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Eight Days in Kamay

Eight Days in Kamay

In April 1770, strangers onboard the Endeavour appeared off the shores of Kamay (Botany Bay). This exhibition explores the eight days that followed and their continuing legacy.

PAST EXHIBITION
Exhibition
Monday 13 July 2020 to Sunday 28 February 2021

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Admission: Free

Eight Days in Kamay

In April 1770, strangers onboard the Endeavour appeared off the shores of Kamay (Botany Bay). This exhibition explores the eight days that followed and their continuing legacy.

Coinciding with the 250th anniversary of Endeavour visit, the exhibition features original sketches and journals from the expedition contextualised by Gweagal knowledge. A photographic display of the Day of Mourning protests held by Aboriginal people on the 200th anniversary of the visit and works by contemporary artists Karla Dickens, Daniel Boyd, Michael Cook, Jason Wing and Vincent Namatjira explore the continuing impact of the events of those eight days.

'We discovered them before they even set foot on land!'

— senior Gweagal knowledge holder Shayne Williams, 2020
 
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Eight days in Kamay

On 29 April 1770, the Gweagal people of Kamay (Botany Bay) discovered James Cook and his crew as they sailed into the bay and came ashore. The eight days that followed changed the course of Australia’s history. 250 years later the events of those eight days and their continuing impact are still being debated, contested, felt.

Eora: Indigenous Sydney before European settlement

Delve deep into the stories of Indigenous Sydney before European settlement, created through a close and innovative interrogation of the European records of early colonisation.

Drawing of harbour foreshore with people around a fire, a canoe in the foreground.
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