They Fought With Honour for their Country
Indigenous archive AUSTRALIA'S FIRST WAR VETERANS The Aborigine Peoples of the Australian War (1788-1901) aka The Frontier Wars On 29 April 1770 Aboriginal people lined the shores of Botany Bay shouting " Wirra wirra wai " / " Go away! " in their own language as HMB Endeavour under the command of Lt. James Cook sailed in and dropped anchor. When Cook and members of his crew then attempted to land from a small boat they were opposed by two Aboriginal warriors. Cook subsequently shot the men and thereby forced a landing. A couple of months later, and in direct defiance of his orders from the Admiralty and Royal Society, Cook claimed the east coast of the continent in the name of the British king. The shots fired by Lt. Cook at two Australian Aboriginal men as he stood in one of the Endeavour's boats prior to landing on the beach at Botany Bay were the first salvos in the undeclared war by the British Crown upon the Indigenous peoples of Australia, t...