[1][2] Known to the indigenous inhabitants of Sydney as Woccanmagully, Farm Cove was used by them as an initiation ground and for the "Kangaroo and Dog Dance".
The land immediately adjacent to Farm Cove was set aside soon after first European settlement in 1788 by Governor Arthur Phillip for the Government House Domain, a private reserve for the NSW Governor.
The first farm for the colony was thereafter established in the area, subsequently lending its name to the cove.
[3] After the failure of this first farm, and the transfer of agricultural efforts elsewhere in the colony, Governor Lachlan Macquarie established the Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney around Farm Cove in 1816.
It was the first occasion on which a reigning monarch had set foot on Australian soil.