The NSW State Library’s galleries have reopened this week with a new exhibition tackling Captain James Cook’s legacy.
Head of the Indigenous Engagement team at the Library, Damien Webb said the observation that the indigenous Gweagal people of Kamay discovered Cook in 1770 was a view people did not give enough credence to, and one which struck a raw nerve for many.
“These events changed the course of Australia’s history, and are still being hotly debated, contested, felt, 250 years later,” Mr Webb said.
“The exhibition explores what those fateful eight days looked like through the eyes of the Gweagal people, with knowledge gained through community consultations in La Perouse and by senior Gweagal knowledge holder Shayne Williams,” he said.
“The events of 1770 have profoundly impacted the lives of everyone since, but we sometimes forget they happened to real and sovereign people on the shores of Kamay.”
Mr Webb said the Eight Days in Kamay exhibit brought together a selection of sketches and samples collected by Sydney Parkinson, Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander of the newly ‘discovered’ natural world contextualised by Gweagal knowledge, and challenged visitors to view the journals of Banks, Cook and other Endeavour crew members through a different lens.
State Librarian John Vallance said that at its best, history had always involved a determined effort to make sense of the past from different positions.
“This exhibition is a particularly good example and I hope it draws crowds of people curious to explore important things they may not have encountered in their own history lessons at school,” Dr Vallance said.
He said Eight Days in Kamay was a free exhibition and would be open until 28 February.
An online version of the exhibition opened in May following the Library’s closure due to COVID-19.
