Cambridge, England | A set of spears souvenired by Captain James Cook during his first encounter with Indigenous Australians in Sydney’s Botany Bay, almost exactly 254 years ago, has been handed back to the original owners’ descendants.

The handover on Tuesday, from Cambridge University’s Trinity College to a group of Indigenous Australians from Sydney’s La Perouse area, has been hailed as the most significant repatriation of Aboriginal artefacts yet seen.