The large rendered column sits on the headland at La Perouse to commemorate the French explorer, Jean-François de Galaup, comte de La Pérouse (La Perouse), in the last known place he stood. La Perouse landed in Botany Bay 5 days after Captain Arthur Phillip, and set up base on the headland for six weeks before he sailed out on the 10th of march and was not heard from again. In 1791, the French Goverment sent out an expedition to search for him, which proved unsuccessful, until 1828 when Dumont d'Urville discovered La Perouse was wrecked at Vanikoro. On the 6th of September 1825, Commodore Hyacinthe de Bougainville and all the French Officers, proceeded to the site and laid the foundation stone for the monuments. Coins from the reign of Louis XVIII are set within the foundations.
