Centre Information

Whether you like people watching or just relaxing by the sea, the restaurants and cafés offer a wide selection to suite every taste.

From breakfast through to dinner, a coffee or a gelato, the Food Court offers friendly service whether you are looking for a quick snack, takeaway or a full meal.

Bayside Plaza also offers fashion, beauty and specialty stores and free* undercover parking.

*First 2 hours free.

History of Botany Bay

While enjoying a leisurely lunch at one of the Plaza's restaurants you can gaze across the Bay to where Captain Cook first set foot.

Cook's landing marked the beginning of Britain's interest in Australia and in the eventual colonisation of this new Southern continent.

Initially the name Stingray Bay was used by Cook and other journal keepers on his expedition, for the stingrays they caught. That name was recorded on an Admiralty chart too. Cook's log for 6th May, 1770 records "The great quantity of these sort of fish found in this place occasioned my giving it the name of Stingrays Harbour". But in his journal, he changed the name, due to "The great quantity of plants Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander found in this place occasioned my giving it the Name of Botany Bay".

In 1788, Captain Arthur Phillip led the First Fleet into the bay on 19 January 1788 to found a penal colony there. Finding that the sandy infertile soil of the site in fact rendered it most unsuitable for settlement, Phillip decided instead to move to the excellent natural harbor of Port Jackson to the north. On 26 January, while still anchored in the bay, the British encountered the French exploratory expedition of Jean-François de La Pérouse. Panicked by the thought that the French might beat them to it, the colonists sailed that afternoon to found a settlement at Sydney Cove. Despite the move, for many years afterward, the Australian penal colony would be referred to as "Botany Bay".