Cook’s arrival revisited

A sketch of Cook and his party preparing to land at Kundal, Botany Bay, 29 April 2020 (Wikimedia)

The 250th anniversary of the voyage by Captain James Cook and crew on HMS Endeavour in 1770 provides an opportunity to review the whole one-sided history that Cook discovered Australia and that many Australians still believe. Today, 29 April 2020, 250 years after the fateful landing and encounter at Kundal (Kurnell), The Conversation has posted a number of articles that bebunk this fallacy. You can read them here:

Shino Konishi, ‘Captain Cook wanted to introduce British justice to Indigenous people. Instead he became increasingly cruel and violent’, 29 April 2020: https://theconversation.com/captain-cook-wanted-to-introduce-british-justice-to-indigenous-people-instead-he-became-increasingly-cruel-and-violent-127025

Kate Darian-Smith, Katina Schkunke, ‘Cooking the books: how re-enactments of the Endeavour’s voyage perpetuate myths of Australia’s ‘discovery’, 29 April 2020: https://theconversation.com/cooking-the-books-how-re-enactments-of-the-endeavours-voyage-perpetuate-myths-of-australias-discovery-126751

Louise Zarmati, ‘Captain Cook “discovered” Australia, and other myths from old school text books’, 29 April 2020, https://theconversation.com/captain-cook-discovered-australia-and-other-myths-from-old-school-text-books-128926

Bruce Buchan, ‘Botany and the colonisation of Australia in 1770’, 29 April 2020: https://theconversation.com/botany-and-the-colonisation-of-australia-in-1770-128469

Alison Page, ‘”They are all dead”: for Indigenous people. Cook’s voyage of “discovery” was a ghostly visitation’, 29 April 2020: https://theconversation.com/they-are-all-dead-for-indigenous-people-cooks-voyage-of-discovery-was-a-ghostly-visitation-126430

Sunanda Creagh and John Maynard, ‘An honest reckoning with Captain Cook’s legacy won’t heal things overnight. But it’s a start’, 29 April 2020, https://theconversation.com/an-honest-reckoning-with-captain-cooks-legacy-wont-heal-things-overnight-but-its-a-start-130389