James Cook is being demonized by activists as a coloniser and instigator of the so-called ‘invasion’ that took place from 1770. Is there any truth in their claims?
Some of you are probably already smiling as a result of my obviously humorous heading ‘the great colonial invader’ – it’s so preposterous that it’s hard not to laugh out loud!
And yet, that is exactly what so many ignorant and racially biased Australians consider him to be – and that appears to include our Prime Minister, Tony Albanese.
As George Orwell stated in his best-selling book ‘1984’ “In a time of deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” So, let’s be true revolutionaries and look at the facts.
Lieutenant James Cook left England in August 1768 and sailed on a remarkable voyage of discovery and scientific exploration. His craft HMB Endeavour was not a warship it was a former coal carrier that had been chosen because it could carry large quantities of food and other provisions on what would be a voyage lasting several years.
On board was a group of scientists headed by botanist Joseph Banks. Together with Banks was astronomer Charles Green whose primary task was to measure the passage of the planet Venus across the disk of the Sun. This would help to improve navigation and also measure the distance of the Earth from the Sun.
The transit was due on 3 June 1769 and was hopefully to be observed from the tiny island of Tahiti – assuming Cook could find it amongst the huge expanse of the Pacific Ocean.
Clearly this was not an invasion force yet that’s not what many believe – or at least they don’t want to believe it!
And the level of ignorance doesn’t stop there. According to one survey, 48% of Australians believe that James Cook arrived in Australia not in 1770 but in 1788. He is therefore falsely accused of having been a member of the First Fleet and therefore, in their twisted minds, a member of the white colonial force that supposedly ‘invaded’ this continent. As a result, Cook’s statues have been attacked and his memory defiled by these people.
The truth is James Cook arrived in Botany Bay on 29th April 1770 and was not involved in any activity that could even remotely be called an ‘invasion’. For a start, only he and approximately 40 members of his crew stepped ashore – hardly an invasion force.
He was also under strict instructions from the British Government in relation to any native people he might encounter to: “…..endeavour by all proper means to cultivate a friendship with them.…shewing (sic) them every Civility and Regard.”
Unfortunately, the aboriginal people who met them on that day were aggressive and threw stones and spears at Cook and his crew. They in turn fired muskets to scare them away. The shot used was a light, non-lethal load and meant only to ‘sting’ and scare. No-one on either side was seriously injured.
Even when Cook offered small gifts there was no positive response unlike that provided by other local people in several of the Pacific islands that Cook visited, including Tahiti.
Compare the facts above with the following extract from the Uluru Statement from the Heart (third page of 26 pages) under the sub-heading INVASION:
“Australia was not a settlement and it was not a discovery. It was an invasion. Cook did not discover us, because we saw him. We were telling each other with smoke, yet in his diary, he said “discovered”. Australia must acknowledge its history, its true history. Not Captain Cook. …………. The invasion that started at Botany Bay is the origin of the fundamental grievance between the old and new Australians”
So, there we have it, the people who concocted the Uluru Statement from the Heart clearly believe that James Cook started the so-called invasion. And they also appear incapable of comprehending that Cook meant he had “discovered” Australia in relation to British discovery – not discovery per se. That’s fairly obvious, isn’t it?
The truth is, James Cook was not only a great mariner and cartographer, but also a good, humane and prudent man. He deserves to be remembered as such.
Given the absolute absurdity of the Uluru Statement’s version of history, we can easily imagine what the Indigenous left-wing activists will insist on including in their revised ‘truth-telling’ history of Australia if the Voice proposal is passed.
It will be full of lies, exaggeration and myths – like the one that many of them believe relating to their ‘creation’ ideology. They believe that their ancestors were created here in Australia rather than were immigrants from Melanesia, as has been clearly proven.
And now, with voting on the Voice referendum only a few weeks away, we can expect truth to be abandoned altogether by the ‘Yes’ activists when they take to the streets buoyed on by massive funding from virtue-signaling Big Business, Big Tech, Big Sport and left-wing media like the ABC, Nine Entertainment and the Guardian.
God help us if this insane Voice proposal is successful, there will be no going back!
