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What is heritage?
What is heritage?
Heritage includes the places, objects and stories that we have inherited from the past and want to protect for future generations. It gives us a sense of our history and provides meaningful insights into how earlier generations lived and developed. It also enriches our lives and helps us to understand who we are.
Our heritage includes tens of thousands of years of Aboriginal culture and landscapes, and historic buildings, monuments, gardens, archaeological sites, shipwrecks, bridges, industrial structures, streetscapes, conservation areas and intangible heritage (which means things you can't physically touch - such as songs and stories).
When something is heritage listed, this means its history is very meaningful for the community and should be protected under law.
Source Image source: old gas lamp, Bridge Street, Lane Cove.
Aboriginal history
Aboriginal history
The Cam-mer-ray-gal people of the Ku-ring-gai Aboriginal Tribe lived in the area now known as Lane Cove.
Aboriginal people have been in Australia since the Ice Age, that's over 60,000 years ago. They have a deep connection to land, water and sky.
The Lane Cove River (called Turrumburra by the Cameraygal people), would have provided lots of food. This is an Aboriginal rock carving of an emu, in Longueville Park, Lane Cove River.
First Europeans arrive
First Europeans arrive
In 1788, not long after the First Fleet arrived, Lieutenant Bradley named Lane Cove, then another officer looked at the area and reported there was land which could be developed. A couple of years later, another Lieutenant was sent to the Lane Cove River to make friends with the Aboriginal people because the early settlers wanted to remove natural resources - such as wood and shells for building and grass for animal food.
Shell middens are the remains of meals of shellfish once gathered and eaten by Aboriginal people over thousands of years. Shell middens provide Aboriginal people today with an important link to their culture and their past.
In Lane Cove today, Aboriginal rock engravings, hand stencils and shell middens are all legally protected sites.
This is an example of an Aboriginal shell midden, Berowra Waters. Source
Up until the early twentieth century, the location of Lane Cove generally referred to anywhere in the large area on the northern side of the Lane Cove River extending from the present Longueville through to Gordon and not just the present Sydney suburb of Lane Cove.
Information sources: Dictionary of Sydney ; Lane Cove Council
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