Australia Still Celebrates Invasion
Australia continues to celebrate its colonial origins and the suffering that make it unable to present a unified history and identity.
“When our old people saw the Endeavour coming through, they actually thought it was a low-lying cloud because all they could see was whiteness,” said Ray Ingrey, a Dharawal man and La Perouse Local Aboriginal Land Council deputy chairperson.
“In Dharawal culture, that low-lying cloud means the spirits of the dead have returned to their country and so they saw almost ghosts.
“So when the two men opposed the landing, they were protecting the country in a spiritual way, from ghosts.”
Written records from Cook’s crew make it clear a conflict occurred during that first meeting of two cultures.
Journal entries describe the Aboriginal men threatening the crew, until eventually gunshots are fired at them, but it is not made clear whether the local men lived or died.
On 29 April 1770, Captain James Cook and crew attempted their first landfall on the continent at a beach now known as Silver Beach at Botany Bay (Kamay). The older warrior, who some identify as Cooman, and another Gweagal man came down to the beach to fend off what they thought to be spirits of the dead. They shouted “warra warra wai” meaning ‘you are all dead’ and gestured with their spears.
Cook’s party attempted to communicate their desire for water and threw gifts of beads and nails ashore. The two Aboriginal men continued to oppose the landing and Cook fired a warning shot. The older warrior responded by throwing a rock, and Cook shot him in the leg with small shot. The crew then landed, and the Gweagal men threw two spears before Cook shot at them again and they retreated. The crew took their spears and shield and Cook found several children in nearby huts, and left some beads with them.
“Shaking their lances and menacing, (they) in all appearances resolved to dispute our landing to the utmost though they were two and we were 30 or 40 at least. They remained resolute so a musket was fired over them. A musket loaded with small shot was now fired at the eldest of the two … It struck him on the legs but he minded it very little so another was immediately fired.” — Joseph Banks
… I fired a musket between the two which had no other effect than to make them retire back where bundles of their darts lay and one of them took up a stone and threw at us which caused my fireing a second Musquet load with small shott and altho’ some of the shott struck the man yet it had no other effect than to make him lay hold of a shield or target to defend himself … — James Cook, Cook’s Journal: Diary Entries — 29 April 1770
A red mangrove shield apparently pierced with a bullet hole, named the “Gweagal Shield”, now sits in the British Museum.
The British Museum states it is “suggested and not confirmed” that the shield belonged to the warrior Cooman when he was shot at by Cook’s landing party.
In November 2016, the British Museum began investigating the provenance of the Gweagal Shield held by them. They held a workshop involving various experts, including curators from both the British and Australian Museums, academics from the Royal Armouries, Cambridge and the Australian National University, and two Aboriginal representatives from the La Perouse community. The results of the investigations were published in 2018. Testing of the shield found that its wood is red mangrove, which can be obtained only at least 500 kilometres north of Botany Bay. The hole in the shield was inspected by a ballistics expert who concluded that it was not made by a firearm. Nicholas Thomas, director and curator of the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at Cambridge, also found that the shield in the British Museum does not closely match the 1771 detailed drawing of the shield collected by Banks. Based on the available evidence, Thomas concludes that the shield in the British Museum is not the shield taken from Botany Bay in April 1770. Maria Nugent and Gaye Sculthorpe state that the evidence for a connection between the shield in the British Museum and James Cook is relatively scant. However, Shayne Williams states that it is very likely a Gugu Yimidhirr shield acquired by Cook during his stay at the Endeavour River in north Queensland (a region where red mangrove is abundant).
“We are still waiting to get that shield back,” Gweagal and Yuin woman Theresa Ardler said. “I want to work on some repatriation [because] it’s that very spiritual connection we have with those objects”. But Ardler’s belief in the origins of the Gweagal Shield is not founded in the probablity of scientific fact. However, the object has been assigned power.
“I have deep sadness [leading up to this anniversary] and I’ve been very much reflecting on my ancestors.
“Our culture is not dead, it is living and thriving decades on.” said Ms Ardler.
It is not only stolen artefacts that are objects of contention. The monuments that have been erected around Australia to commemorate the actors and events of colonisation are today seen as points of both power and rememberance. However, the function of monuments (whether they be statues or shields) are as cultural and historical markers that determine identity on a personal level as well as manifesting power in the broader culture.
Yesterday a century-old Captain Cook statue in St Kilda Melbourne was cut down in an apparent protest over the Australia Day public holiday. Another statue, of Queen Victoria near the Melbourne city centre, was doused in red paint. An anarchist group has claimed responsibility for the actions and have posted a video on Instagram of it. This action against the monuments of history is very relevant to how Australia understands itself and treats its citizens today.
Captain Cook was a murderer for British imperialism, Queen Victoria a director, and overseer of genocide. The community of Naarm refuses monuments that glorify murder, occupation, and the ongoing genocide of First Nations people.
Colonialism is imperialism is capitalism is theft is disposession is genocide: destroy this in every manifestation. Colonialism will never be celebrated, only toppled. Empires will fall and justice will prevail.
Be part of a future born from the truth of our past.
What could be possible?
This took place a day before Invasion Day, January 26. Listen up, act up, disrupt.
“At a time when the cult of architectural objects is often substituted for care in responding to social needs, it is necessary to call into question the role of monuments in society. The analyses of Henri Lefebvre and the Situationist International clarify the social functions of monuments and relate them to historical and aesthetic values. On the one hand, by its role in transmitting collective memory, its trans-functionality and its utility, the monument is symbolically indispensable. On the other hand, it is clearly a vehicle of repressive ideology. Because of the monument’s symbolic power, it must not only be understood as a reified object, but rather as a sort of cultural repository and social vector.” — Grégory Busquet
Cultural and social unity and direction, along with national identity are lost in the failure of Australia to develop a functional sense of truth in history. From the resulting void there continues a trail of broken lives, suffering, dispossession and disadvantage. This will continue until the terrible legacy of colonialism, which is still an active force in Australia today, is acknowledged and the rights of Indigenous Australians are realised across the spectrum of politics, economy, history, and society.
