those exploring the
large precinct on its extensive
bicycle paths. In summer, you
can pack a picnic and enjoy
Movies by the Boulevard, the
Cook’s Obelisk, overlooking Botany Bay, Park΄s free programme of open- John Macarthur (1766–1834), architect of
Captain Cook’s Landing Place air cinema under the stars. the house at Elizabeth Farm

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