Indigenous History in Northbridge
Prior to European settlement, the Camaraigal people roamed the bushland and fished from the foreshore of the peninsula in Middle Harbour now known as Northbridge. A number of Camaraigal people were seen by Governor Phillip when his party visited Middle Harbour in mid-1788.
There is evidence that escaped convicts passed through the peninsula and they may have contributed to the devastating impact of the new diseases introduced at this time on the Aboriginal population, particularly smallpox. By the 1850s there were no Aboriginals living their original lifestyle in the Northbridge area.
Evidence of early family life in Willoughby City comprises numerous middens, artwork in caves and archival photographs of rock carvings. in the Northbridge area. A buried ball and chain and the coffin of a young child were discovered on Fig Tree Point in the 1870s, while rock engravings and middens are still present on the peninsula.
Reference
Historical Willoughby, ‘Northbridge’, Willoughby District Historical Society & Museum Inc | willoughbydhs.org.au