An ancestor of Indigenous people, who have lived around Botany Bay from before the the arrival of HMS Endeavour, had a simple message for those commemorating the 249th anniversary.
"There is room for all of us here," elder Aunty Barbara Simms-Keeley said at The Meeting of Two Cultures ceremony at Kurnell on Monday.
"It's not about us, not about them, not about you, it's us altogether working in unity. We need to walk in harmony, stay safe, embrace each other's culture and heritage."
Less than 250 people attended the event, organised each year by Sutherland Shire Council, and many of those were dignitaries, school children and pre-schoolers.
Next year, on the 250th anniversary, there will most likely be a huge turnout.
Kurnell Public School pupils sang the National Anthem in both English and Dharawal language, a ceremonial fire was lit by Aborigonal community leader Dean Kelly, speeches were given and the Djaadjawan Dancers performed.
Attorney-General and Cronulla MP Mark Speakman said the area was "a place of profound cultural and historical significance".
"At this place on this day 249 years ago in 1770 James Cook brought the MHS Endeavour to anchor and became the first recorded European to set foot on the east coast of Australia," he said.
"An explorer and navigator - perhaps the world's greatest ever of those - and a cartographer, Cook embodied the spirit of scientific inquiry and enterprise, the inquisitive spirit that characterised so much of the European age of enlightenment.
He spent his life harnessing new forms of knowledge and observing what to Europeans were remote corners of the globe.
"His legacy is one of extraordinary entrepreneurship, endeavour and innovation."
Mr Speakman said Cook's contributions to navigational techniques and scientific inquiries were monumental.
"He was the forerunner of a European settlement that endowed us with great faiths and the fundamental rights and freedoms that have been the bedrock of Australian society," he said.
"His arrival this place also marked the point at which two very different cultures, European and Indigenous, first encountered one another.
"These two cultures, their customs, their language, their clothes were entirely foreign to one another.
"Each discovered in the other a tremendous source of fascination, a puzzlement and, at times, horror.
"For many millennia before Cook's arrival, Aboriginal Australians cultivated a tradition built on spirituality, kinship and connection with country.
"That unique culture is just as much a part of our national fabric as our European and multicultural traditions."
Mr Speakman said, "for most, the Australian story is overwhelmingly positive".
"We are one of the most fortunate countries in the world and, indeed, possibly in the whole history of humanity," he said.
"But, the past tragic treatment of Indigenous people is a dark chapter in that history and probably our darkest.
"It's a chapter at times worsened by violence and conflict.
"And that history still leaves a gap today in areas like income, education, health, housing, incarceration and general wellbeing.
But to borrow Noel Pearson's insightful words, 'the meaning we invest in Australia can't just be about what was destroyed but what was created'.
"And with his new book, Dharawal - the First Contact People, launched on the weekend, Bruce Watt says, 'What's done is done. This is our shared history. Knowing it and understanding it is a pathway to a better future.'
"So, by knowing the stories of our past, by coming to terms with the mistakes and the tragedies of our past, we can let these stories guide us forward."
Mayor Carmelo Pesce said the council worked closely with the local Indigenous community, and the renaming of Greenhills Parkland to Marang (meaning sandhill) Parkland was just one example.
"We are working with the community for a series of events for 2020 First Encounters," he said,.
A message from Prime Minister Scott Morrison was read.
"We commemorate the incredible individual that was James Cook and at the same time we commemorate the resilience of Indigenous Australians, not just locally but all around Australia," Mr Morrison said.
"Australia has a great national story and this commemoration represents the latest chapter of Australia's ancestors and ancient stories beginning with them.
"Today we are a country made of Indigenous people, settlers and immigrants.
"Australia is not perfect but no country has a perfect story.
"We are living, breathing, honest and good hearted people, making the best choices that always strive to be better.
"A country is more than than a geography. It is also about shared history and future.
"For us it is 25 million lives knitted together with our joys and dramas, achievements and mistakes.
"We come from so many backgronds. The wonder of Australia is that the bonds between us are unshakeable and unbreakable.
"We draw strength from these bonds and we seek to build an even fairer and more prosperous future together."
