Sciency Thoughts: Kamay Botany Bay National Park

Sunday, 28 April 2024

Trinity College Cambridge returns Gweagal spears to Australia.

Trinity College Cambridge has returned four spears taken from the Gweagal People of Botany Bay, Australia, by Captain James Cook and his crew during his first encounter with indigenous Australians in 1770. Cook recorded that several spears were thrown at his men during the encounter, causing the Endevour (Cook's ship) to fire its guns. Following this about forty spears were 'confiscated' from the Gwaegal people. Botanist Joseph Banks, who was part of the expedition, recorded finding a greenish goo on the tips of several spears, which caused him to fear they might have been poisoned, though he later concluded that the goo was Seaweed, and that the spears had been used in fishing.

Quaiden Riley Williams and David Johnson, representatives of the La Perouse Aboriginal Community at a ceremony in the Wren Library at Trinity College Cambridge, during which the spears were formally returned. Trinity College Cambridge.

The spears were presented to Trinity College by Lord Sandwich, First Lord of the Admiralty, in 1771, along with a collection of other items Cook had collected on his journey. In the early twentieth century they were passed on the the Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. They have twice been loaned to museums in Australia for displays, with the decision to return them permanently being made following discussions between the Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology and the La Perouse Aboriginal Community.

The four spears being returned to Australia by Trinity College Cambridge. Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.

Three of the spears being returned are multi-tipped fishing spears, a design still used today in Australia, while the fourth is a single-tipped hunting spear. They will eventually be housed in custom built museum at Kurnell on the Kamay Headland in Botany Bay, the site where the first encounter between the Gweagal people and Cook's crew occurred. Until that is built, they will be housed at the Chau Chak Wing Museum at the University of Sydney, at the request of the La Perouse Aboriginal Community.

Rod Mason, senior Dharawal man and clan leader of the Gweagal demonstrates a fishing spear to boys from the La Perouse Aboriginal community. Kayla Borman/National Museum of Australia.

Woman bitten by Shark in Botany Bay, New South Wales.

Several beaches in New South Wales, Australia, have been temporarily closed after a woman was bitten by a Shark while swimming off Little Congwong Beach in the Kamay Botany Bay National Park on Friday 23 February 2018. The unnamed 55-year-old woman was attacked around dusk by a Great White Shark, Carcharodon carcharias, 27.-3.2 m in length, which bit her once on the leg before retreating. She is being treated in St George Hospital in Sydney, but is not thought to have received any dangerous injuries.

Woman being rushed from Little Congwong Beach by paramedics after being bitten by a Shark on 23 February 2018. Channel 9.

Despite their fearsome reputation, attacks by Sharks are relatively rare, with no recorded events near Botany Bay in at least 25 years. Most attacks on Humans by Great White Sharks are thought to be mistakes. The species feeds principally on Marine Mammals, which we superficially resemble when we enter the water, gaining the majority of their nutrition from the thick adipose (fat) layers of these animals, which we lack. Due to this, when Great Whites do attack Humans these attacks are often broken off without the victim being consumed. Such attacks frequently result in severe injuries, but are seldom immediately fatal, with victims likely to survive if they receive immediate medical attention.