21
From
Cockles
To
Commerce
Darling Harbour was a frontier zone between
two clans of what we sometimes call the
Darug people of Sydney. During archaeological
excavations for Darling Quarter in 2009
thousands of shells were uncovered from what
was formerly the shoreline before 1830. Early
accounts tell of how the abundant shells were
collected and burned to make lime for Sydney’s
early buildings.
Pre 1788—1823
FROM COCKLES TO COMMERCE
FROM COCKLES TO COMMERCE
20
“
So abundant were the middens
of discarded oyster shells,
evidence of thousands of years
of indigenous feasts, that the
early colonists named this body
of water ‘Cockle Bay’ before
renaming it Darling Harbour.”
Dr Wayne Johnson
Historian
Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority
