La Perouse: A Historical and Cultural Overview of Aboriginal Community

E-PORTFOLIO
E-PORTFOLIO
MADHU GIRI

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
1

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)
2
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)
3