Gweagal spears taken home by James Cook in 1770 to have new home at Kurnell

They will be housed in a new Visitors Centre, which was announced in 2000, and has just cleared environmental and heritage hurdles.

The NSW Department of Environment and Heritage said construction was due to commence in mid-2024 and be completed by the end of 2025. A design was chosen in 2021.

The spears were officially handed over last week by Trinity College, Cambridge, where they have been held, to the La Perouse Aboriginal community.

They are all that remain of 40 spears which Cook recorded as having been taken from the villages of the Gweagal people living at Kamay.

The handover followed more than 20 years of advocacy by Indigenous representatives and supporters.

On their return to Australia, the spears will be cared for by the Chau Chak Wing Museum at the University of Sydney until the Visitors Centre at Kurnell is completed.

Gujaga Foundation director Ray Ingrey said, "The spears were pretty much the first point of European contact, particularly British contact with Aboriginal Australia".

"I think for us it's a momentous occasion that where Australia's history began, in 1770 on the shores of Botany Bay at Kurnell, the spears that were undoubtedly taken without permission are returned to the rightful people.

"Ultimately, they'll be put on permanent display for everyone to go see; at the very spot they were taken from 250 years ago."

Noeleen Timbery, of the La Perouse Local Aboriginal Land Council, said, "They are an important connection to our past, our traditions, and cultural practices, and to our ancestors".

"Our Elders have worked for many years to see their ownership transferred to the traditional owners of Botany Bay," she said.

"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."