East Coast Encounter Re-imagining the 1770 encounter

East Coast Encounter exhibition at the Australian National Maritime Museum re-imagines the encounters between James Cook and his crew with Aboriginal people in 1770. The exhibition presents this shared story from various perspectives.  Cook’s voyage along the Australian east coast is a significant event in Australian history. At Bedanug, which he named Possession Island, Cook ‘took possession’ of Australia’s east coast on behalf of the British Crown. A few years later, the first British colonists arrived. James Cook is recognised as a skilled navigator and explorer whose expedition led to the founding of this nation. However, for many Indigenous Australians he has become a symbol of dispossession. East Coast Encounter presents a fresh examination of these interactions and their ongoing impact, by juxtaposing different points of view.