Trinity College Cambridge makes decision to repatriate spears to the La Perouse Aboriginal community.
Four Australian Aboriginal spears taken by Lieutenant James Cook in 1770 from Kamay (Botany Bay), are to be repatriated back to Country.
Trinity College Cambridge in the United Kingdom has agreed to permanently return the four spears to the La Perouse Aboriginal community.
Trinity is now approaching the UK’s Charity Commission to obtain approval for this transfer of legal title.
The spears were taken from Kamay (Botany Bay), at the time of first contact between the crew of the HMB Endeavour and the Aboriginal people of eastern Australia.
James Cook recorded that 40 spears were taken from the camps of Aboriginal people living at Botany Bay in April 1770.
Lord Sandwich of the British Admiralty presented the four spears to Trinity College soon after James Cook returned to England on the HMB Endeavour and they have been part of their collection since 1771.
Since 1914 the four spears have been cared for by Cambridge’s Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (MAA). The four spears are all that remain of the original 40 spears collected.
