Dr Shayne T. Williams, Ph.D, looks at how James Cook’s landing in New South Wales, Australia might have been experienced and interpreted by the Gweagal people.

I grew up on the Aboriginal reserve at La Perouse on the northern arm of Botany Bay. My connection with Botany Bay is historical; but it is not merely historical, it is more importantly cultural. It is cultural because both my grandmothers were proud Dharawal women.

Dharawal Country runs from Botany Bay, through the Illawarra, to the northern side of the Shoalhaven on the South Coast of New South Wales. This means that I have had the privilege to live most of my life within the Country of my ancestors. My attachment to Botany Bay is therefore deeply spiritual.