Accession No

D 1914.1


Description

Transferred to the Gujaga Foundation at a ceremony in Trinity College, University of Cambridge, 23 April 2024 with representatives of the La Perouse Aboriginal Community and Dharawal Nation.
Wooden fishing spear, with three prongs, secured with kangaroo sinew and sealed with resin. Prongs tipped with bone, stingray or catfish spine


Place

Oceania; Australasia; Australia; New South Wales; Sydney; Kamay [Botany Bay]


Period

late 18th century


Source

Cook, James (Captain) [field collector]; Sandwich (Earl) [collector and donor]; Trinity College [depositor]


Department

Anth


Reference Numbers

D 1914.1


Cultural Affliation

Dharawal Nation; Gweagal clan; Kameygal clan


Material

Wood; Bone; Wood, bone, resin/gum, bark fibre.


Local Term


Measurements

40mm x 40mm x 1386mm


Events

Loan (Exhibition)
Cook voyages exhibition
Event Date
Author: maa


Context (Field collection)
Probably taken from the Gweagal people during resistance to Lieut. James. Cook's landing at Kamay (Botany Bay, Sydney) 29 April 1770. The voyage journals record that shots were fired at the locals during the landing of the boats, wounding one man. This may be one of 40- 50 spears that were taken that day from outside the bark huts, and trinkets were left in payment or which were thrown at the voyagers.
Event Date 1770
Author: rachel hand


Context (References)
One of the three spears listed in the 1771 , 'Inventory of weapons, utensils and manufacturers of various kinds collected by Capt. Cook of his Maj. ship the Endeavor in the years 1768, 1769, 1770 & 1771, in the new discovered South Sea Islands and New Zealand (the inhabitants of which were totally un-acquainted with the use of metals, and had never had intercourse with any European nation) – and given to Trinity College by Ld. Sandwich October 1771'.
as No. 13 Fish Gigg New S.Wales'.
Listed in Thomas et al 2016: Appendix, 320 122-3; 276, Fig. 1a, and 320.
Event Date 1771
Author: rachel hand


Context (Acquisition Details)
Given to Trinity College, Cambridge, in October 1771 by John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, PC, FRS (13 November 1718 – 30 April 1792), Trinity alumni, First Lord of the Admiralty and patron of James Cook. Exhibited in the Wren Library for many years.
On deposit to MAA from Trinity College from 1914

Event Date 1771
Author: rachel hand


Context (Related Documents)
An inventory of Lord Sandwich' donation was listed typologically by librarian Thomas Green. This remains in the Trinity College archives
Inventory reproduced in Thomas at al 2016: Appendix, pp 320-5.
Event Date 10/1771
Author: rachel hand


Description (Physical description)
Catalogue card notes 'Fishing gig or spear, with three bone tipped prongs.'
Event Date 1914
Author: rachel hand


Context (References)
Cf Isabel McBryde (1970) 'The Contribution to Australian Ethnography' in 'The significance of Cook's Endeavour voyage; Three bicentennial lectures. Townsville, Australia] James Cook University of North Queensland
Event Date 1970
Author: rachel hand


Context (References)
Cf Isabel McBryde (1977) 'Some Wooden Artefacts from the North Coast of NSW' in Records of the Australian Museum Vol.13, No.16, p.663
McBryde states, 'The description of the spear in the ethnographic literature suggests a consistent range of features: the spear shaft consisted of two elements, joined by gum and cords of bark fibre, to which were attached the prongs (three or four in number) themselves usually barbed with small bone points. The whole spear attained a length of twelve to fifteen feet, but this could be adjusted according to the needs of the occasion by manipulating the two elements in the main shaft. The spear was used by men when fishing, either in the shallows or from canoes. It was not used by women, who, in the areas in which this spear was used, fished with hook and line. The distributions of these two items of fishing gear seem to coincide for coastal New South Wales; there is no record of line fishing from the Far North Coast where the multi-pronged spear was not used'.
In relation to the 3 multi-pronged spears at UCMAA McBryde states on p.664, 'The multi-pronged spears in this group consist now of the heads and part of the shaft only, this having been cut either to facilitate storage or because of damage to the shaft. So total measurements are not possible, nor can one ascertain whether these also had two-piece shafts. The three prongs are inserted into the shaft, and secured by a binding of bark fibres and gum; they are barbed with small bone points'.

Event Date 1977
Author: rachel hand


Context (References)
Adrienne L. Kaeppler (1978) Artificial Curiosities': being an Exposition of Native Manufactures collected on the Three Pacific Voyages of Captain James Cook. Bishop Museum Press, Honolulu, p.250 and figure 546, p.250.
Event Date 1978
Author: rachel hand


Context (References)
Cf J.V.S. Megaw (1993) 'Something Old, Something New' in Records of the Australian Museum.
Consequent to their identification Megaw states p.23, 'these spears have justly found their place as the premier artefacts in any discussion of the early ethnography of the Sydney region'. In terms of their construction Megaw states on p.27, 'Like all spears in this list, the basic material used in their manufacture appears to have been the grass tree (Xanthorrhoea resinosa)'.


Event Date 28/4/1993
Author: maa


Description (Physical description)
Long wooden spear with three smaller sticks attached at one end to form prongs, which are secured with native string and sealed with resin. All four prongs are bone tipped. Bones also bound on and sealed with resin.
Event Date 1998
Author: maa


Context (References)
Illustrated in Julia Tanner (1998). 'From Pacific Shores: Eighteenth-century Ethnographic Collections at Cambridge - The Voyages of Cook, Vancouver and the First Fleet. Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology, University of Cambridge, p. 27 and 62
Event Date 1999
Author: rachel hand


Context (Field collection)
Julia Tanner, 1999 notes 'Cook Collection: Captain James Cook undertook three world voyages around the globe from 1768 - 1779. The stated purpose of the first voyage (1768-1771) on the HMS Endeavour was to send a Royal Society team to observe the transit of the planet Venus from the vantage point of newly discovered Tahiti. However, the primary governmental motivation behind the first expedition was to establish the existence of ' Terra Australis Incognita' or the ' Great Southern Continent' , which was believed to exist in order to balance the great northern land mass. Cook set sail from Plymouth on Friday 26th August 1768 and headed to South America, round Cape Horn and westwards to carry out the experiment in Tahiti, and then went on to circumnavigate the globe in pursuit of the presumed continent. The purpose of the second voyage (1772-1775) on the HMS Resolution and the HMS Adventure was to extend the search for the ' southern continent' . They sailed from Plymouth on 27 June 1772 and headed directly south past Cape Town and then set out on an eastward course of circumnavigation, crossing the Antartic Circle several times en route in an effort to seek the imagined continent. The third voyage (1776-1780) on the HMS Resolution and the HMS Discovery, was concerned with the search for a Northwest Passage between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. They sailed from Plymouth on 13th July 1772, heading first for the Society Islands from whence they set course to search for the Northwest Passage. However, Cook was killed in Hawaii in 1779 and his command was taken up by Charles Clerke.
More than 2000 extant pieces can be traced from Cook' s voyages (Kaeppler:1978), of which UCMAA has 215 identified objects. The majority of the material at UCMAA was collected from the Pacific, but also includes objects from the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America, the Northeast Coast of Asia and Tierra del Fuego in South America. Furthermore, all the three voyages are represented by objects in UCMAA' s collection.'
Event Date 1999
Author: rachel hand


Context (References)
Attenbrow, V. (2010). Sydney's Aboriginal past: investigating the archaeological and historical records. UNSW Press.
"Of the three 'Botany Bay' fishing spears collected during Captain Cook's 1770 voyage which are in the Cambridge University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (CUMAA), two are three-pronged spears with wooden shafts.(21) The shaft of the third spear, with four prongs, is made from a Xanthorrhoea flowering stem, as is the shaft of the multi-pronged fishing spears in the British Museum, London, (22) the two four-pronged fishing spears in the Australian Museum, Sydney, 'attributed to Port Jackson' (Figure 8.2),23 and probably the four-pronged fishing spear that was collected by the Russians in 1814 or 1820.24. Where the barbs have survived on these spears, they are of bone, with stingray spines forming barbs on one and possibly another of the CUMAA spears." pp 86-87

*Note '21' is "CUMAA Acc. Nos D.1914.1 to 3; Attenbrow pers. obs. Cambridge 1995."
*Note 22 "BM Reg. No. 944; Megaw 1993: Fig 1"
Event Date 2010
Author: rachel hand


Context (References)
Nugent, M. (2015) Encounters in country. In Sculthorpe, G. et al. 'Indigenous Australia: enduring civilisation'. London, UK: The British Museum. pp.123-124, fig.2.
Event Date 2015
Author: Guey-Mei Hsu


Loan (Exhibition)
National Museum of Australia, 1/11/2015 to 1/6/2016, Encounters
Event Date 1/11/2015
Author: Guey-Mei Hsu


Conservation (Remedial)
CON.2015.1857 | Remedial
Event Date 7/7/2015
Author: rah99


Context (References)
Thomas et al (eds.,) (2016) Artefacts of encounter: Cook's voyages, colonial collecting and Museum histories3, p. 20 122-3; 276, Fig. 1a, and 320
Event Date 2016
Author: rachel hand


Description (CMS Description)
Three-pronged spear with bone tips, from Australia, Captain Cook expeditions.
Event Date 7/12/2016
Author: maa


Context (Analysis)
Shanye Williams, of the Gweagal Families Group, an elder of the La Perouse Aboriginal community living in the area from which the spears originated, noted in regard to the four spears, D 1914.1-4, that black boy [Xanthorrhoea/ grass tree] was often used as a varnish for spears. The resin from it is used as a lacquer. Spears were made to fit the user, the length would have been made specifically for the user.
Kangaroo sinew has been used to bind the tips onto the shafts of these spears. The three-pronged spears have smaller shafts than the four-pronged spear.
From notes taken during the visit of Shayne Williams, Noleen Timbery and Maria Nugent, 4/5/2017


Event Date 4/5/2017
Author: rachel hand


Context (Display)
Exhibited in the Encounters Case, Maudslay Hall, from 1 June 2017- onwards.
Event Date 1/6/2017
Author: rachel hand


Research Visit (Anthropology)
RES.2017.2379 | To identity material and species used in the spear points of the Gwealgal spears and how the bone points in the fishing spears compare morphologically with the analysed points identified as fishing spear tips in archaeological assemblages
Event Date 20/7/2017
Author: rachel hand


Context (Amendments / updates)
Diana Tsoulous, zooarchaeologist in the Department of Biological Sciences at Macquarie University in Sydney, suggested that onoe point was bone and that two of the points may be cat fish spine, rather than stingray points.
Event Date 20/7/2017
Author: rachel hand


Research Visit (Anthropology)
RES.2018.2464 | Rodney Kelly
Event Date 1/5/2018
Author: Remke Velden


Description (Physical description)
Shaft and prongs: Grass tree (Xanthorrhoea). Shaft and prongs binding: Kurrajong bark (Brachychiton populneum) and grass tree resin (Xanthorrhoea). Point binding: kangaroo sinew, probably of grey kangaroo (Macropus giganteus) and grass tree resin (Xanthorrhoea). Points: At least one point of stingray tiip and others possibly of the short-beaked echidna spine (Tachyglossus aculeatus).
Event Date 7/2/2020
Author: rachel hand


Context (Amendments / updates)
Trinity College, Cambridge, agreed to return spears to Gweagal country following a a formal repatriation request in December 2022, from the La Perouse Local Aboriginal Land Council and the Gujaga Foundation. The spears will be permanently repatriated with the assistance of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS). The La Perouse community is currently lending contemporary spears made by Senior Gweagal Clan leader Rodney Mason to the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology to show how traditional knowledge has been passed down, while adapting to new technologies. La Perouse Local Aboriginal Land Council chairperson, Noeleen Timbery said the spears would be preserved for future generations. “We are proud to have worked with Cambridge’s Trinity College and the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology to transfer the ownership of these enormously significant artefacts to the La Perouse Aboriginal community. They are an important connection to our past, our traditions and cultural practices, and to our ancestors. With assistance from the National Museum of Australia and AIATSIS we will ensure these objects are preserved for our future generations and for all Australians. ...Our Elders have worked for many years to see their ownership transferred to the traditional owners of Botany Bay. Many of the families within the La Perouse Aboriginal community are descended from those who were present during the eight days the Endeavour was anchored in Kamay in 1770,”
See https://www.cam.ac.uk/news/australian-aboriginal-spears-taken-by-james-cook-to-be-repatriated
Event Date 2/3/2023
Author: rachel hand


Context (Display)
Text updated in the Encounters' case on 6 March to reflect the repatriation of the Gweagal spears to Country, noted in the University of Cambridge's press release, 2 March 2023

'Return of the Gweagal Spears
The three-pronged fishing spear displayed below (D 1914.1) is one of four remaining spears taken by Captain James Cook and the crew of HMS Endeavour during the first encounter between Aboriginal and British peoples in April 1770. The spears are part of the Cook collections given to Trinity College by the Earl of Sandwich, Lord of the Admiralty. They have been cared for at MAA since 1914.
When Cook arrived at Kamay (Botany Bay) on the east coast of Australia, members of the Gweagal nd Kameygal clans of the Dharawal Nation resisted their landing. They retreated after Cook’s crew responded with musket fire, shooting one Aboriginal man in the leg.
Three of the four spears were lent to the National Museum of Australia in 2020 as part of a collaborative exhibition. This project critically marked the 250th anniversary of the Endeavour’s voyage along the East Coast of Australia, framed by Aboriginal stories. In 2022 they travelled to the Chau Chak Wing Museum, University of Sydney, where they were made accessible to members of local Aboriginal communities. In response, the three contemporary spears displayed behind you were lent to MAA by the Gujaga Foundation. After years of campaigning by local Aboriginal people and discussions with the La Perouse Aboriginal Community in Sydney, Trinity College agreed in March 2023 to repatriate the spears. Plans are being made for their return to Country. The relationship between Cambridge and La Perouse will continue through collaborative research projects and community visits.'
Event Date 6/3/2023
Author: rachel hand


Conservation (Stabilisation)
CON.2024.5842 | Stabilisation
Event Date 29/1/2024
Author: Stephanie De Roemer


Conservation (Stabilisation)
CON.2024.5926 | Stabilisation
Event Date 20/4/2024
Author: Stephanie De Roemer


FM:87305

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