Captain Cook at Kamay / Botany Bay 1770

Captain Cook: Botany Bay 1770 | Disobeyance of orders 1770 | Woonona 28 April 1770 |

"View from the shore" - Cook @ Kamay / Botany Bay / Stingray Bay

First-hand accounts by local Aboriginal people

29 April - 6 May 1770

Two of the natives of New Holland advancing to combat [Kamay 29 April 1770]

Contents

1. Introduction
2. Accounts
3. Videos
4. Murramurang
5. References
6. Acknowledgements

--------------

[NB: Within this text the spelling of Indigenous words is fluid]

1. Introduction

During the 1990s one of the present authors was informed by a member of the local Illawarra Aboriginal community - Jeff Timbery, a descendant of the Timbery clan of Kamay / Botany Bay - that, according to oral tradition, when HMB Endeavour under the command of Lt. James Cook first sighted the east coast of Australia at Point Hicks on 20 April 1770, the vessel in turn was closely observed by Aboriginal people (Organ 2016). This was not, in all likelihood, the first time a sailing ship had visited the east coast of Australia, though it was the first occasion to be officially recorded and published in any detail. A group of Illawarra, Shoalhaven and South Coast people shadowed the Endeavour as it headed north towards Kamay, or Botany Bay, providing information to their fellow coastal Aboriginal communities along the way. This may explain the fact that upon entering Botany Bay on the morning of 29 April 1770 the Endeavour was greeted by numerous Aboriginal people on the shoreline shouting Wirra wirra wai! ["Go Away! Go Away!"] - an antipathy which suggests they may have had prior violent contact with foreigners in ships. However, it also reinforces the Indigenous cultural protocol over access to land and Country. That protocol required that whether Indigenous or non-Indigenous, permission had to be sought and granted before one could enter upon another's Country. Obviously Cook and the Endeavour did not follow this protocol. As such, they were deemed not welcome.

Following the arrival of Lt. James Cook and the crew of HMB Endeavour at Kamay, and dropping anchor on the southern side of the harbour at Kurnel, they spent 8 days there, from 29 April through to 6 May. During this period, Cook and some of his men surveyed the area leading to its initial designation as Stingray Bay. Cook apparently also travelled overland as far north as being able to view the future Port Jackson / Sydney Harbour in the distance. The numerous accounts within the various Endeavour journals, including Cook's own ship's log, record aspects of the stay and encounters with the local Australian Aboriginal people in all parts of Kamay, and not just the Gweagal of the southern area near the Endeavour anchorage. The crew also visited the northern shore near Kameygal, later known as Frenchman's Garden and present day La Perouse.

Some confusion reigns over the precise details of the various encounters between the British and the local people during 1770, and the degree to which conflicts arose, due to discrepancies in both the Indigenous and non-Indigenous accounts, the latter of which are sparse in mentioning the local people. Some of the few surviving Indigenous accounts also appear to mix up the arrival of Cook in 1770 with the arrival of the First Fleet eighteen years later in 1788.

Apart from this confusion, there is also some obvious editing and censorship within the British accounts. For example, in reading across them all it can be ascertained that before even landing on the first day, Cook fired at, and wounded, two Aboriginal men who came to protest the landing. It is also possible that this was repeated when a separate landing was later made on the northern shore of Kamay, and that there were violent encounters with the English because the locals made it clear from the outset they were not welcome. The following are known first-hand accounts of the landing from the Aboriginal perspective:

1. Information arising out of an 1822 event in which six elderly Aboriginal men provided contemporary accounts of the visit in 1770. This first appeared in print in 1864 (West 1864).
2. Concerns a record made in 1833, being an account by a son of his father's reminiscences. This appeared in print during 1863 (McEncroe 1863).
3. A brief conversation by Obed West with Cruwee / Crewey published in 1882.
4. Mary Everitt's copy of an account with a descendant of Coomee was recorded in 1901 and is yet to be located and transcribed (Illert 2001).
5. The King Burraga (Joe Anderson) story of a message stick warning travelling up the coast to Kamay is mentioned in a 1937 article and a 2020 video reproduced below.

Unfortunately, the "from the shore" accounts are rather brief and little known. Part of the reason for this is the emphasis in Australian history prior to the bicentennial of 1988 to portray Cook as a heroic explorer and "discoverer" of the Great South Land. Critical assessments of his activities were few and far between, and do not exist in either the official records or the Australian popular press for the first two centuries of European occupation. For example, as early as 1864 an account of the landing by Obed West included the comment: ....of course, [there was] no "protest," as some have imagined, against the landing (West 1864). Also, within the 2024 book Warra Warra Wai - How Indigenous Australians discovered Captain Cook & what they tell about the coming of the Ghost People.

In addition, the Australian Aborigines had a long oral tradition, with no written system of recording events. As a result, first-hand accounts are easily lost, or subject to amendment. For example, one south coast account of the the passage of the ships of the First Fleet in 1788 was altered during the second half of the 1900s to refer instead to the passage of the Endeavour in 1770. Despite this dearth of "from the shore" accounts, when combined with the published Cook and Endeavour logs and journal records, a more complete picture of events during that 8 day period is revealed. That aspect, however, is not addressed within the present article.

-------------------

2. Accounts

Wirra, wirra, wia! / go away! go away! (Gweagal 29 April 1770)

Wirra, wirra, wia! / go away, you are all dead! (Gweagal 29 April 1770)

... and, of course, no "protest," as some have imagined, against the landing. (West 1864)

1770

* 29 April - 6 May 1770 - Captain Cook and the Endeavour anchor at Kamay / Botany Bay / Stingray Bay. Their landing on the southern shore is opposed by two Aboriginal men, with one known as Cooman / Goomung / gu:mʊ:ŋ = spear-man (Illert 2001). According to Joseph Banks, people on the northern shore also aggressively brandished weapons at them, despite having initially 'invited our people to land by many signs and words' (Rix and Cormick 2024). When the ship dropped anchor, it was basically ignored by the local population, in line with protocol.

---------------

1822

* 20 March 1822 - a group of men from the Philosophical Society of New South Wales - including Governor Sir Thomas Brisbane, Dr. Henry Grattan Douglass, Alexander Berry, Barron Field and others - visit Kurnel, Botany Bay to identify and commemorate Cook's landing. An elderly Aboriginal man by the name of Harry accompanies the party. They erect a brass plaque at the landing place, mentioning both Cook and Joseph Banks. The following account contains information from that time and was published in the following: Reminiscences of Captain Cook's Landing in Botany Bay, The Empire, Sydney, 26 January 1864.

This account includes reference to both the arrival of the Endeavour on 29 April 1770 and a later occurrence of two of the ship's small boats (also called ships) coming to the north shore of Botany Bay with three people came on shore. It is assumed that this account is by an unnamed English man, identified as Obed West 1807-1891 (Conroy 2022). He had known the Aborigines around Kundel (Kurnel) and obtained his information from six such locals, identified as:

• Yadyer
• Bullmayna - killed by Dolmoik with a stone in Sydney
• Dolmoik - killed Bullmayna
• Kurrul
• Bluitt - killed Dolmoik with a spear, to avenge Bullmayna
• Potta - brother of Bluitt

The informant West, then aged 15, was present at the Philosophical Society event on 20 March 1822. This was some 50 years after the visit by Cook, by which point the Cook informants would have been old men. West likely obtained the following information around that time and later, pending the passing of the six Aboriginal men.

Reminiscences of Captain Cook's Landing in Botany Bay

The following facts have been furnished to us by a gentleman who, besides having been present at the meeting on the south side of Botany Bay in 1821 [20 March 1822], was accustomed from his boyhood, as a native of the colony, to converse freely with the aborigines about Kundel, and in all the neighbourhood of Botany Bay and Sydney. One more fully acquainted with the evidence of the aborigines respecting the event which has justly attracted wide spread and deep interest, or more reliable as far as his own memory and fidelity are concerned, it would be impossible to find. We are therefore glad to be enabled to supply the public with the facts thus preserved.

The aborigines known to our informant as eye witnesses of Captain Cook's landing were Yadyer, Bullmayna, Dolmoik, Kurrul, Bluitt and Potta (two brothers), and several others whose names he cannot now recall. Bullmayna was afterwards killed by a stone from the hands of Dolmoik, exactly on the spot where the Supreme Court now stands. After committing this deed Dolmoik fled to the shores of Botany Bay. Bluitt pursued him, and in a few days came up with him in his canoe at Cummins' Point, and inflicted a mortal wound with a spear, thus avenging the death of Bullmayna.

All these aborigines agreed in their statements respecting this great event. They said that when the ship first appeared off the coast they were on the north shore of the bay, at a spot called by the aborigines Kooriwall, but commonly known as "The Frenchman's Gardens" [La Perouse]. Yadyer, on seeing the ship, went down to the corner of the beach, where a portion of the tribe were encamped, and told them what he had seen. They all thereupon went up the hill to look. Some of them thought the ships were large birds; others, that it was "Devil-devil" coming.

(The blacks have learnt, from the use of the word by white men to call any supernatural terrific being devil. The word "phantom" expresses as closely as any the idea they attach to the term "devil-devil.")

But, as the objects of their amazement approached the heads of the bay, they came to the conclusion that they were large canoes with people on board. Shortly afterwards, they saw two boats leave the ship, and go to the rocks at "Kundel." the point where the brass plate was put up in 1824 [20 March 1822]. Three persons from one of the boats landed just below that point. The exact spot where they landed was repeatedly pointed out to our informant. Bluitt, one of the above named blacks, first showed it to him. At that time there was no aborigines at all on the south side of the bay, and, of course, no "protest," as some have imagined, against the landing.

The boats went round the rock into a little harbour; and the three persons who had landed went round in the same direction to a spot opposite to the hill, where the house of the Botany Bay harbour master now stands, and within forty yards of the run of water which flows close to the south side of the house. The boat landed at a small gap, where there was a fine run of fresh water. After staying there some time, the boats came over to the north side of Botany Bay and landed on the beach at Kooriwai, or the Frenchman's Gardens. Three persons then landed from one of the boats; one of these had on his "cobra" (head) something like a "bang-aloe."

(The bang-aloe is a vessel for carrying water, it is made of bark drawn together at the ends and fastened with thongs as to resemble very closely a cocked hat.)

These three then walked along the beach, the boats pulling close to the land till they came to Bumbara Point, half a mile from Frenchman's gardens due north. The black fellows made their appearance on the bank above the beach, with spears and woomeras; but made no attempt to throw a spear at the strangers. When the aborigines appeared the second time, two guns were fired from the boats, on which they drew back into the bush.

When the three persons who landed came to Bumbara Point, they got into the boat, and after staying there for a short time went back to the ships, which were then anchored just inside the heads. Either that evening or the following morning two boats came up again to the north side at Bumbara point, and hauled a seine twice, and then returned to the ships.

Such is an accurate report of the landing of Captain Cook, as seen by the aborigines.

The gentleman who has furnished this statement has also from his own knowledge supplied corrections of several mistakes current in connection with this subject. Kundel, where the well is which has been erroneously supposed to have been dug by Captain Cook, became the property of Captain Birney, who lived in Sydney on the spot now occupied by the "Empire" office, and who stocked Kundel with horned cattle and horses, and kept two flocks of sheep close to Doughboy hill on what was then a small and well grassed plain, but is now covered with drifted sand, and consequently worthless. Lawrence, the cooper of George street, had a house and beautiful garden there; but the garden has long since been destroyed, and the house buried by drifting sand. In explanation to this untoward change, it is remembered that formerly there was a thick belt of tea trees and rushes along the beach, which must have arrested the sand blown up from the bay. But after a while, fire and other causes destroyed this belt, and left the plain open to the beach. In came the sand, and smothered all vegetation. Captain Birney sold the land to Mr John Connell, who had some property at Port Hacking. Connell fenced in Boomera Point, for a horse paddock; and as there was no water on the land thus enclosed, he had the well in question dug by a man named James Malownes. Our informant was there a few days after the well was dug, and saw old Jimmy (Malownes) completing the job, by putting stones round it to prevent the sand breaking in. A large cask was afterwards introduced into it. The well therefore, was not dug by Captain Cook or his party, and while the land was in the possession of Captain Birney, there was no well there at all. It was only when the fence rendered it necessary, that the well was thought of. Captain Cook had no reason to dig a well, as a most beautiful stream ran down within a few yards of where they landed.

In references to the meeting in 1821[20 March 1822], several persons now living in the colony were present, as well as Mr Berry and Dr Douglass; among them was Mr Frederic Garland of Parramatta, who was a boy at the time, and went with his father, then a Judge of the Supreme Court. Sir Thomas Brisbane, the Governor, made an offer on that occasion, in the hearing of our informant, to an old man named Henry Rolfe, to give him a grant of 30 acres of Woolaware Flat as an oyster bed. At that time the whole of that flat was covered with whilk oysters. These were afterwards collected by Mr Thomas Street, of Sydney, and brought by schooner loads into town and burnt for lime.

The blackfellow from whom the members of the Philosophical Society derived their information was a native of the spot where Liverpool now stands, and went by the name of Harry. So that the concurrent reports of the six or eight aborigines living at Botany Bay, and whose statement is embodied in the above statement, are more reliable than that which has been held forth and the only tradition of Captain Cook's landing. —

It would therefore appear that Harry, Obed West and members of the Philosophical Society obtained information about Cook's landing from the six old native men around 1822 and thereafter. Much of the above information was included in a book published by Samuel Bennett in 1865. It is reproduced below, and is largely the same, though with some variant spelling and additional details, including that of a second visit by the two boats to the north shore of the bay.

* Samuel Bennett, The History of Australian Discovery and Colonisation,1865:

A gentleman, a native of Sydney, who had frequent opportunities in his youth, in the early part of the present century, of acquiring information from the Botany Bay blacks, and who always took much interest in all that related to them, has kindly supplied the writer with all the information he was able to glean from their old men on the subject of Cook’s landing.

As the Endeavor was the first ship and Cook and his crew the first white men they had ever seen, it is reasonable to suppose that the circumstances must have made a strong impression upon their memory. The gentleman referred to states that the aborigines known to have been contemporary with Captain Cook’s landing were Yadyer, Bullmayne, Dolmoik, Kurrul, Bluitt and Potta (two brothers).

All agreed in their statements respecting this great event. They said that when the ship first appeared off the coast they were on the north shore of the Bay at a spot called by the aborigines Kooriwall, but afterwards known to the colonist as Frenchman’s Gardens. Yadyer said that on seeing the ship he went down to a corner of the beach, where a portion of the tribe were encamped, and told them what he had seen. They all thereupon went up the hill to look. Some of them thought the ship was a large bird. But, as the object of their amazement approached the heads of the Bay, they came to the conclusion that it was a large canoe with people on board.

Shortly afterwards they saw two boats leave the ship and go to the rocks at ‘Kundel’ the point where the brass plate was put up in 1822. Three persons from one of the boats landed just beyond the point. The boats went round the rock into a little harbour, and three persons who landed went round in the same direction, to the spot within forty yards of the run of water which flows close to the south side of where Kundel house now stands. The boats landed at a small gap, where [there] was a fine run of fresh water. After staying there some time, the boats came over the north side of Botany Bay and landed at the beach at Kooriwall. Three persons then landed from one of the boats; one of these had on his head something like a “Bang-alle” (The “Bang-alle” is a vessel for carrying water; it’s made of bark, drawn together at the ends and fastened with thongs, so as to resemble very closely a cocked hat.) These three men walked along the beach, the boats pulling close to the land, till they came to Bumbera Point, half a mile from Kooriwall, due north.

The Blackfellows made their appearance on the bank above the beach, with spears at the strangers. When the aborigines appeared the second time, two guns were fired from the boats, on which they drew back into the bush. When the three persons who landed came to Bumbera Point, they got into the boat, and after staying there a short time went back to the ship, which was anchored just inside the heads. Either that evening or the following morning, two boats came up again to the north side at Bumbera Point, and hauled a seine twice, and then returned to the ships.

Such is the report of the landing of Captain Cook, as told by aborigines about forty years afterwards.

Bennett indicates here that the accounts of Cook's visit may have been obtained around 1810, a decade before the Philosophical Society visit in 1822, though Bennett provides no source for this additional information, and he may have been mistaken. It is also possible that it came from Obed West in his retelling of the story personally to Bennett.

------------------

1833

* This comprises a letter sent by Catholic Archbishop John McEncroe (1794-1868) to Dr. Douglass, who was present at the Philosophical Society visit to Botany Bay in 1822. McEncroe had arrived in Sydney in 1832 and spoke to some Botany Bay Aborigines the following year. The letter was published as follows: Landing of Captain Cook at Botany Bay, 27 April 1863, Sydney Morning Herald.

St. Patrick's Sydney

My Dear Dr. Douglass MD

About the year 1833, one of the Botany tribe was killed by one of the Port Stephens tribe inside the Domain wall just opposite St. Mary’s. I had several conversations with one of the aborigines, who said he was a brother to the murdered man; he was intelligent, and spoke English well, and appeared to be then about forty years of age. I asked him, in the presence of Dr. Ullathorne, if he had recollection of the landing of Cook in Botany Bay. He said no, for he was not then born; but that he recollected well what his father told him about it. And I felt curious to know his account as he seemed favourably inclined to give.

I then remarked; “What did your father and the Botany tribe think of Cook’s ship and its crew?”

He said they thought at first it was a big bird that came into the bay, and they saw something like opossums running up and down the legs and the wings of the bird; but on viewing them closer they thought them to be people like themselves. They kept away, however, for a few days without coming near the people who came from the ship to land, although these people made several signs to the natives, who were lurking about the bushes, to come near them.

At last, it was agreed that two of the tribe would go down and meet the newcomers; but they were directed by the women particularly, when going down to the water, not to eat or drink anything that the strangers give them for fear of being poisoned.

Several people from the ship went to meet the two natives, and showed every sign of friendship towards them; one offered a jacket to the natives, which one of them put on, but when he found himself so cramped in it he thew it off; another gave them a piece of bread or biscuit, which the native chewed and threw out of his mouth and said it was like sawdust; then they showed them a tomahawk and cut down some of the bushes with it. The two natives were delighted with this, as it would help them very much in cutting down wood to make Gunyahs and Spears.

One of the sailors then put something into a vessel and drank it off and wanted the natives to take some of the drink, but they refused for fear of being poisoned. He then offered them a Tomahawk if he would drink. They were very anxious to get it, but they were afraid of going against the “gins” advice to eat or drink nothing the strangers would give them. They then consulted what they had best to do to get the tomahawk, and they said that as the drink did not kill the stranger who took it, it was not likely to kill them and they made signs to the sailor to put more drink into the vessel and drink some of it himself, and they would take the rest; and then they considered that the drink would not kill them if it did not kill the stranger first. The sailor did as they directed; he took some of the drink, was quite merry, and gave them the tomahawk, upon which one of them took some of the drink out of the vessel, and he had hardly done so when he thought he was burning alive, and cried out to his companion in his own language: “Fire in eyes, fire in nose and fire all over,” and ran off to throw himself into the water to quench the fire.

I could not help being amused by the expressive and energetic way in which the poor native of Botany conveyed this part of his narrative, and when I seemed to express any doubt or surprise at his statements, he observed: “I don’t tell you this from myself, but it is what I heard from my father and others of the Botany tribe about the landing of Cook in this country.”

Trusting that this traditional native account of Cook’s landing may be [of] some little interest in connection with the proposed commemoration of the 28th of April, I submit it to you for your acceptance and publication if you see fit,

And remain, my dear Dr. Douglass,

Yours faithfully,

J. McEncroe.

---------------

1882

* Obed West, Old and New Sydney, Sydney Morning Herald, 1882. West was likely author of the account from 1822 reproduced above.

....I have often conversed with Cruwee, who was an intelligent fellow, and was told by him that he was at Kurnell (opposite La Perouse) when Captain Cook sailed into Botany Bay. It was very amusing to hear him describe the first impression the blacks had of the vessels, and, although very fearful, they were curious, and would, with fear and trembling, get behind some tree and peep out at the monsters which had invaded their shores. He said they thought the vessels were floating islands.

During this era it was common for Europeans to speak of the local Indigenous populations as though they were primitive and child like. They were not, of course, and stories of them generally hiding behind trees and fearing ships were monsters are nothing more than derogatory, though children and women may have acted this way. It is a fact that the local people were rightfully fearful of, and took precautions against, strangers, be they local or foreign.

-----------------

2001

* Christopher R. Illert, The centenary of Mary Everitt's Gundungurra Grammar, Journal & Proceedings of the Royal Australian Historical Society, 134, 2001, 19-44. Excerpt:

Also there were Mary Everitt's extensive field notes and diaries containing precious phonetic data and historical materials [including] .... an Aboriginal language account (i.e. the Aboriginal version) of the April 1770 Botany Bay landing of Captain Cook, told by ".....Granny Giles' husband - Old Cooman, or Goomung [the] great grandfather of Mrs Timbery. He was a tiny child when Capt. Cook came. He was alive, an extremely old man, when Dunbar was wrecked (in 1859)" [Everitt, letters 12th and 24th of June 1901, Hayes Collection, University of Queensland Library]

This refers to the event depicted in the image at the top of this article. In that image, the man at the rear holding the spear and about to throw it, is Cooman / Goomung / gu:mʊ:ŋ = spear-man (Illert 2001). Also of note in the image is the other man holding the shield which has two bullet holes in it.

----------------

2018

* Paul Brunton, Review of Margaret Cameron-Ash’s Lying for the Admiralty: Captain Cook’s Endeavour Voyage, State Library of New South Wales, 2018:

This book demonstrates that these so-called errors were in fact subterfuges, part of Cook’s strategy (and the Admiralty’s) to prevent others, and particularly the French, learning of discoveries which they could turn to their advantage. Before the author comes to these conclusions, though, she contextualizes the voyage of the Endeavour in a way not done hitherto, or at least not done so clearly and elegantly, providing new information and fresh points of view.

The first European country to find the Great South Land, the mythical continent of reputed great natural wealth, and trade with it or annex it, would be enriched beyond the dreams of avarice. The race was on. By the mid-18th century with the Spanish and the Dutch declining as powers, the race had narrowed mainly to two contenders who had been rivals, and sometimes bloody rivals, for centuries: Britain and France. The author quotes Napoleon’s comment, a little later in 1803, “We have six centuries of insults to avenge”. And so, they did — or at least thought they did.

French nerves were particularly raw at the time of Cook owing to France’s recent humiliation in the Seven Years’ War and her loss of North America — which was a potent reason for France a little later to support the American revolutionaries. Cook cut his teeth in Canada on survey work precisely to prevent the uppity French coming back. His charting of the St Lawrence had enabled General James Wolfe to take Quebec. It was paramount from the British point of view that the glittering prize of the Great South Land should not go to France. The French should be stopped at all costs. As the British politician William Pitt the Elder said regarding a North American fishery, he would rather lose the use of his right hand than allow France back into it.

It was not only foreigners which Britain had to guard against. There were rats in the ranks. I had always been rather puzzled why Alexander Dalrymple, who was first put forward by the Royal Society to lead the Endeavour expedition, was sacked by the Admiralty with the cock and bull excuse that not being a naval man he could not captain a ship. Not only was this factually incorrect, which members of the Royal Society would have known, but the Admiralty had known of this appointment for months before without raising the alarm.

Dalrymple had worked for many years for the East India Company and was very loyal to it. The Company, a private venture, held a monopoly over the Pacific and did not want to give this up even though the Company did nothing with it. If Dalrymple led the voyage, information on new discoveries and new trading opportunities would be passed to the Company. This was not paranoia on the part of the Admiralty. Later, Richard Orton, Cook’s clerk, who had complete access to Cook’s journal, would sell information to the Company. As an aside, it was Orton who on the voyage, while in a drunken stupor, had parts of his ears cut off — a crime that has never been solved. It would have been truly Shakespearean if his ears had been removed after his treason rather than before. A captain could not be sure that there were no spies on his ship and, even if there were no spies, loose lips not only sink ships but they also sink one’s hopes of colonising the Great South Land. Certain types of information had to be limited to as few people as possible.

The British, of course, were just as active in spying as the French, and we recall that New South Wales Governor Arthur Phillip had a distinguished career spying against the French. That was one of his qualifications for being chosen as first Governor of New South Wales. He spoke French so well that no one ever twigged he was not a native. The British spymaster-in-chief was Philip Stephens, whose day job for over 30 years was permanent secretary to the Admiralty. He ran the show whatever his Minister may have thought. Cook was in many ways his protégé. Naming Cape Stephens at the western end of Cook Strait in New Zealand returned the compliment. This is the world in which the Endeavour voyage took place. A cold war between Britain and France, as our author calls it, with the usual accompaniments of espionage, deception and outright lying. The voyage of the Endeavour was intensely political.

And now we come to the heart of this book — Cook’s so-called errors, which have blotted his copybook for nearly 250 years. Cook has been accused of shoddy work in not realising that Stewart Island was separated from the South Island of New Zealand by Foveaux Strait. How could the great hydrographer miss this? However, he did not miss it. In fact, he first wrote in his journal that it was an island, and his map indicated it. However, he then changed his story and his map, writing that it was a peninsula. He altered his journal account, but not without leaving traces of his earlier view. His justification for this turn-around gobsmacked Beaglehole, “It is difficult to follow Cook’s reasoning here without knowing all that was in his mind. On paper he is unconvincing”. Cook had indeed bungled his subterfuge by neglecting to remove permanently too much evidence to the contrary. As Cameron-Ash says, “He forgot to delete his three observations of Stewart Island’s insularity; the erasure of his seven-line description of the strait is clearly visible; and the logs of the other witnesses contradict him”. This would not happen again. Cook learnt from this and covered his tracks much better in the future.

But why bother to hide the fact of Stewart Island’s insularity? The author very lucidly explains this. An island off the coast of a British territory (which Cook hoped New Zealand would become) could lead to a French occupation of that island. Cook had first-hand experience of this and the trouble it led to in North America. It was when Pitt made that celebrated comment about preferring to lose the use of his right hand.

The mystery of Possession Island to the west of Cape York, Australia, is also clarified. Why take possession of the east coast from an island in the Gulf of Carpentaria to which of course the Dutch had a claim? The answer is the possession ceremony did not occur and was later invented by Cook when, at Batavia on the homeward journey, Joseph Banks learnt that the French explorer Louis-Antoine de Bougainville had been near the east coast of Australia and may have indeed landed. It was to forestall a French claim.

The author also demonstrates that Cook did sail into Bass Strait and went to elaborate lengths to hide this. His journal entry for the period is a riddle that has baffled subsequent historians and Cook’s subsequent chart was, in the words of Cameron-Ash, a “masterpiece of disguise”. Obfuscation would also be an appropriate word. Cook invented a phantom cape (Point Hicks) that would have actually been in the middle of the ocean had it existed, as the southernmost point of land in sight when he started his east coast survey. It has always been quoted in the history books as the place where Cook first saw the coast, but no subsequent navigator (including Matthew Flinders) could ever find it. No wonder it never appeared on the map until 1970. Today’s Point Hicks was plucked from thin air by the Victorian Government for the Cook celebrations in that year, placed on the map, and bears no relation to anything.

Tobias Furneaux’s unfortunate (from Cook’s point of view; Cook was separated from Furneaux’s ship at the time) discovery of Bass Strait on Cook’s Second Voyage had to be suppressed, and it does not appear in his published narrative where Tasmania is described as a peninsula. This led to subsequent criticisms of Furneaux’s abilities from historians, including the great Beaglehole. Cook wrote in his journal of the Second Voyage that it was highly probable that Tasmania was part of New Holland, and Beaglehole annotated it, “Here again it is rather difficult to follow Cook’s reasoning”. No wonder Cook on his Second and Third Voyages did not receive instructions to clarify Bass Strait. The Admiralty already knew it existed.

The author demonstrates that Cook did in fact see Sydney Harbour by walking from Botany Bay overland. Cook, since boyhood, had always climbed hills to survey the topography. Hills there were from which he could gain a splendid view — Bellevue Hill for example. There is written evidence that Governor Phillip knew there were multiple islands in Sydney Harbour. This information could only have come from Cook’s voyage, and the islands cannot be seen from a ship while passing the entrance. Further, Cook’s journal is very hazy on what he actually did for the eight days he was at Botany Bay, but he tells us he made many excursions around the bay and into the countryside. Given Cook’s habits and given that Botany Bay was hopeless as a port, it would have been remarkable if Cook had not journeyed to the nearest hill to survey the land, seeking something better. Having found Port Jackson (which he named), just the superb port for which the British were looking, it is entirely explicable that Cook wasted no further time on investigating openings as he journeyed up the east coast of Australia.

In these cloak and dagger matters we see the limits of archives. Not everything is written down and sometimes what is written down is done so in order to mislead. Thus, it ever was and will be. Written evidence can take us close to the truth, but what is needed is an assessment of the documents in the light of their context. In this, the author succeeds brilliantly. We will never find, for example, a document which clearly says that Cook saw Sydney Harbour. But we can come to a position, if not actually beyond reasonable doubt, then one on the basis of “the comfortable satisfaction of the court”, on which a conviction can be made.

The voyage of the Endeavour was a scientific voyage, yes — that was Joseph Banks’s great contribution. But from Cook’s point of view, it was a political expedition — to find new territory that might be useful to Britain and correctly chart it. Cook emerges from Cameron-Ash’s study as not only a superb navigator and chart maker, but a man alive to the political dimension of his task and the need to protect what was basically Britain’s intellectual property. He was a diplomat, and we all know that a diplomat is an honest man sent to lie abroad for the good of his country. This book is the most significant contribution to Cook studies since Beaglehole’s edition of the journals, which it in some senses completes.

1937

* The Joe Anderson / King Burraga story from 1937 was passed down from his great-grandfather who was at the landing in 1770. It is presented in the following: Rivals must keep off the grass declares Aboriginal king, The Sun, Sydney, 6 March 1937.

RIVALS MUST KEEP OFF THE GRASS, DECLARES ABORIGINAL KING

KING BURRAGA, the head of the "Aboriginal Royal Family," is a much perturbed man because, after his statement a few days ago that he considered he should be invited to the Coronation, two chiefs in the Northern Territory have claimed the same privilege. Burraga, who is familiarly known at Peakhurst as "Joe Anderson," yesterday laughed to scorn the pretentions of the two black man of the North. "I know of King George, the chief of the vanishing Larrakeyah tribe at Darwin, and King Mariana, of Bathurst Island," he said, "but who are they when compared with the Burragas? When portion of the picture "Uncivilised" was being made here. I met members of both tribes and they all realised they had met in me the King of the Australian aborigines. "I think it is presumptuous on the part of these two fellows to claim kingship. They are chiefs of tribes and their standing is equal to that of a general in the army. No; they must keep off the grass in this matter.

"You see, the Burragas go back to the ages long before the white man came to Australia and my grand father met Captain Cook at Kurnell. Runners from tribes in the south had brought him 'letter sticks' telling of the coming of the white man. "By the way, I'm badly off for a suit of clothes, shirts and boots," King Burraga added.

A variant of this story was told by Shayne Williams in 2020.

2020

The following variant account was given by Shayne Williams in a 2020 video reproduced below:

When Cook and his crew sailed into this bay, they sailed into Dharawal history. My name is Shayne Williams. I am a member of the Gweagal clan of the Dharawal nation and I grew up just across the bay from here at La Perouse. I am Dharawal on both my mum and dad's side. I am Dharawal through my mother's grandmother and Dharawal through my father's grandmother.

When they saw the Australian mainland at what it was what is now called Point Hicks, they saw columns of smoke going into the air. So it's very obvious to us that they weren’t just smoke columns but actually smoke signals that Aboriginal people along the east coast was sending to one another to let us know they was on their way. But according to my great uncle, King Burraga, his great grandfather was here at the time that Cook arrived. Aboriginal people further south of here arrived here with a message stick to let us know that the Endeavour was on its way. They just didn't want them to land so our people through gurrabungs at them – that’s stones, and then spears and they were saying to them, ‘warra warra wai’. So they was gesturing with their hands for them to go away but they [were] saying ‘warra warra wai.’ Over the years, you know, non-Aboriginal historians have interpreted that as saying, you know, ‘go away’. In fact, ‘warra warra wai’ means ‘you are all dead’. So our people thought they were spirits and didn’t [want] those spirits to set foot on this land here.

In a pamphlet published by the British Library in 2020, Williams stated the following (Rix & Cormack 2024):

When the people saw the Endeavour coming up the coast, they first thought that it might be garru (a cloud) and that the spirits of the dead were returning, but as the ship got closer it changed shape, so they thought it might be a floating baranggas (island). Than, as the vessel turned into the bay, the people saw sailors going up and down the masts, which they thought might be possums. Finally, they could make out the figures on board as humans, they saw they were white and assumed there were the spirits of the dead.

2024

An account is given by Theresa Ardler, descendant of Cooman, of events surrounding the Cook landing on 29 April 1770 (Rix and Cormack 2024):

He was my fourth great-grandfather, Chief Cooman. He was the Gweagal warrior with the Gwaegal shield that was shot in the leg and died afterwards.... So when they actually came into Botany Bay, it was in the afternoon, I was told by my nan and that. And so when they came in the women and children were in their nuwis [canoes], so the got called in. And our people, the Gweagal people, Cook and that did not see them at first because we have full body shields, and only the eyes [showed], and they were just blended in like the trees. And as they came in they thought at first it was a big white bird. Then when they got closer they thought they were goonjas [dead]. That's when my grandfather and his brother were going, "Warra Warra, Warra Wai," which means "Go away, we don't want dead people here." And because they could smell them when they come ashore, because they'd been on that ship, you know, so they sort of smelled like death.

-----------------------

3. Videos

A number of videos have appeared - many in association with the 250th anniversary of the landing in 2020 - which refer to the episode. Only the Shayne Williams video presents a specific variant account from the Indigenous perspective. The others are usually based on the Endeavour diaries and logs, with generic Indigenous information presented.

* Shayne Williams, Dharawal elder recounts Captain Cook's arrival in Australia 250 years ago, Guardian Australia, 29 April 2020, YouTube, duration: 4.14 minutes. Includes the King Burraga story.

* Jack Evans, Indigenous perspectives of Cook's visit - Endeavour 250th anniversary, Behind the News, ABC Australia, 29 April 2020, YouTube, duration: 5.01 minutes. Only includes accounts from the Cook diaries and reference to 250th anniversary events.

----------------------

4. Murramarang

Whilst proceeding up the coast, Cook and the Endeavour passed Murramarang on 22nd and 23rd April 1770. This was the first time that Indigenous people were seen from the deck of the ship, with Cook noting such in his journal. Whilst becalmed, he sought to land on the 23rd, but sea conditions did not allow it. An account from the shore is supposedly known through the local woman Coomee Nuliga (c.1825 - 1914) who recalled her grandmother telling the story of "the first time the big white birds came by." This was initially reported in 1935 as an allusion to the passage of the First Fleet in 1788, as follows:

.....There are also some of the brass breast plates given our own native kings, among them those of Tommy, king of Congolgon, Charley York, chief of the Bullangamang, and Coome, "last of her tribe," queen of the Murramarang, whose mother used to tell her of "the first time the great white birds came by"— an allusion to the sailing ships of the First Fleet.

At some point since that time, the story was presented as relating to the passing of Cook's Endeavour in 1770, and told to Coomee by her grandmother rather than her mother.

------------------

5. References

Beaglehole, J. C., The Journals of Captain James Cook, volume I: The Voyage of the Endeavour, 1768-1771, Hakluyt Society, 1955.

Bennett, Samuel, The History of Australian Discovery and Colonization, Hanson and Bennett, Sydney, 1865, 683p.

Bertie, Charles H., Captain Cook and Botany Bay, Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Australian Historical Society, volume X, part V, 1924, 233-274.

Bird, Deborah Rose, The saga of Captain Cook: Remembrance and Morality, in Bain Atwood and Fiona Magowan (editors), Telling Stories: Indigenous History and Memory in Australia and New Zealand, Bridget Williams Book and Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2001.

Brunton, Paul, Margaret Cameron-Ash, Lying for the Admiralty: Captain Cook’s Endeavour Voyage, 2018 [Review], …….

Cameron-Ash, Margaret, Lying for the Admiralty: Captain Cook’s Endeavour Voyage, 2018.

Conroy, ... , Thematic History - Former City of Botany Bay, 31 May 2022, 52p.

Death of Mr. Obed West, Wagga Wagga Advertiser, 27 August 1891.

Eight Days in Kamay, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney, accessed 26 September 2026.

Grim, Queer Exhibits - National [Anatomy] Museum Displays, Truth, Brisbane, 18 August 1935.

Historical Records of New South Wales, 1762-1811, Government Printer, Sydney, 7 volumes, 1892-1901.

Kamay / Botany Bay - Telling our stories our way, National Museum of Australia, Canberra. Abstract: Ray Ingrey, Shane Ingrey, Paul Irish, Kodie Mason and Sophie Youngberry of the Gadhungal Research Program reflect on sharing stories, and the stories of the Dharawal ancestors, in the Endeavour Voyage exhibition.

Illert, Christopher R., The centenary of Mary Everitt's Gundungurra Grammar, Journal & Proceedings of the Royal Australian Historical Society, 134, 2001, 19-44.

McEncroe, John, Landing of Captain Cook at Botany Bay, Letter to Dr Douglass from J. McEncroe, Sydney Morning Herald, 27 April 1863.

Nugent, A., The encounter between Captain Cook and Indigenous people at Botany Bay in 1770 reconsidered, in P. Veth, P. Sutton and M. Neale (editors), Strangers on the shore: Early coastal contacts in Australia, National Museum of Australia Press, Canberra, 2008.

Nugent, A. and G. Sculthorpe, A shield loaded with history: Encounters, Objects and Exhibitions, Australian Historical Studies, 49(1), 2018.

Organ, Michael, Captain Cook and HMB Endeavour at Woonona 28 April 1770, blogger.com, 19 April 2016.

Phillips, P.K., John McEncroe (1794-1868), Australian Dictionary of Biography, volume 2, Australian National University, Canberra, 1967.

Rix, Darren and Craig Cormick, Warra Warra Wai - How Indigenous Australians discovered Captain Cook & what they tell about the coming of the Ghost People, Scribner, 2024, 330p.

Tench, Watkin, A Narrative of the Expedition to Botany Bay, J. Debrett, London, 1789.

West, Obed, Reminiscences of Captain Cook's Landing in Botany Bay, The Empire, Sydney, 26 January 1864.

-----, Old and New Sydney, Sydney Morning Herald, 12 October 1882.

Williams, Shayne T., Dharawal elder recounts Captain Cook's arrival in Australia 250 years ago, Guardian Australia, 29 April 2020, YouTube, duration: 4.14 minutes.

-----, An Indigenous Australian perspective on Cook's arrival, British Library, 2020.

-----------------

5. Acknowledgements

Thanks to Michelle Hoctor for her discussions, reference to Obed West, and inspiration to seek out views "from the shore."

----------------

Captain Cook: Botany Bay 1770 | Disobeyance of orders 1770 | Woonona 28 April 1770 |

Last updated: 28 September 2026

Michael Organ, Australia