Little Bay is a suburb

Suburb

The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...

 in south-eastern

South-eastern Sydney

South-Eastern Sydney is a term which is used to describe the metropolitan area directly to the south and east of the Sydney central business district in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.The area stretches from the inner city to the foreshores of Botany Bay...

 Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

, in the state of New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. Little Bay is located 14 kilometres south-east of the Sydney central business district

Sydney central business district

The Sydney central business district is the main commercial centre of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It extends southwards for about 3 kilometres from Sydney Cove, the point of first European settlement. Its north–south axis runs from Circular Quay in the north to Central railway station in...

 and is part of the local government area of the City of Randwick

City of Randwick

The City of Randwick is a Local Government Area in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. One of Sydney's largest parks, Centennial Park, lies within the city boundary of Randwick. Other major landmarks in Randwick include the world-famous Randwick Racecourse,...

.

Little Bay is a coastal suburb, to the north of Botany Bay

Botany Bay

Botany Bay is a bay in Sydney, New South Wales, a few kilometres south of the Sydney central business district. The Cooks River and the Georges River are the two major tributaries that flow into the bay...

. The suburb takes its name from the geographical formation called Little Bay, which also features a small beach. The Prince Henry Hospital, was a famous landmark once located at Little Bay.

History

The Little Bay area was first used as a makeshift camp during Sydney's smallpox outbreak in 1881-82, to isolate sufferers of the disease. At first, a "tent city" was established, but further smallpox outbreaks and a typhoid epidemic convinced the government to build a permanent hospital here to treat infectious diseases. Little Bay was an ideal location because it was isolated from settlements but still close enough to Sydney. The Coast Hospital was particularly valuable during the bubonic plague in Sydney of 1900 and then again when soldiers returning from Europe brought the influenza virus back in 1919. The Coast Hospital became Prince Henry Hospital in 1934. In 2001 services were transferred to Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney

Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney

The Prince of Wales Hospital is a major public teaching hospital located in Sydney's eastern suburb of Randwick, providing a full range of hospital services to the people of New South Wales, Australia...

 and the hospital site became available for residential use.

Two landmarks still remain from the hospital days. One is the Coast Cemetery, situated south of Little Bay. Two thousand people are thought to be buried there, with the oldest graves being located further south, towards Cape Banks. The cemetery was taken over by the National Parks and Wildlife Service of New South Wales when the Botany Bay National Park

Botany Bay National Park

Botany Bay National Park is a national park in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia located approximately 16 km south east of the Sydney central business district, on the northern and southern headlands of Botany Bay...

 was created.

Another landmark is the Interdenominational War Memorial Chapel, which overlooks Little Bay. It was destroyed by fire in October 1981, but was subsequently restored. Outside the chapel there is an array of memorial plaques dedicated to former staff of the hospital.

Little Bay was originally called Yarra Junction but mail would end up in Melbourne (Vic) so the residents asked for the suburb's name to be changed. This was granted and changed to Phillip Bay Heights (Phillip Bay is a suburb located between Little Bay and Botany Bay) but as everyone called the area Little Bay this was the name that was eventually officially adopted. During the 1950s, much of the land was provided to returned servicemen via War Ballots.

In 1969, the international artist Christo and his wife Jeanne-Claude created the world’s largest sculpture at Little Bay called: “Wrapped Coast – One Million Square Feet, Little Bay, Sydney, Australia”. Many Australian artists and students volunteered to assist them wrapping 2.4 kilometres of coastline, which was 46 to 244 metres wide, up to 26 metres high at the northern cliffs, and at sea level at the southern sandy beach. It introduced a radical work of art which at the time was controversial and polarised the community. It marked the beginning of a new chapter of contemporary art in Australia and today is considered a triumphant project. Christo went on to wrap cars, galleries, islands, and even the Reichstag building in Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

.

Little Bay Beach

In the stretch of coastline south of Sydney Harbour (Port Jackson

Port Jackson

Port Jackson, containing Sydney Harbour, is the natural harbour of Sydney, Australia. It is known for its beauty, and in particular, as the location of the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge...

), Little Bay Beach is the last significant sand beach before Botany Bay. Little Bay took its name from the obvious comparison to nearby Long Bay at Malabar

Malabar, New South Wales

Malabar is a suburb in south-eastern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Malabar is located 12 kilometres south-east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Randwick.-Location:...

. On the evening of 3 December 1797, George Bass

George Bass

George Bass was a British naval surgeon and explorer of Australia.-Early years:He was born on 30 January 1771 at Aswarby, a hamlet near Sleaford, Lincolnshire, the son of a tenant farmer, George Bass, and a local beauty named Sarah Nee Newman. His father died in 1777 when Bass was 6...

, at the commencement of his first major voyage of discovery in the waters of southern Australia, anchored there in his open whaleboat with a crew of six, referring to it in his journal as Little Harbour.

The beach is semi-circular in shape and enclosed by headlands to the south and north. Its narrow entrance provides significant shelter from prevailing sea conditions. It is not a surf beach and does not have an undertow or "rip" unless there is strong wind and sea from the south or south-east running into the bay. A ring-of-rocks bathing pool known as Little Bay Rock Pool or Little Bay Baths was created from beach rocks at the southern end of the beach in the early 1900s to provide safe shark-free bathing for nurses resident nearby at the Coast Hospital. The pool is still partially intact.

Pollution

As the population of Sydney grew, the beaches south of the Malabar sewage treatment plant such as Little Bay, became increasingly polluted. By the 1980s, the water was brown and fat was deposited on the sand and rocks, making them slimy and smelly. After the Malabar Deep Ocean Outfall

Marine outfall

A marine outfall is a pipeline or tunnel that discharges municipal or industrial wastewater, stormwater, combined sewer overflows, cooling water, or brine effluents from water desalination plants to the sea. Usually they discharge under the sea's surface...

 commenced operation in 1990, the beaches to the south became significantly cleaner within a very short space of time. Today Little Bay is consistently one of the cleanest beaches in Sydney, in terms of water clarity and bacteria counts.

Landmarks

The north headland of Botany Bay (Henry Head) has a number of features, including two old gun emplacements at Fort Banks, and an unattended lighhouse and the wreck of the SS Minmi on what is called Pussycat Island. The older of the gun emplacements, known as the Henry Head Battery

Henry Head Battery

The Henry Head Battery is an artillery battery located on the northern side of the entrance to Botany Bay at Henry Head, La Perouse, New South Wales, Australia.-History:...

 was originally built just after the completion of Bare Island to provide additional coverage of the entrance to Botany Bay.

• Former Prince Henry Hospital
• Spinal Cord Injuries Australia
• Aboriginal Health College
• Prince Henry Development Project
• Little Bay Weather Station

Notable residents

• Russell Fairfax
  Russell Fairfax
  Russell Lance Fairfax was an Australian professional rugby league footballer and coach of the 1970s and 80s....
  
  , rugby league player
• Tony Rafty
  Tony Rafty
  Tony Rafty OAM is a Greek Australian artist. He specialises in drawing caricatures.Rafty was born in Paddington, New South Wales...
  
  , cartoonist
• Jane Saville
  Jane Saville
  Jane Kara Saville is an Australian race walker who won a bronze medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. She was born in Sydney....
  
  , race walker
• Fiona Stanley
  Fiona Stanley
  Fiona Stanley, AC is an Australian epidemiologist noted for her public health work, and her research into child and maternal health, and birth disorders such as cerebral palsy.-Life:...
  
  , paediatrician and 2003 Australian of the Year

Street names

The suburb of Little Bay comprises 20 public streets. Most names were derived from Aboriginal words or eminent people.

Name	Derivation
Abbe Receveur Place	Named after Louis Receveur Louis Receveur Claude-Francois Joseph Louis Receveur was a French Franciscan priest, naturalist and astronomer who sailed with Jean-François de Galaup, comte de La Pérouse.... , a Franciscan Franciscan Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....  friar and scientist who sailed with La Perouse Jean-François de Galaup, comte de La Pérouse Jean François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse was a French Navy officer and explorer whose expedition vanished in Oceania.-Early career:...
Alkoo Avenue	Aboriginal word meaning "visitor"
Anzac Parade	Named to commemorate the occasion when the First Australian Imperial Force First Australian Imperial Force The First Australian Imperial Force was the main expeditionary force of the Australian Army during World War I. It was formed from 15 August 1914, following Britain's declaration of war on Germany. Generally known at the time as the AIF, it is today referred to as the 1st AIF to distinguish from...  camped at Kensington Racecourse
Bega Avenue	Aboriginal word meaning "large camping ground"
Binda Crescent	Aboriginal word meaning "deep water"
Budd Avenue	Named after an early female resident
Bunnerong Road	Aboriginal word meaning "sleeping lizard"
Dawes Avenue	Names after Lieutenant William Dawes who was on the First Fleet First Fleet The First Fleet is the name given to the eleven ships which sailed from Great Britain on 13 May 1787 with about 1,487 people, including 778 convicts , to establish the first European colony in Australia, in the region which Captain Cook had named New South Wales. The fleet was led by Captain ...
Dwyer Avenue	Names after Matt Dwyer, former Mayor of Randwick
Gipps Avenue	Named after Sir George Gipps George Gipps Sir George Gipps was Governor of the colony of New South Wales, Australia, for eight years, between 1838 and 1846. His governorship was during a period of great change for New South Wales and Australia, as well as for New Zealand, which was administered as part of New South Wales for much of this... , former Governor of NSW
Goora Street	Aboriginal word meaning "long" or "tall"
Grose Street	Named after Francis Grose Francis Grose (Lieutenant-Governor) Lieutenant-General Francis Grose was a soldier and Lieutenant Governor of New South Wales.-Early life:Grose was born in Greenland, Middlesex, England around 1758. He was the eldest son of Francis Grose the well-known English antiquary, and Catherine Jordan... , first Lieutenant-Governor of NSW
Little Bay Road	Named after nearby Little Bay
Marconi Place	Named after Guglielmo Marconi Guglielmo Marconi Guglielmo Marconi was an Italian inventor, known as the father of long distance radio transmission and for his development of Marconi's law and a radio telegraph system. Marconi is often credited as the inventor of radio, and indeed he shared the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physics with Karl Ferdinand... , Italian physicist who developed the wireless telegraph
Mirrabooka Crescent	Aboriginal word for the "Southern Cross"
Noora Avenue	Aboriginal word meaning "camp"
Nurla Avenue	Aboriginal word meaning "plenty"
Reservoir Street	Named because there is a water reservoir nearby
Woomera Road	Aboriginal word – see woomera Woomera (spear-thrower) A woomera is an Australian Aboriginal spear-throwing device used for when there is a greater distance to be overcome. It is highly efficient and made of wood. Similar to an atlatl, it enables a spear to travel much further than by arm strength alone...
Woonah Street	(information needed)

Adapted from: Street, Park & Place Names of Randwick City

Transport

Little Bay is served by four different bus services operated by Sydney Buses:

Regular service	Express service	Limited stops service	From	To	Via
392	X92	n/a	Little Bay	Circular Quay	Chifley, Matraville and Eastgardens
393	n/a	n/a	Little Bay	Railway Square	Maroubra
394	X94	L94	La Perouse	Circular Quay	Maroubra
399	X99	n/a	Little Bay	Circular Quay	Malabar and Maroubra

All routes pass Kingsford, the University of NSW and Kensington, although express services do not stop between Kingsford and the city.

Sport and recreation

• Little Bay Sporting Complex
• St Michael's Golf Club
• The Coast Golf Club