The discovery of knowledge

The relentlessly aspirational and diverse endeavour that produces this newspaper six days a week is driven by realistic ambitions for this peerless nation and its people. Seldom has that privilege been more rewarding than on our voyage of rediscovery this month as Trent Dalton and others have delved into the astonishing achievements of Captain James Cook, the repercussions of which unfold yet before us. The project to retell this pivotal episode in Australia’s history — the European discovery and mapping of the east coast, first contact with indigenous peoples, sampling and descriptions of flora, fauna and minerals, and the official claiming of territory on behalf of England — was already under way on the eve of next year’s 250th anniversary of Cook’s first expedition. But given publication coincided with an ugly controversy about Cook’s place in our history — a debate so ignorant and divisive it led to vandalism of a statue honouring the explorer — we could not have shed light at a better time.

Lauded by some as the greatest explorer the world has known, Cook is not directly associated with European settlement of our land (he was killed more than a decade before it occurred) but it could not have happened without his discoveries. Much has hinged on the word “discovery”, with ABC indigenous affairs editor Stan Grant claiming it writes out of history our first peoples. This is clearly not the case. Cook came with instructions to make peace with any inhabitants and he tried to do so, with varying success. By describing the addition to the knowledge bank of Western civilisation of this continent, its people, their culture and the landscape and flora and fauna around them as a “discovery” we only reflect the common usage of the term. It should not be presumed to erase any aspect of our history; neither the tens of thousands of years of indigenous culture preceding it, nor injustices and hardships that European settlement would bring to indigenous communities. Cook was a starting point of contact and of mutual awareness. What flowed from his skill and determination has been an opening up of the world, a confluence of peoples and, ultimately, benefits accruing to generations of Australians from these shores and all corners of the globe.

Before contact, before settlement, before any injustice, the genesis of our modern nation lay in a noble pursuit. As Nick Cater wrote: “Cook was not a conquistador, crusader or evangelist. He was the leader of a scientific expedition at a time when European thought was turning away from superstition towards reason.” When Cook’s vessel finally sailed back to England — almost three years after leaving and when many had presumed HMS Endeavour and her skipper and crew lost — she brought back not gold or silver but greater treasures. “Most of all, she carries knowledge,” wrote Dalton. “New insights into navigation, mathematics, geology, astronomy, map-making, botany, languages. She carries new strategies to manage men, to survive at sea, to cross entire oceans into new hemispheres of thinking. She carries a whole new world.”

Knowledge is key to our genesis, our future and to reconciling our history. So The Weekend Australian is proud to bring you reporting and analysis of all of this and offer our e-book capturing this epic reality. We celebrate Captain James Cook as an inspiration in our wondrous, rich and imperfect history.