Gweagal shield

There is evidence that the shield might have passed from Banks’ hands into those of his servant, James Roberts, who had accompanied him on the Endeavour voyage, and was then acquired by liberal politician and collector John Bowes (1811–85).

[8] Maria Nugent and Gaye Sculthorpe state that the evidence for a connection between the shield in the British Museum and James Cook is relatively scant.

[9] However, Shayne Williams states that it is very likely a Gugu Yimidhirr shield acquired by Cook during his stay at the Endeavour River in north Queensland (a region where red mangrove is abundant).

[5] Following the Encounters exhibition, Rodney Kelly, a Gweagal man from Bermagui, started a campaign for the return of the shield to Australia, along with some Aboriginal spears held in Cambridge.

[5] Noeleen Timbery, the chair of the La Perouse Local Aboriginal Land Council states that while she understands that the shield would not exist if it had not been preserved by the British Museum, she supports its return to Australia.

[5] The spears left behind by the two Gweagal warriors who confronted Cook's party in April 1770, and collected by Joseph Banks, were donated to Trinity College, Cambridge the following year.

[13] Nugent and Sculthorpe state that the shield's presumed association with the violent encounter between Aboriginal people and the Endeavour crew at Botany Bay in 1770 made it a powerful symbol for the traumatic history of unjust colonial relations.

[14] According to Thomas, "the shield in the British Museum is, irrespective of its specific provenance, certainly a rare, early example and undoubtedly a highly significant expression of the heritage of the particular Aboriginal groups concerned.