Sutherland Shire Council has called on the British Museum to return to the historic Gweagal Shield, spears and artefacts taken by Lieutenant James Cook at the first contact between Europeans and Aboriginal people at Kurnell, Botany in 1770.
When Cook attempted to land on April 29, 1770, a Gweagal man named Cooman and another warrior warned them off, threatening them with stones and spears.
Cook returned fire, resulting in Cooman being shot in the leg. As Cooman and his fellow warrior retreated, they left behind the shield and several small spears.
Cook came ashore and took the shield and up to 50 spears they found at nearby camps.
The artefacts were taken to England on the Endeavour. The shield is in the British Museum, four spears are in the Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and some items in a Swedish museum.
Cooman’s sixth-generation descendant, Aboriginal activist Rodney Kelly is campaigning for the return of the artefacts and is currently in Britain meeting with the museums continuing his campaign for the artefacts’ return.
The NSW Government and the Australian Government have provided letters of support for Mr Kelly.
Jonathan Doig, Greens candidate in the recent council election, organised a meeting between Mr Kelly, Sutherland Shire mayor Carmelo Pesce and Councillors Tom Croucher and Barry Collier seeking the council’s support of Mr Kelly’s efforts.
This week, Cr Croucher called on Sutherland Shire Council to provide Mr Kelly with a formal letter fully supporting in his efforts to have the items “returned to country” and placed in good care in a museum.
Cr Collier seconded Cr Croucher’s motion, saying the Cooman shield and spears are just as important to the Aboriginal people as the Elgin Marbles are to the Greeks.
“It’s only fitting they are returned in time for the 250th anniversary of Cook’s landing,” he said.
Cr Croucher said local elders support the repatriation, on the basis that the artefacts will be returned to a museum.
“It is very important to all Australians,” Cr Croucher said. “They are a real living symbol of the first contact.
“We can reasonably ascertain that the items are the same as those removed from Botany Bay in 1770 because they were described in detail in the journals of Joseph Banks and there were two professional artists on board the Endeavour who made detailed drawings of them.
“While we have a great debt to these museums for securing the preserving these artefacts for almost 250 years, they belong the Gweagal people and are of great significance to all Indigenous people.
“They are of even greater importance to descendants of the people who encountered the crew of the Endeavour.
“But they are also important to all Australian as a symbol of the first meeting Europeans and Indigenous people at Kurnell in 1770.
“They communicate, without words, the impact of European settlement and loss that followed without compensation.
“But hopefully they can also be a catalyst for reconciliation.”
Cr Croucher was unanimously supported by Sutherland Shire Council.