Australia continues to celebrate its colonial origins and the suffering that makes 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.] The shield taken is now known as the Gweagal shield.

"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 bark shield 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.

"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.

"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.

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.

#ChangetheDate #AlwaysWillBe #InvasionDay2024

NITV is running a twitter hashtag campaign to raise awareness of Aboriginal heritage on ownership of the land.

For the record, I was born on Eora land, raised on Bunjalung land and living back on Eora land #AlwaysWillBe #invasionday #isnotaustraliaday