‘Like time travellers’: Priceless spears taken by Cook have come home

When Lieutenant James Cook and the crew of HMB Endeavour stepped ashore in Botany Bay in April 1770 – during their exploration of Australia’s east coast – two men from the Gweagal people of Kamay threw rocks and spears at the strange voyagers.

Cook fired a warning shot, then two others, and the Indigenous men retreated, leaving behind relics of their strong hunter-gatherer culture and affinity with Country.

Curator Marika Duczynski and the four spears taken by Cook in 1770 have gone on public display at the Chau Chak Wing Museum. Credit: Steven Siewert

Four of the 40 or 50 Gweagal spears taken during the British voyagers’ eight-day stay have now gone on public display, 30 kilometres from that historic place of European contact.

“These spears are like time travellers,” says Michael Dagostino, director of the Chau Chak Wing Museum on the grounds of the University of Sydney. “They really talk about colonisation – the first moments of colonisation – and the direct impact and subsequent history that was to follow.”

Some seized “lances” ranged from “15 to 6 feet [4.5 to two metres] in length”, wrote botanist Joseph Banks in his journal. All, except one, had four prongs headed with sharp fish bones, and smeared with a greenish gum that Banks mistakenly thought was poison but turned out to be seaweed.

Upon Cook’s return to England, the Fourth Earl of Sandwich, gifted four spears to his alma mater, Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1914, they were turned over to the university’s Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology with other materials from Cook’s Pacific voyage.

Ray Ingrey, who chairs the Gujaga Foundation, leads members of the La Perouse Aboriginal Community during the ceremony at Trinity College last year.Credit: Jenny Magee

The priceless weapons were stored in the museum’s basement until March 2023, when the museum, the Gujaga Foundation and the La Perouse Local Aboriginal Land Council announced their permanent repatriation.

The fishing spears form the centrepiece of the museum’s new exhibition, Mungari: Fishing, Resistance, Return, running until June 29.

They will be displayed with contemporary and historic examples of fishing tools including woomera (spear-throwing devices), hooks, nets and bags.

“My understanding is they haven’t been on display at the Cambridge Archaeology and Anthropology Museum for a very long time and that the spears have been sitting in a basement through no fault of their own and no fault of the museum,” Dagostino said. “We’re looking after the spears until the La Perouse community can build a culture centre.”

In 2015, 2020 and 2022, the spears returned temporarily for display in Canberra’s National Museum of Australia and the Chau Chak Wing Museum as part of exhibitions exploring frontier encounters. By quirk of legislation, they had to return to England to be formally repatriated back to Australia.

“Our elders never forgot what happened in 1770 and the removal of spears was always talked about,” said Ray Ingrey, founding chair of the Gujaga Foundation, which leads the La Perouse Aboriginal community’s language, cultural and research activities.

“This exhibition represents our elders’ strength in keeping our Dharawal culture alive.”

The resting place for the remaining spears removed from Botany Bay is unknown.

“We don’t know what happened to them,” Dagostino said. “They might have been dispersed, but we’re thankful these spears ended up in the museum.”

The Booklist is a weekly newsletter for book lovers from Jason Steger. Get it delivered every Friday.