This was the
Australian Prime Minister and Liberal MP for Cook Scott Morrison in The Australian on 24 September 2018:
“I believe Cook should
be revered as one of the most significant figures in our national history,” the
Prime Minister said. “He engaged with
cultures different from his own but was always prepared to listen and engage.
That’s why I believe, for Australians, Cook can be a figure of reconciliation.”
Morrison is still pushing this point in 2019, calling Cook "enlightened".
So let us look at James Cook's instructions from the British Admiralty concerning possible contact with tradtional owners.
You are likewise to
observe the Genius, Temper, Disposition and Number of the Natives, if there be
any and endeavour by all proper means to cultivate a Friendship and Alliance with
them, making them presents of such Trifles as they may Value inviting them to
Traffick, and Shewing them every kind of Civility and Regard; taking Care
however not to suffer yourself to be surprized by them, but to be always upon
your guard against any Accidents.
You are also with the Consent of the Natives
to take Possession of Convenient Situations in the Country in the Name of the
King of Great Britain: Or: if you find the Country uninhabited take Possession
for his Majesty by setting up Proper Marks and Inscriptions, as first
discoverers and possessors.
Then examine his interaction with traditional owners, first at Ka-may (Botany Bay) in New South Wales and later at Waalumbaal Birri (Endeavour River) in Queensland.
29
April 1770
Sunday 29th In the PM winds southerly and clear weather with which we stood into the bay and Anchor'd under the South shore about 2 Mile within the entrence in 6 fathoms water, the south point bearing SE and the north point ^East, Saw as we came in on both points of the bay Several of the natives and afew hutts, Men women and children on the south shore abreast of the Ship to which place I went in the boats in hopes of speaking with them accompaned by Mr Banks Dr Solander and Tupia- as we approached the shore they all made off except two Men who seem'd resolved to oppose our landing - as soon as I saw this I orderd the boats to lay upon their oars in order to speake to them but this was to little purpose for neither us nor Tupia could understand one word they said. we then threw them some nails beeds &Ca a shore which they took up and seem'd not ill pleasedwith in so much that I thout that they beckon'd to us
to come a shore but in this we were mistaken for as soon as we put the boat in
they again came to oppose us upon which I fired a musket
between the two which had no other effect than to make them retire back where
bundles of thier darts lay and one of them took up a stone and threw at us
which caused my fireing a second Musquet load with small shott and altho' some
of the shott struck the man yet it had no other effect than to make
him lay hold of a ^Shield or target ^to defend himself emmediatly
after this we landed which we had no sooner done than they throw'd two darts at
us this obliged me to fire a third shott soon after which they both made
off, but not in such haste but what we might have taken one, but Mr Banks
being of opinion that the darts were poisoned made me cautious how I advanced
into the woods - We found here a few Small hutts made of the bark of trees in
one of which were four or five small children with whome we left some strings
of beeds &Ca a quantity of darts lay about the hutts
these we took away with us - three Canoes lay upon the bea[c]h the worst I
think I ever saw they were about 10 12 or 14 feet
long made of one peice of the bark of a tree drawn or tied up at each end and the
middle kept open by means of peices of sticks by way of Thwarts —
Sunday 29th In the PM winds southerly and clear weather with which we stood into the bay and Anchor'd under the South shore about 2 Mile within the entrence in 6 fathoms water, the south point bearing SE and the north point ^East, Saw as we came in on both points of the bay Several of the natives and afew hutts, Men women and children on the south shore abreast of the Ship to which place I went in the boats in hopes of speaking with them accompaned by Mr Banks Dr Solander and Tupia- as we approached the shore they all made off except two Men who seem'd resolved to oppose our landing - as soon as I saw this I orderd the boats to lay upon their oars in order to speake to them but this was to little purpose for neither us nor Tupia could understand one word they said. we then threw them some nails beeds &Ca a shore which they took up and seem'd not ill pleased
19
July 1770
Thursday 19th Gentle breezes at SE and fair weather. Employ'd geting every thing in readiness for sea —
Thursday 19th Gentle breezes at SE and fair weather. Employ'd geting every thing in readiness for sea —
In the AM we were viseted by
10 or 11 of the natives the most of them came from the other side
of the harbour River where we saw six or seven more the
most of them women and like the men quite naked; those that came on board were
very desirous of having some of our turtle and took the liberty to haul two to
the gang way to put over the side but being disapointed
in it ^this they grew a little troublesome, and was were for
throwing every thing overboard they ^could lay their hands upon; as
we had no victuals dress'd at this time I offer'd them some bread to eat, which
they rejected with scorn as I believe they would have done any thing else
excepting turtle - soon after this they all went a shore Mr Banks
my self and five or six more of our people being a shore at
the same time, emmediatly upon their landing one of them took a handfull of dry
grass and lighted it at a fire we had a shore and before we well know'd what he
was going about he made a large circuit round about us and set fire to the
grass on the ground in his way which ^and in
an Instant burst like wild fire the whole place was in flames,
luckily at this time we had hardly any thing ashore besides the forge and a sow
with a Litter of young pigs one of which was scorched to death in the fire —
as soon as they had done this they all
went to a place where some of our people were washing and where all our nets
and a good deal of linnen were laid out to dry, here with the greatest obstinacy
they again set fire to the grass which I and some others who were present could
not prevent untill I was obliged to fire a musquet load with small shott at one
of the rig leaders which sent them off. as we were apprised of this last
attempt of theirs we got the fire out before it got head, but the first spread
like wild fire ^in the woods and grass.nNotwithstanding my fireing in
which one must have been a little hurt because we saw some ^a
few drops of blood on some of the linnen he had cross'd gone
over, they did not go far from us for we soon after heard their voices in the
woods upon which Mr Banks and I and 3 or 4 More went to look for them and
very soon met them comeing toward us as they had each 4 or 5 darts a piece and
not knowing their intention we seized upon six or seven of the first darts we
met with, this alarmed them so much that they all made off and we followd them
for near half a Mile and than set down and call'd to them and they stop'd also;
after some little unintelligible conversation had pass'd between us they
lay down their darts and came to us in a very friendly manner we
now return'd them the darts we had taken from them which
reconciled every thing. We now found there were 4
strangers among them that we had not seen before and these were interduce'd to
us by name by the others: the man which we suppos'd to have been wounded struck
with small shott was gone off, but he could not be much hurt as he was at a
great distance when I fired. They all came along with us abreast of the ship
where they stay'd a short time and then went away and soon after set the woods
on fire about a Mile and a half and two miles from us —
20
July 1770
Friday 20th Fresh breezes at SE and fair weather. In the PM got every thing on board the Ship, new berth'd her and let her swing with the tide. In the night the Master return'd with the Pinnace and reported that there was no safe passage for the Ship to the northward - At low water in the AM I went and sounded and buoy'd the bar, being now ready to put to sea the first oppertunity — [my yellow highlighting]
Morrison also coveniently forgets that Cook died while attempting to kidnap the 'King of Hawaii'.1
Friday 20th Fresh breezes at SE and fair weather. In the PM got every thing on board the Ship, new berth'd her and let her swing with the tide. In the night the Master return'd with the Pinnace and reported that there was no safe passage for the Ship to the northward - At low water in the AM I went and sounded and buoy'd the bar, being now ready to put to sea the first oppertunity — [my yellow highlighting]
Morrison also coveniently forgets that Cook died while attempting to kidnap the 'King of Hawaii'.1
www.captcook-ne.co.uk, Timeline:
When Cook left Hawaii his
ships ran into gales which broke a mast, forcing him to return to Kealakekua
Bay for repairs on 11th February. This time the native people were less
friendly and stole the cutter of the Discovery. The next day, the 14th February
1779, Cook went ashore to take the Hawaiian king into custody pending the
return of the cutter but a fight developed and Cook, four of his marines and a
number of natives were killed. Cook’s remains were buried at sea in Kealakekua
Bay.
The
Guardian, 13
July 2004:
The unexpurgated version
of the death of Captain Cook, presenting a more realistic version than the
familiar heroic scene, has been rediscovered more than 220 years after the
deaths of both the explorer and the artist……
A painting of the scene
by John Webber, the official voyage artist, and innumerable engravings of it
fixed it in legend: it shows Cook with his back to the mob, nobly signalling to
his ships to cease firing on men armed only with spears and a few clubs.
However John Clevely's
version, based on first-hand accounts and sketches by his brother, a ship's
carpenter with the voyage, shows Cook fighting desperately for his life, in the
last minute of his life, his shot gone, about to club an islander with the butt
of his rifle. Most of the islanders have heavy clubs, and others have picked up
rocks. One is about to smash the skull of a fallen sailor and the bodies of several
islanders are heaped at the water's edge.
The painting, and three
other watercolours also on display, was made in about 1784, but by the time it
was engraved and published, only a few years later, the artist was dead and the
engraving was altered to match the official version of the story.
"The image of Cook
signalling his ships to hold their fire made him a classic humane and heroic
figure of the age of enlightenment," said Nicholas Lambourn, an art
historian, at Christie's yesterday, where the painting went on public display
for the first time.
"Clevely's is less
heroic but certainly more accurate."….
Notes on the back of
Clevely's watercolours say they are based on his brother's sketches and
descriptions of the scene. ….
Footnote
1. See:
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