Botany, New South Wales

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Botany is a suburb in south-eastern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located 10km south of the Sydney central business district and is part of the City of Botany Bay. Botany sits on the northern shore of Botany Bay, east of Sydney Airport. The postcode is 2019.

Botany is adjacent to the suburbs of Mascot, Banksmeadow and Pagewood.

Botany is the site of Sydney's major port and as such, is a suburb with extensive commercial development centred on shipping and freight. Botany also has a large chemical production facility owned by Orica (previously ICI).

[edit] History

Botany Bay is where Captain James Cook first landed on 29th April 1770, when navigating his way around Australia on his ship, the Endeavour. The ship's English botanist Joseph Banks and Swedish assistant botanist Daniel Solander, spent several days on shore collecting vast numbers of specimens, that were previously unknown. Cook's journals first referred to the bay as Sting Rays' Harbour, then later Botanist Bay and finally both these names were crossed out and replaced with Botany Bay. The suburb name comes from the bay it stands on.

Botany was originally planned as an agricultural district, in the same way the surrounding suburbs were used for market gardens. However, it became an industrial area with fellmongers yards and slaughter works. In 1809, Mr E Redmond was one of the first to settle here and Simeon Lord (1771-1840) was an important developer in the area who built a fulling mill in 1815. In 1823 he was granted 600 acres and more grants followed. Part of his estate was subdived in 1859 to create the Booralee Township and the rest was subdivided in 1887. The Sydney Waterworks were established in Botany in 1858.