Thread: Australia debates Captain Cook 'discovery' statue

A debate has ignited in Australia over a statue of British explorer Captain James Cook, which has a plaque saying he "discovered this territory".



The 19th Century statue, in Sydney's central Hyde Park, has come under scrutiny following recent discussion over Confederate monuments in the US.

Critics say the inscription overlooks indigenous Australians, while others defend it as being part of history.

Sydney's city council says it will seek advice on the issue.

Lord Mayor Clover Moore said she had referred the debate to an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander advisory panel.
When was the statue built?

The monument was installed more than a century after Capt Cook arrived in Australia in 1770, later claiming the region for the British crown.

Funded by the New South Wales government and members of the public, the statue was completed by English sculptor Thomas Woolner and unveiled in front of a huge crowd in 1879.

It bears inscriptions marking Capt Cook's birth and death, but it is the south-facing engraving - "Discovered this territory 1770" - which has caused controversy.
What is the criticism?

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation's indigenous affairs editor, Stan Grant, wrote an article on Friday arguing that "surely we need no longer maintain the fiction that he [Capt Cook] 'discovered' this country".

Grant said that the inscription should be changed. He argued that some other indigenous people favoured removing the statue.

Referring to a comment by PM Malcolm Turnbull about honouring indigenous Australians, Grant wrote: "If he is serious then what could be more apt than to correct a monument that tells us, still, that in 1770 we did not exist?"

His argument has provoked much national discussion, and has received support, particularly on social media.

Grant wrote the column following violent clashes in Virginia earlier this month and debate about America's racial legacy.

Should Washington and Jefferson monuments come down?
How an Aboriginal history play set off a row
Why doesn't Australia have a treaty?

How is it being defended?

In a column for The Australian, historian Keith Windschuttle wrote that the inscription was "perfectly accurate" if the word "territory" was defined as the east coast of Australia.

"Cook was in fact the first person in history to traverse the whole of this coastline and view its 2,000 miles (3,200km) of shores and hinterland," he wrote, describing the debate as "wanton provocation".
Image copyright Getty Images
Image caption Dancers at a landmark summit to discuss indigenous recognition in May

Others have suggested keeping the monument but finding better ways to publicly acknowledge indigenous Australians.

"What is wrong with telling both stories, rather than rewriting history and obliterating a plaque to James Cook?" one commentator, Tim Webster, told Channel Seven.
What does Sydney's council say?

Ms Moore said the issue would be discussed by its indigenous advisory board before the council took any position.

"There have been too many people in mainstream Australia ready to make judgement on these issues without consulting indigenous communities, and whether well-meaning or not, it's often done more harm than good," she said in a statement to the BBC.

She said the council had undertaken several initiatives to recognise indigenous culture.
Is this an isolated debate?

No, discussion about how to better recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians has stepped up in recent months.

In May, a landmark summit of indigenous leaders called for a formal representative body in parliament and a pathway to a treaty.

The national Australia Day celebration, an anniversary of the arrival of Britain's First Fleet, has also sparked controversy.

Two Melbourne councils in the last week have voted - one unanimously - to shift their celebrations over indigenous cultural sensitivities.

Australia debates Captain Cook 'discovery' statue - BBC News


I wish these bleeding heart whinge monkeys would give it a rest for 4 minutes.

And so the copy cat syndrome affects Australia who where feeling left out by anti statue demos, so they searched long and hard for a statue that could put them into the action.

Originally Posted by Looper

I wish these bleeding heart whinge monkeys would give it a rest for 4 minutes.

Yet here you are, drawing attention to it on a Thai-themed webboard.
Thanks for this quality comment to get a discussion started.

Originally Posted by stroller

Yet here you are, drawing attention to it on a Thai-themed webboard

Hey if respected news stalwart Misskit is allowed to troll a Thai forum with aboriginal politics then so am I...



... just kidding mk - love ya really!

I am sure the Cook statue, and similar others, could be sold for scrap metal and the proceeds be used to finance a pie-event for homeless aboriginals.

Originally Posted by Looper

historian Keith Windschuttle wrote that the inscription was "perfectly accurate" if the word "territory" was defined as the east coast of Australia.

the spaniards were first across the top end and down the coast of fnq

Sorry Oz bros apparently some libtardism has escaped the USA. Kill it with fire is the only option.

Originally Posted by baldrick

Originally Posted by Looper

historian Keith Windschuttle wrote that the inscription was "perfectly accurate" if the word "territory" was defined as the east coast of Australia.

the spaniards were first across the top end and down the coast of fnq

The Chinese were there - exploring and settling - long before everyone.

Europeans were rather newish to world exploration compared to more advanced and wiser civilisations.

Originally Posted by Slick

Sorry Oz bros apparently some libtardism has escaped the USA. Kill it with fire is the only option.

Sure, grab a torch & a gun to join the movement.

Didn't the Arabs walk the camels over there when it was still one supercontinent?

Originally Posted by stroller

I am sure the Cook statue, and similar others, could be sold for scrap metal and the proceeds be used to finance a pie-event for homeless aboriginals.

... I suggest a pie-event for homeless aboriginal orphans!

... or a pie event for aboriginal orphans in white foster care!

Originally Posted by stroller

Sure, grab a torch & a gun to join the movement

Not the same thing.

Originally Posted by HuangLao

Originally Posted by baldrick

Originally Posted by Looper

historian Keith Windschuttle wrote that the inscription was "perfectly accurate" if the word "territory" was defined as the east coast of Australia.

the spaniards were first across the top end and down the coast of fnq

The Chinese were there - exploring and settling - long before everyone.

Europeans were rather newish to world exploration compared to more advanced and wiser civilisations.

Yeah those Greeks and Romans don't know faeces.

Originally Posted by Looper

Others have suggested keeping the monument but finding better ways to publicly acknowledge indigenous Australians.

"What is wrong with telling both stories, rather than rewriting history and obliterating a plaque to James Cook?"

I'm tending this way. Re-write the south facing plaque to acknowledge the "discovery" as far as Europeans were concerned because Cook did indeed reveal the hitherto unknown land to Europeans. Also acknowledge that there were people who DID know about the land because they were living there, the Aboriginals.

Originally Posted by baldrick

the spaniards were first across the top end and down the coast of fnq

And the Dutch in the West and South. Fnq? Fvcking Queensland?
And indeed Zeng Hu mapped much of the northern and eastern coast in the 13th century.

There are several plaques, a 27-foot obelisk and a statue of Capt James Cook in the Hawaiian Islands.
Of course native Hawaiians did not erect them honouring the first "European man" to make landfall on these Islands and where he was killed after supposedly trying to kidnap a Hawaiian chief on the Big Island near what is now named the town of Captain Cook.

Interesting narrative from all sides.

Originally Posted by stroller

Originally Posted by Slick

Sorry Oz bros apparently some libtardism has escaped the USA. Kill it with fire is the only option.

Sure, grab a torch & a gun to join the movement.

Ohhhhh boy, here we go again

Originally Posted by stroller

Originally Posted by Looper

I wish these bleeding heart whinge monkeys would give it a rest for 4 minutes.

Yet here you are, drawing attention to it on a Thai-themed webboard.
Thanks for this quality comment to get a discussion started.

Thanks for your quality reply

Maybe change the plaque inscription to a picture of a wheel, and the words 'brought to you by..... Less than 250 yrs ago'.

Change the inscription to "Charted This Territory" (which is what he was actually doing.) SORTED

Brits will invite the Romanians to steal this and melt it down? French rubbish

South Sea Islanders say statue of Townsville founder 'whitewashes' slave history

A statue in the northern Queensland city of Townsville has raised the ire of Australian South Sea Islanders, who say it should be changed to better reflect the region's slave history.

A bronze statue of colonial-era businessman Robert Towns, who made his name by 'blackbirding' South Sea Islanders in 19th century Queensland, stands in Townsville's main street.

The South Sea Islander community is calling for the site to include a plaque and statue to pay tribute to those who were kidnapped, brought to Queensland and forced into labour on the cane fields.
Captain Cook 'myth'

Indigenous people have become a postscript to Australian history thanks to a belief in the superiority of white Christendom, writes Stan Grant.

The calls follow renewed debate in the United States over the purpose and relevance of monuments commemorating pro-slavery figures of the former Confederate states.

Emelda Davis, president of the Australian South Sea Islanders Association, said her grandfather was kidnapped and brought to Australia when he was 12.

"The Australian South Sea Islanders community in particular are advocating for the rightful inclusion of recognition in terms of the history of the Melanesian labourers that were bought to Townsville by Robert Towns," she said.

"[My grandfather] was taken off the island. It was the beach and he was taken from his family.

"That's my mother's father. That's how recent this history is."

In Queensland, it is estimated more than 62,000 men and women were trafficked between 1863 and 1904 to forcibly work in the maritime industry and the cane fields.

Residents of some 80 islands were affected, including most of modern-day Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, and Kiribati.
'The first step in this is listening'
Plaque commemorating Robert Towns in Townsville, Queensland.
Photo: Towns made his name by 'blackbirding' South Sea Islanders in the 19th century. (Wikimedia Commons: ROxBo)

Ms Davis said there is still little acknowledgement of Australia's slave history.

"There's a monument in town of Robert Towns that celebrates his entrepreneurial wisdom and [being a] founding father of the township," she said.

"But it goes to undermine the Aboriginal, Torres Strait and Australian South Sea Islander history that occurred in Townsville in particular as well. It's a whitewash.

"So we want to see the same monuments put up around Townsville that depict the truth of the nation, because our communities are struggling."

Media player: "Space" to play, "M" to mute, "left" and "right" to seek.
Audio: Listen to Nance Haxton's story on The World Today (The World Today)

Finding a way to properly acknowledge the complexities of Australia's history is a debate gaining traction.

University of South Australia lecturer Freya Higgins-Desbiolles said Australians need to look at what and whom they commemorate.

"In the case with Townsville and the possibilities to recognise the history of slavery and blackbirding, many Australians are not aware of that history," Dr Higgins-Desbiolles said.

"I think we need to revisit these histories and have conversations about them and actually think about how do we tell them, and whose stories get told?

"But again, non-Indigenous Australians don't seem to be by and large even listening, and that would be my urge. The first step in this is listening."

The City of Townsville has been contacted for comment.

South Sea Islanders say statue of Townsville founder 'whitewashes' slave history - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)


Lets tear down statues of anyone who ever owned a slave (so that would include almost every member of the ruling classes before the 19th century - even those we consider heroes).

Never mind that it is part of the fascinating history of the human race. 21st century Snowlfakes need to be protected!

Lets turn the whole world into a safe space!

Yayyyyy

Originally Posted by HuangLao

Europeans were rather newish to world exploration compared to more advanced and wiser civilisations.

The more advanced and wiser civilisations who are well noted for being complete fucking animals at food buffets, shitting on sidewalks, and being paid $3.15 a day.

Yes let's all wish we were like them .

Originally Posted by Looper

Lets tear down statues of anyone who ever owned a slave

What a bizarre suggestion as a footnote to the article you posted.

Originally Posted by Looper

The South Sea Islander community is calling for the site to include a plaque and statue to pay tribute to those who were kidnapped, brought to Queensland and forced into labour on the cane fields.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackbirding#In_Australia

Originally Posted by Looper

Lets tear down statues of anyone who ever owned a slave

Did you read the article you posted? They don't want to tear down Town's statue but to reform the area and tell all sides of the history.

Originally Posted by Looper

"In the case with Townsville and the possibilities to recognise the history of slavery and blackbirding, many Australians are not aware of that history," Dr Higgins-Desbiolles said.

"I think we need to revisit these histories and have conversations about them and actually think about how do we tell them, and whose stories get told?

"But again, non-Indigenous Australians don't seem to be by and large even listening, and that would be my urge. The first step in this is listening."

...and reading.

Originally Posted by Headworx

Originally Posted by HuangLao

Europeans were rather newish to world exploration compared to more advanced and wiser civilisations.

The more advanced and wiser civilisations who are well noted for being complete fucking animals at food buffets, shitting on sidewalks, and being paid $3.15 a day.

Yes let's all wish we were like them .

Yes a model civilisation