La Perouse: A Historical and Cultural Overview of Aboriginal Community

This document provides a comprehensive overview of the Aboriginal community in La Perouse, including their demographics, language, sites of significance, and indigenous services. It also highlights the challenges they face and the support they receive from mainstream services. The document is inclusive of pictures and statistical data to convey historical events to the readers easily.

E-PORTFOLIO
E-PORTFOLIO
MADHU GIRI
12111466

Table of Contents
LA PEROUSE NSW 2036......................................................................................................2
TRADITIONAL CUSTODIANS OF THE LAND..........................................................................2
LANGUAGES.......................................................................................................................3
SITES OF SIGNIFICANCE......................................................................................................4
LA PEROUSE MISSION CHURCH....................................................................................................4
ABOROGINAL LAND COUNCIL.......................................................................................................4
FORESHORE CAMP (FORMER MEADOW RESEARVE).....................................................................4
YARRA PARK.................................................................................................................................4
EVENTS OF HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANT.................................................................................5
INDIGENOUS DEMOGRAPHICS...........................................................................................5
LANGUAGE...................................................................................................................................5
AGE..............................................................................................................................................6
GENDER........................................................................................................................................6
SOCIAL ECONOMIC STATUS..........................................................................................................6
INCOME........................................................................................................................................7
EDUCATION..................................................................................................................................7
EMPLOYMENT..............................................................................................................................7
INDIGENOUS SERVICES.......................................................................................................8
EDUCATION..................................................................................................................................8
PRIMARY SCHOOL LA PEROUSE PUBLIC SCHOOL...........................................................................................8
ABOROGINAL HEALTH COLLEGE.....................................................................................................................8
EMPLOYMENT..............................................................................................................................8
TRAINING.....................................................................................................................................9
SUPPORT FOR ABOROGINAL ORGANISATION.....................................................................9
MAINSTREAN SERVICES OFFERING INDIGENOUS SERVICES.................................................9
ANALYSIS AND EXPERIENCE.............................................................................................10
REFERENCES.....................................................................................................................11
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LA PEROUSE NSW 2036
Located at south eastern part of Sydney is the beautiful place La Perouse. This place falls lies
under the Randwick municipality. This place is consists of larger community of Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islanders. La Perouse has a population of 438, among which only 4 people
belong to Torres Strait Islanders. Due to the historical event this place is held significant and
this community is my area of interest.
TRADITIONAL CUSTODIANS OF THE LAND
Aboriginal community inhabits La Perouse for at least thousands of years. After the British
settlement in 1788 at Botany Bay, the Aboriginal people approximately 1500 has been
estimated to live around in this region ( Aboriginal Land Council, La Perouse)
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Figure 1: LA PEROUSE
Figure 2: Location of aboriginal people in Sydney area

The original owners of this land were Kameygal. La Perouse has been named after the
French explorer and navigator Jean-Francois de Galaup Laperouse, who was said to have
stayed there for sex months. The main reasons for the inhabitants were mainly because of
availability of fish, proper shelter and abundant fresh water. Depending on the seasons,
Kameygal used to travel and likewise, made good connections with the Aboriginal people for
around 7500 (Julia, K. 2008).
LANGUAGES
There are about 250 Indigenous languages of which 120 languages are spoken in different
areas of Australia. However, in Sydney Darug and Dharawal are two languages that are
spoken by majority of the region. The people of La Perouse however, use Darug as the main
language. It is believed that Kameygal and Darug are the same languages (Alan, G. and
Pamela, F.2011).
Figure 3: ABOROGINAL LANGUAGE MAP NSW (SOURCE: COILLINS 1971)
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SITES OF SIGNIFICANCE
La Perouse has many sites around its periphery that are of historic significance. Some of
them are:
LA PEROUSE MISSION CHURCH
This site is considered to be a historic significance as it portrays history of Aboriginal
Christian movement in NSW. This is a site that provides value to indigenous people living
around.
ABOROGINAL LAND COUNCIL
The land council which was established in 1983, provides various services that is cultural,
social, economic and spirit to uplift the Aboriginal Australians.
FORESHORE CAMP (FORMER MEADOW RESEARVE)
Although the information is not sourced, the land council informs that around fifteen
aboriginal people enjoyed camp at this place, hence the local council lists this as a heritage
site ( Alan, G. and Pamela, F.2011).
YARRA PARK
In this park, consists various indigenous artwork and rock cravings that drives the visitors
spiritually. Moreover, there are other sites which are historically significant. These are
explained in the diagram.
Figure 4: YARRA PARK (SOURCE: ATTENBROW 2002,PLATE 12)
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EVENTS OF HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANT
 The European colonization that took place after the explorer Jean-Francois de
Galaup Laperouse arrival ( Julia, K, 2008).
 Rum trade fostered as soon the second fleet arrived at the harbour. ( history council,
2016).
 First custom outpost was constructed in LA Perouse, Australia( history council, 2016)
INDIGENOUS DEMOGRAPHICS
LANGUAGE
According to the current data of Australia in the year 2016, there are around 4 individuals
speaks Dharawal and 3 people speaks Aboriginal English.
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Table 1: CURRENTLY SPOKEN LANGUAGE BY ABOROGINAL PEOPLE (SOURCE:CENSUSDATA.ABS.GOV.AU)

AGE
According to the census data 2016, the children occupy 17.1% of the age 5-14 years of the
population. While the age of 65 years and above are 9% of the population of Aboriginal
population at La Perouse.
Table 2: AGE VARIATION AMONG ABOROGINAL PEOPLE (SOURCE:CENSUSDATA.ABS.GOV.AU)
GENDER
The female populations are 51.9% of the population and according to the report they are 3%
higher than the male population.
SOCIAL ECONOMIC STATUS
The factors such as income, degree of education and employment defines the social
economic status of the people.
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INCOME
The income of the individuals is $509 in a week and the household earnings is $1228 in a
week, comparatively low to the Australian people’s income and $1616for Personal and
household income in a week respectively.
EDUCATION
The primary education is around 38% whereas about 2% have achieved education till
university level. This shows that population is in the development phase in their social
economic status.
EMPLOYMENT
According to the census, the employment rate of the population seems to be higher than
the umemployment rate by 3.3% in respect to the year 2016. The improvement can be seen
in the graph given below
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Table 3: AVERAGE INCOME OF ABOROGINAL PEOPLE (SOURCE:CENSUSDATA.ABS.GOV.AU)
Table 4: LITTERACY VARIATION IN ABOROGINAL POEOPLE (SOURCE:CENSUSDATA.ABS.GOV.AU)

INDIGENOUS SERVICES
EDUCATION
The local council plans and manage the education system of the people in Aboriginal and
Torres Straits Islanders people. The service is provided by the indigenous people are primary
schools and Aboriginal health college
PRIMARY SCHOOL LA PEROUSE PUBLIC SCHOOL
 The primary school concentrates on the kids and their development.
ABOROGINAL HEALTH COLLEGE
 Provides health related issues and other related disciplines.
 Focuses on increasing the health experts.
 Develop the health expert’s skill in the department of health.
EMPLOYMENT
The local council has taken various steps to enhance the employment percentage ratio of
the indigenous community. There are several strategies planned by the local council. Some
includes EDAEP (Elsa Dixon Aboriginal Employment Programme) that assists in financial
issues for education and training conducted by NSW department.
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Table 5: EMPLYMENT RATE IN ABOROGINAL PEOPLE (SOURCE:CENSUSDATA.ABS.GOV.AU)

TRAINING
The Randwick City Council runs various training programmes. The NSW Aboriginal
Employment Action Plan 2009-2012 to benefit the Aboriginal people for recruitment and
employment purposes.
SUPPORT FOR ABOROGINAL ORGANISATION
The local council assists several organizations and enterprises which promotes different
culture like art, crafts, health facilities and book shops.
MAINSTREAN SERVICES OFFERING INDIGENOUS SERVICES
 Local Aboriginal Randwick City Council
 Aboriginal Land Council La Perouse
 Aboriginal legal service
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ANALYSIS AND EXPERIENCE
During the research, I made a visit to the Aboriginal local council and informed about
various data and figures required about the local Aboriginal community. However, the
officials failed to provide certain data and figures. This surprised me much.
Nevertheless, I have managed to analyse the history of the La Perouse from various online
sources and books along with the current state of Aboriginal community. Although, there
has been some information gaps , I have found majority of indigenous people soley rely on
stone carvings rather than stored information.
The research has highlighted that the indigenous people in terms of various socio-economic
factors, income, employment lags behind the average Australians. However, it was observed
that there has been considerable improvements and developments over time. There are
various organizations who support the community.
I have chosen the word document format for the research. The research includes
information in simple words and inclusive of pictures and other statistical data which
conveys historical events to the readers easily with no effort. It is inclusive of table of
contents with specific page numbers so that readers are easily directly.
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REFERENCES
 Australian Bureau of Statistics 2016, 2016 Census QuickStats, viewed 2ND February
2019,<http://quickstats.censusdata.abs.gov.au>
 Attenbrow, V. 2002, ‘Sydney’s Aboriginal Past’ UNSW press, Sydney.
 Caitlin, F. 2018, The Sydney Morning Heral, viewed 5th
February,2019<https://www.smh.com.au/money/planning-and-budgeting/how-wealthy-are-you-
compared-with- other-australians-20180410-p4z8s4.html>
 City of Botany Bay 2018, Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Communities, viewed 5th February
2019,<http://www.botanybay.nsw.gov.au/Community-Services/Aboriginal-Torres-Strait-Islander-
Communities>
 Ginns, A., Fletcher, P. 2011’Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Study and Plan for The City of Botany Bay’,
viewed 3rd February 2019,<https://www2.aifs.gov.au/cfca/knowledgecircle/key-aboriginal-and-
torres-strait-islander-organisations>
 Kency, J., 2008’La Perouse’, viewed 5th February 2019,
<https://dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/la_perouse>
 La Perouse Local Aboriginal Land Council 2018, ‘Our Services’ La Perouse, viewed 3RD February 2018,
<https://www.laperouse.org.au/our-services>
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