Captain James Crook

‘Since 1770, when Captain James Cook first sailed into Kamay (Botany Bay), home of the Eora people and what is now commonly known as Sydney, Australia, there has been a popular narrative shared by our law-makers, school curriculum, media outlets and historians. This narrative is one that depicts Australia as, until recently, not only terra nullius (meaning a land belonging to no one) but also as having been peacefully settled by European colonisers.
This oppressive and violent history continues to impact our communities today and is perpetuated by racist Government policies such as the Intervention; a policy which seeks to control and disempower people, predominately minority groups and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. It seems ironic that the Intervention limits the rights of Indigenous people as though they were criminals, when this very policy breaks the international UN human rights convention.
Fundamentally nothing has changed in 225 years. The violent and racist legacy left by Captain James Cook and his fellow colonisers is enmeshed in the fabric of contemporary Australian society.’ Jason Wing 2013
Jason Wing doesn’t seek to discredit Captain Cook, rather he asks us to question what we believe to be historical truths. Cook is used as a symbol of colonisation and through this bust, Wing hopes to bring attention to what is often omitted from our colonial history, particularly that First Nations people didn’t cede their sovereignty of Australia.