Loading

Lord Sandwich of the British Admiralty presented the spears to Trinity soon after Cook returned to England, and they have been part of the collection since 1771. Since 1914, the four spears have been cared for by the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, along with other materials from Cook’s voyage across the Pacific.

The museum is among several British institutions that have come under increased pressure to re-evaluate and return the many “colonial prizes” in their collections. Dame Sally Davies, the Master of Trinity College, said it was the “right decision” to hand the objects back, adding the college was committed to reviewing the “complex legacies of the British Empire”.

Six members of the La ­Perouse Aboriginal Community who travelled to Britain for the formal handover are all direct descendants of the men who confronted the landing party.

“My old people lived in Sydney,” Ingrey said. “I have an ancient and unbroken connection to Sydney... I heard from my elders, particularly my great aunty who told us of the arrival of the Endeavour. She would talk about the conflict and also some of the artefacts and materials that were taken.”

Loading

The spears are being permanently repatriated with support from the federal government’s Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies-led Return of Cultural Heritage Program, and the National Museum of Australia. In 2015 and again in 2020, some of the spears were returned temporarily to Australia for the first time since they were taken, and displayed by the National Museum of Australia in Canberra as part of two exhibitions exploring frontier encounters.

The spears will be displayed at a new visitor centre which is to be built at Kurnell, Kamay. Before then, at the request of the La Perouse community, they will be held at the Chau Chak Wing Museum at the University of Sydney.

Professor Nicholas Thomas, the director of the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, said the spears were “exceptionally significant”.

“They are the first artefacts collected by any European from any part of Australia, that remain extant and documented,” he said. “They reflect the beginnings of a history of misunderstanding and conflict. Their significance will be powerfully enhanced through return to the country.”

Loading

Noeleen Timbery, from the La Perouse Local Aboriginal Land Council, first visited the spears in 2017. She has been determined to secure their return ever since.

“They are an important connection to our past, our traditions, and cultural practices, and to our ancestors,” she says while acknowledging the role Cambridge has played over two centuries in preserving her history.

“A big part of you wants the fact that they were never taken away, but had they not been taken away and had they not been really carefully preserved and cared for by Trinity College and the museum here, we wouldn’t be able to connect to them today,” she said.

“We’re really looking forward to sharing these with all Australians.”