Spears removed from Kamay camp (Botany Bay) but Captain Cook and Joseph Banks 1770.
In a moving ceremony at the Wren Library at Trinity College, Cambridge the four spears were returned to traditional owners from La Perouse Aboriginal Community.
The spears were removed in 1770 by Captain James Cook and Joseph Banks from an empty camp. They were removed without permission after the explorers landed close to the encampment at Botany Bay (Kamay) which had been abandoned after the Gweagal men had been shot at.
It was initially thought - by Banks - that the spears were poisoned. However, his senior officer quickly realised the 40-50 spears they had collected were used for fishing and the “poison” was in fact a resin used to attach the bone tips to the shaft.
The traditional owners have sought to have them returned from Trinity College, Cambridge, since the 1990s. Michael Ingrey, a Dharawal man, said the spears’ return has been “a long time coming”.
He added: “The emotions are mixed…a lot of the old people that started the campaign aren't with us any more to see their hard work and labour come to fruition.”
The spears were given to Trinity College by John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich in 1771, along with other artefacts collected during Cook’s explorations. The spears have been held at the university’s Museum of Archeology and Anthropology since the early 19th Century.
The spears were among the first artefacts to be removed from Australia after initial contact, making them “exceptionally significant” and the last from that era to remain.
“They reflect the beginnings of a history of misunderstanding and conflict,” said Nicholas Thomas, director of Cambridge’s archaeology museum.
The wood used to make the spears can still be found on Country where they will be re-homed. Senior elders continue to teach younger generations how to make the spears in very much the same way these important artefacts were fashioned.
Community representatives Quaiden Riley Williams and David Johnson at the ceremony. Photo: Jenny Magee (Courtesy Trinity College Cambridge website)