$50m for Botany Bay memorial to Captain James Cook

A permanent aquatic monument celebrating Captain Cook will be built in Botany Bay as part of a landmark $50m redevelopment.

The statue of Captain Cook in Sydney’s Hyde Park. Picture: James Croucher

A permanent aquatic monument celebrating Captain Cook’s first extended ­encounter between European and indigenous cultures will be built in Botany Bay as part of a landmark $50 million redevelopment of Sydney’s Meeting Place Precinct.

Scott Morrison will today announce a major upgrade of the Captain James Cook memorial, funding a new visitors centre, cafe, exhibition space and ferry wharves at La Perouse and ­Kurnell. Mr Morrison, whose electorate of Cook includes the precinct, told The Weekend Australian that the expansion would deliver a “place of commemoration and recognition and understanding of two cultures, and the incredible Captain Cook”.

Delivery of a new aquatic monument, which is expected to include memorials to both Cook and Australia’s first inhabitants, will be delivered ahead of the 250th anniversary commemorating the first contact between ­Europeans and indigenous people on April 29, 1770.

“It is when that next chapter of Australia’s ancient story began being written and that’s the most modern part of that story … it’s taken us to the incredible country we are today,” the Treasurer said ahead of announcing the funding in the May 8 budget.

Artist’s impressions of the new Meeting Place Precinct at Kurnell in Sydney’s south, which will commemorate the meeting of Cook and indigenous people.

“It’s important these things aren’t ignored or relegated, that they’re acknowledged for their significance. We can do that in a way today which is very sensitive to the many other parts of this story. You don’t have to go back and change things that were written in the past.”

Following a heated cultural public debate last year sparked by Bill Shorten’s calls to include ­additional plaques on historical monuments, Mr Morrison strongly defended the preservation of Australia’s modern cultural heritage.

The statues of Cook and NSW governor Lachlan Macquarie were defaced last August, with a vandal spraypainting on the words “No pride in genocide” and “Change the date”.

Mr Morrison said yesterday the new monument site, which could include a statue of Cook, would deliver a contrast with 19th-century memorials. “I would think most ­Australians would warmly embrace this,” he said.

Artist’s impressions of the new Meeting Place Precinct at Kurnell in Sydney’s south, which will commemorate the meeting of Cook and indigenous people.

“The way we intend to implement it would be in a sensitive way but one that in no way stepped back from acknowledging the nat­ional significance of that day ­almost 250 years ago.”

The design and construction of the joint commonwealth-NSW funded statue will be put to tender, with Mr Morrison calling for ­proposals to consider both the legacy of Cook and of indigenous Australians.

“What we’re looking to do is have a monument in the Bay ­directly opposite where the landing site was, where the Endeavour was actually moored,” he said.

Earlier concepts for the upgrade of the site included a “depiction of stainless steel sails and three masts coming out of the water”, and Mr Morrison said he would like to see elements of indigenous culture incorporated. “What’s really important is the monument would seek to depict the aquatic features of what ­occurred here, something that would capture the moment, in a very interpretative, sensitive and beautiful way.

The neglected site as it looks today. Picture: Darren Leigh Roberts

“The other part of the brief has to pick up what else was on the water at the time. There would have been canoes. That has to be sensitive because you can’t depict Aboriginal forms in statues.”

NSW Attorney-General Mark Speakman, the MP for Cronulla, helped develop the draft masterplan to upgrade the memorial site, consulting with the Historical Society, Captain Cook Society, La Perouse Aboriginal Land Council and Kurnell residents. “This has been a very inclusive process,” he told The Weekend Australian.

“We want all stakeholders happy. This has to be a precinct of great significance to all Aus­tralians — indigenous and non-­indigenous, as well as domestic and foreign visitors.”

La Perouse Local Aboriginal Land Council chairwoman Noel­een Timbery yesterday welcomed the joint funding commitment.

Captain James Cook.

“Kurnell is a significant place for all Australians and the La Perouse Local Aboriginal Land Council is excited the NSW and Australian governments are investing substantial infrastructure to the area,” Ms Timbery said.

“The LPLALC welcomes the opportunity to continue its engagement to ensure Aboriginal cultural and economic partici­pation is achieved.”

The Weekend Australian understands $3m of the commonwealth contribution would be put towards the new monument and works on the existing Cook monument, built in the 19th ­century.