(a)

(a) Botany Bay cont.

the place has outstanding heritage value to the nation because of the place's importance in the course, or pattern, of Australia's natural or cultural history.

Plants collected by Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander in 1770 within Kamay Botany Bay contributed to the development of systematic biology. Their preservation in a collection formed the basis of the world's scientific understanding and knowledge of Australian flora during the eighteenth century in Europe. With Joseph Bank's advocacy, these plants were also influential in shaping the image of Australia in Europe during the eighteenth century.

Swedish scientist Carl Linnaeus developed a revolutionary biological classification system known as the Linnaean System. This system marked the beginning of the science of international systematic biology. Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander used Linnaeus' ideas about classification in their work to collect plants for scientific study during their voyage on the ship Endeavour. Kamay Botany Bay encompasses all of the remaining sites where plant specimens were collected by Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander during the first landing of the Endeavour on the Australian coast in 1770. At Kamay Botany Bay Banks and Solander collected specimens representing at least 132 new plant species including iconic members of the Proteaceae family (Banksia) and Myrtaceae family (Eucalyptus, Melaleuca and Leptospermum). Banks' and Solander's systematic collections and use of the Linnaean System represent the symbolic and actual integration of Australian flora into western science. The plants collected at Kamay Botany Bay in 1770 were unlike anything ever seen in the western world and were a major catalyst for the further development of systematic biology. Some of the collected plants became type-specimens that have intrinsic scientific and research value as a permanent reference point for their particular species.

The Botany Bay specimens were the result of the first scientific botanical collecting program undertaken in Australia and inspired in Joseph Banks a lifetime interest in Australia. This interest manifested in his advocacy of Australia as a suitable location for a British penal settlement. Joseph Banks sent out of a series of botanical collectors and botanists to Australia which culminated in the first systematic account of Australian flora by botanist (and Cook's librarian) Robert Brown. The plant specimens gathered from Kamay Botany Bay played an influential role in shaping the conceptualisation of Australia in Europe as a wild and exotic place.

The features within Kamay Botany Bay which express its botanical significance include the vegetation communities at Kurnell Peninsula, La Perouse Headland and the Towra Point Nature Reserve which contain many of the species collected by Banks and Solander in 1770. The remnant areas of vegetation within these sites are a reference point for Banks' and Solander's botanical collections, which at the time included:       

Acacia longifolia; Acacia suaveolens; Acacia terminalis subsp. terminalis; Acacia ulicifolia; Actinotus helianthi; Actinotus minor; Allocasuarina distyla; Allocasuarina littoralis; Angophora costata; Aotus ericoides; Astroloma pinifolium; Atriplex cinerea; Avicennia marina; Baeckea imbricata; Baloskion tetraphyllum subsp. meiostachyus; Banksia ericifolia; Banksia integrifolia; Banksia serrata; Bauera capitata; Bauera rubioides; Bidens pilosa; Blandfordia nobilis; Blechnum camfieldii; Blechnum indicum; Boronia parviflora; Boronia pinnata; Bossiaea heterophylla; Breynia oblongifolia; Callistemon citrinus; Calotis lappulacea; Cassytha pubescens; Comesperma ericinum; Commelina cyanea; Correa alba; Correa reflexa; Corymbia gummifera; Cryptandra amara; Cyclosorus interruptus; Dampiera stricta; Darwinia fascicularis; Desmodium rhytidophyllum; Drosera binata; Epacris longiflora; Epacris microphylla; Epaltes australis; Eriostemon buxifoliius; Eustrephus latifolius; Exocarpos cupressiformis; Geranium homeanum; Glossogyne tannensis; Glycine tabacina; Goodenia ovata; Goodenia paniculata; Grevillea mucronulata; Hakea dactyloides; Hakea gibbosa; Hakea teretifolia; Hardenbergia violacea; Hemigenia purpurea; Hibbertia scandens; Hybanthus monpetalus (filiformis); Isopogon anemonifolius; Isopogon anethifolius; Kennedia rubicunda; Lambertia formosa; Lepidium pseudohyssopifolium; Lepidosperma concavum; Leptocarpus tenax; Leptospermum arachnoides; Leptospermum juniperinum; Leptospermum laevigatum; Leptospermum polygalifolium; Leptospermum squarrosum; Leptospermum trinervium; Leucopogon ericoides; Leucopogon virgatus; Livistona australis; Lobelia dentata; Lobelia gracilis; Lomandra glauca; Lomandra longifolia; Lycopodiella lateralis; Macrozamia communis; Melaleuca armillaris; Melaleuca nodosa; Melaleuca thymifolia; Melanthera biflora (Wedelia); Mitrasacme polymorpha; Monotoca scoparia; Opercularia aspera; Oxylobium cordifolium; Pandorea pandorana; Patersonia sericea; Pelargonium australe; Persoonia lanceolata; Persoonia levis; Petrophile pulchella; Philotheca salsolifolia; Pimelea linifolia; Platysace ericoides; Platysace lanceolata; Plectranthus parviflorus; Pomax umbellata; Poranthera microphylla; Prasophyllum striatum; Pratia (Lobelia) purpurascens; Pteridium esculentum; Pterostylis revoluta; Rhagodia candolleana (incl baccata); Ricinocarpos pinifolius; Rumex brownii; Scaevola calendulacea; Scaevola ramosissima; Schoenus ericetorum; Schoenus paludosus; Senecio linearifolius; Stackhousia viminea; Stephania japonica; Stylidium graminifolium; Styphelia viridis; Symphionema paludosum; Synoum glandulosum; Syzygium paniculum; Triglochin procera; Utricularia biloba; Vernonia cinerea; Viola banksii prev hederacea; Westringia fruticosa; Woollsia pungens; Xanthosia pilosa; Xylomelum pyriforme; Zieria pilosa (pinnata).