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Dictionary of Sydney

The Dictionary of Sydney
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Happy Valley, La Perouse, early 1930s

The Dictionary of Sydney was archived in 2021.

Happy Valley, La Perouse, early 1930s

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Sydney Living Museums

(Justice & Police Museum ; 031)

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La Perouse

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1930s Depression Residential building

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Happy Valley La Perouse

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Sydney Living Museums

Sydney Living Museums is the trading name of the Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales, a statutory authority formed in 1980. It is one of the largest state museums in Australia and is entrusted with the care of key historic buildings and sites in New South Wales.

La Perouse

Traditionally owned by the Kameygal, whose descendants still maintain their connection with the land, La Perouse has a history of both invasion and survival. Unwanted by the early colonists who thought it unhealthy, the area was an Aboriginal camp throughout the nineteenth century, though also used for government purposes, such as quarantine and signalling. During the 1930s Depression, unemployed people set up camp there. Repeated attempts to move Aboriginal people away from La Perouse failed, and since 1984 the reserve has been Aboriginal land.

Residential building

1930s Depression

Happy Valley

Shanty town established on land owned by New South Wales Golf Club at La Perouse where over 350 people lived in flimsy shacks during the Depression. The last of the residents were evicted in 1939 and the shacks demolished. Similar camps existed along the coast around the city, including Yarra Bay, Brighton-le-Sands, Malabar and Middle Harbour.

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La Perouse

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South-eastern residential suburb on Botany Bay, named after the French explorer who landed there in 1788. It has a large Indigenous population, including those who can trace their ancestors back to the Kameygal people in pre-contact times.