Kamay spears stolen by Captain Cook returned to Country

A formal announcement will be made at Bare Island on Thursday.

The removal of spears by Captain Cook and botanist Joseph Banks was a significant and lasting loss to the local Aboriginal community, as it was a theft of their cultural knowledge handed from generation to generation.

For now, the artefacts remain at Cambridge University in the United Kingdom, as part of an archaeology and anthropology collection.

But they will soon be physically returned to their rightful custodians and displayed at the new visitor centre being constructed at Botany Bay.

The permanent repatriation to the La Perouse Aboriginal Community is being assisted by the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies and the Gujaga Foundation.