The four spears were taken by James Cook and Joseph Banks at the time of the first contact between the crew of the HMB Endeavour and the Indigenous people of Kamay (Botany Bay).
The spears are all that remain of 40 spears which Cook recorded as having been taken from the villages of the Gweagal people living at Kamay.
They were presented to Trinity College in 1771 by Lord Sandwich, First Lord of the Admiralty, and a Trinity alumnus, along with other materials from Cook’s voyage across the Pacific.
“Our Elders have worked for many years to see their ownership transferred to the traditional owners of Botany Bay.”
