The original inhabitants of the area that is now known as Watsons Bay, were the Cadigal people. The Cadigal referred to the area as Kutti. This indigenous group of people fished and collected shellfish in the waters and bays off South Head. They acquired their resources from Camp Cove and carved rock engravings there, which have since eroded from the cliff faces and rock surfaces that line the coastline.
European settlement
Watsons Bay was named after Robert Watson (1756�1819), formerly of HMS Sirius, when he had to beach his three vessels at Camp Cove for many years because of their being potentially sold by the Provost Marshal. Watson was appointed harbour pilot and harbour master of the port of Sydney in 1811 and the first superintendent of Macquarie Lighthouse in 1816.
The first grant of 20 acres (81,000 m) was made to Edward Laing in 1793 in the Camp Cove Area. Watsons Bay was an isolated fishing village until development began in the 1860s.
On the night of 20 August 1857, Dunbar a sailing ship became shipwrecked against the cliffs below The Gap, with 121 lives lost. The Dunbar had mistaken the bay of The Gap for the harbour entrance. In 1910, at Jacob�s Ladder, the anchor from the ship was recovered along with other relics and were placed in a museum behind the old Town Hall in Military Road by Vaucluse Council. The anchor was transferred to the cliffs of Gap Park by Ald. Coombes and a memorial was unveiled in August 1930.
Today, The Gap is known as a notorious suicide spot, with several deaths occurring there each year.
Trams
The City to Watsons bay tram line was extended from Edgecliffe to Signal Hill Station, Watsons Bay in 1903 with further extensions to Gap Park in 1909. The latter extension included a new tram terminus adjacent to The Gap and a tram cutting cut into the rock face in Gap Park that ran above and parallel to Gap Road that gradually descended to
