Happy Thursday everyone and welcome to another week of wonderful doors. This week I am showcasing a little gem spotted last weekend when we took a day trip to a beautiful spot called La Perouse.
The Tower at La Perouse
One of the most intriguing sights at La Perouse is this little stone tower sitting high on the headland overlooking Botany Bay.
The doorway is one of the tower’s most striking features. Set into the sandstone is a pointed Gothic arch surrounding a simple wooden door, replaced in the sixties apparently when the tower went through some restoration works.
Known as the Macquarie Watchtower, it was built around 1822 and constructed from Sydney sandstone. This two-storey octagonal tower was built for the soldiers who kept watch over the bay for smugglers and unexpected vessels and is now considered to be the oldest surviving building in Randwick City, as well as being one of Australia’s earliest colonial structures.
However, the tower’s story doesn’t end with the soldiers. It later became a Customs outpost and, in the 1860s, part of it was used as a school. Interestingly, the pupils included local Aboriginal children, as well as children from fishing, gardening and Customs families.
The history of the land itself goes back thousands of years before the tower was built. La Perouse is part of an important Aboriginal cultural landscape, with Aboriginal connections to the area extending back many thousands of years and continuing to the present day. A really beautiful place to visit. I have included some photos of the area below.
Bare Island – sits just off La Perouse and is home to a fascinating 19th-century fort built between 1881 and 1889. The island also has a much older Aboriginal history, forming part of the traditional Country and continuing cultural connections of the local Aboriginal community.
