Aborigines more popular than Captain Cook?

Questions continue to be raised about statues commemorating the British and the lack of memorials commemorating the First Australians who have inhabited this continent and its islands for up to possibly 70,000 years or more. The role English Captain James Cook played in British exploration in the 1770s and the eventual invasion of eastern Australia in 1788, continue to be controversial. While many don’t know anything about the truth of Australian history, or are indifferent to it, there are others who consider Cook to be some kind of ‘founding father’ and hero. However, the Australian National University’s Professor Ann McGrath says Captain Cook was not always popular with the Australian public. Read more in Ann McGrath, 2018, Life Sentences: Aborigines more popular than Captain Cook, pp. 1–2.

[Post updated 15 November 2022.]