Australia's colonisers wanted better for this land

Utopian ideals for the settlement of Australia gave way to a betrayal of the Indigenous people, that is only now being recognised.

Illustration of Captain Cook at Port Jackson. Cook believed the Indigenous population was 'purer' than Europeans. Matt Davidson

David Kemp

Jan 25, 2020 – 12.00am

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Australia Day on January 26 remembers the arrival of the First Fleet and its cargo of over 1000 convicts, commanded by Captain Arthur Phillip, at Sydney Cove on that day in 1788.

In 2020, however, the dates that will stand out in national memory will be April 28-29, for this will be the 250th anniversary of the arrival of the navigator and explorer, Captain James Cook, in HMS Endeavour at Botany Bay in 1770.