Indigenous history Before the 1780s, local Aboriginal people in the area used the site for fishing and cultural activities - rock engravings, grinding grooves and middens remain in evidence. In 1789,
Governor Philip referred to "a long bay", which became known as Long Bay. Aboriginal people are believed to have inhabited the
Sydney region for at least 20,000 years. The population of Aboriginal people between
Palm Beach and
Botany Bay in 1788 has been estimated to have been 1500. Those living south of
Port Jackson to Botany Bay were the
Cadigal people who spoke
Dharug, while the local clan name of
Maroubra people was "Muru-ora-dial". By the mid nineteenth century the
traditional owners of this land had typically either moved inland in search of food and shelter, or had died as the result of European disease or confrontation with British colonisers. Randwick was slow to progress. The village was isolated from Sydney by swamps and sandhills, and although a horse-bus was operated by a man named Grice from the late 1850s, the journey was more a test of nerves than a pleasure jaunt. Wind blew sand over the track, and the bus sometimes became bogged, so that passengers had to get out and push it free. From its early days Randwick had a divided society. The wealthy lived elegantly in large houses built when Pearce promoted Randwick and Coogee as a fashionable area. But the market gardens, orchards and piggeries that continued alongside the large estates were the lot of the working class. Even on the later estates that became racing empires, many jockeys and stablehands lived in huts or even under canvas. An even poorer group were the immigrants who existed on the periphery of Randwick in a place called Irishtown, in the area now known as
The Spot, around the junction of St. Paul's Street and Perouse Road. Here families lived in makeshift houses, taking on the most menial tasks in their struggle to survive.
Long Bay Gaol history Long Bay was opened due to the imminent closure of
Darlinghurst Gaol. The State Reformatory for Women was opened in 1909 On Christmas Eve (24 December) 1985, Australian musician
Paul Kelly performed at Long Bay. A significant public health case arose in July 1990 when a mentally ill,
HIV-positive prisoner was being escorted in the exercise yard. The prisoner took a syringe filled with his blood and stabbed a probationary prison officer. The prison officer was diagnosed with the
virus five weeks later and died in 1997, aged 28. In the late 1990s the facility was redeveloped to offer special treatment units which offer programs for sex offenders; those with intellectual disabilities; drug and alcohol abuse; or the use of violence. The facility became the centre of mainly critical media attention, and was heavily criticised by
Justice John Nagle during proceedings of the
Nagle Royal Commission (1976–1978) who recommended its immediate closure. The recommendation that Katingal be closed was accepted, but only after a campaign lasting months. On 17 March 1989,
Michael Yabsley, Minister for Corrective Services, announced that Katingal would be reopened as a correctional facility. When it was realised that the redevelopment of the site would cost double the 8 million allocated, plans were put on hold until a feasibility study was completed on the entire Long Bay prison complex. Demolition of Katingal began in March 2006. == Description ==