The botanist, Sir Joseph Banks, and his Swedish assistant, Daniel Solander from Cook's ship HMS Endeavour, spent several days ashore collecting vast numbers of previously unknown plants.

[1] Cook's recommendation and Banks' enthusiasm were largely responsible for the British Government's decision to found a penal settlement at Botany Bay.

When Governor Phillip arrived in mid-summer in 1788 however, he found the harbour shallow and exposed, and the shore swampy and lacking sources of fresh water.

As early as 1809, Mr E. Redmond came to settle in the district, but the first important developer was Simeon Lord (1771–1840), who built a fulling mill in 1815 on the site that later became that of the old water works.

[2][1] Following European colonisation the first substantial interventions in the area occurred in 1815 when the enterprising merchant Simeon Lord had a dam constructed to the west of the present Botany Road for the purpose of establishing the colony's first woollen mill.

[1] The initial water supply scheme of the mid-1850s, by the City Engineer W. B. Rider, was abandoned with the appointment of Edward Bell to the position.

Between 1866 and the mid-1870s six dams were constructed, and reconstructed for various reasons, from the Mill Pond to Gardeners Road using piling of sheet timber facing filled with sand forming a core of a turfed bank.

Even intermittent emergency use of the system ceased by 1893 so that the Engine House machinery was finally decommissioned with pumping equipment and boilers sold at auction in 1896.

This work – known as the Southern and Western Sewer Ocean Outfall System or, usually, SWSOOS No 1 – was completed in 1916 under the direction of Chief Engineer EM de Burgh.

[3][1] Within the site the existing engine house chimney was retired for water supply use in 1888, left unused for 28 years then, after being shortened, re-used as a vent in 1916 as part of the work for the new SWSOOS.

During the 1940s the chimney was further truncated to its present height along with the diversion of the mouth of the Cooks River into Botany Bay and substantial filling of the Engine and Mill Ponds as part of a major expansion and upgrade of airport facilities.

From the 1970s a greater appreciation of the special historical and environmental values of the place was apparent through the commissioning of a range of studies to record and assess its significance.

However further incursions continued with the 1988 construction of Southern Cross Drive through the middle of the Engine Pond, reclamation by the DMR and more recent works associated with the pre-Olympics upgrade of the airport.

[1] In 1928 construction of a clubhouse near Gardeners Road was commenced for the Lakes Golf Club with the course – to the west and north of the chain of ponds – opening in 1930.

[1][4]: 4–5 From 2007–09 the entire Lakes Golf Course underwent a comprehensive renovation which included extensive construction works to the south-western section of the practice precinct area.

[1] Important surviving elements of non-indigenous heritage include remnants of the water supply Engine House and chimney (late 1850s) (no longer owned by Sydney Water); spillway/weir, remnants of the Engine and Mill Ponds; the sequence of ponds between the Mill Pond and Gardeners Road; 1915 Sewer Pumphouse; twin sewer syphons and easements; partial evidence of old Cooks River edge (evident through comparing early and recent aerial photography; 1869 plantings of Norfolk Island Pines (Araucaria heterophylla), Moreton Bay Fig Trees (Ficus macrophylla) and Port Jackson Fig Trees (Ficus rubiginosa).

Given the period, important government institutional use and the choice of tree species there is strong circumstantial evidence for the involvement of Charles Moore – Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens (1848–1896) in advising on these plantings.

Canary Island Date Palms (Phoenix canariensis) also survive near the Engine Pond and may be remnants – or progeny – of 1910s plantings associated with the reuse of the site for the main southern sewer system.

There is likewise strong circumstantial evidence for the involvement of Joseph Henry Maiden – Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens (1896–1924) in recommending the choice of these plantings.

Earlier pond formations existed some decades before, and were absorbed into, this system however surviving evidence is difficult to discern from both (non-intrusive) site inspections and an analysis of aerial photography.

[1] Several remnant areas of the famous and now rare Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub (still featuring the trademark Grass Trees (Xanthorrhoea resinosa) as well as various communities of reed and sedgeland species are represented within the open space boundaries.

Part of the original 1850s sand-cast iron water supply pipe remains within the site representing a remnant of the State's oldest main.

[1] The open space areas encompassed by the item include two regionally rare and distinct remnant vegetation communities known as Sydney Freshwater Wetlands and Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub that are both potentially of State significance and are the subject of separate listings as an Endangered Ecological Community under the NSW Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995.

The item contains substantial remnants of structures and layout from Sydney's third main water supply system which supported the growth of Australia's largest city for most of the latter half of the 19th century.

[1] The place also has strong and direct associations with prominent individuals – including Colonial entrepreneur Simeon Lord; the naval officer, surveyor and pastoralist Thomas Woore; City Engineers WB Rider, Edward Bell and Francis Bell; and Board engineers including EM de Burgh.

Passing, though telling, early European references to the former landscape character of the area were made by many noted travellers including Captain James Cook in 1770 and Francois Peron in 1802.

The site represents a substantial tract of greenspace with important landscape attributes – extensive areas of water, wetlands, plantings, archaeological features, dunes, remnant indigenous vegetation and fauna – providing notable scenery and, remarkably, within 6 km of the Sydney CBD.

The large tract of open space is probably highly valued as a local or even regional asset while the uses associated with the various golf courses would likely guarantee a special interest in the wetlands landscape by patrons.