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Australian Aboriginal man fights to reclaim shield taken by captain Cook in 1770, kept by British Museum
Rodney Kelly says keeping artefacts away from home is "very disrespectful" · Australian Senate motion calls on Government to lend Kelly "diplomatic assistance"
The Gweagal Shield is the campaign's centerpiece. According to James Cook's and his companions' diaries, the shield was collected at Botany Bay after its owner, an Aboriginal warrior by the name of Cooman, was shot in the leg by Cook and fled.
Rodney Kelly —a descendant of Cooman and a Gweagal clan member, after which the shield receives its name— is now trying to convince the British Museum that the Gweagal Shield was "stolen" by the Cook expedition, and that it should be sent back to Australia. Kelly is also asking for the return of several arrows. The Aboriginal activist suggests the artefacts be kept and exhibited at the Museum of Sydney.
Kelly argues Aboriginal traditions say any artifacts made by them should remain in their original territories. Kelly's campaign —which is being funded at the GoFundMe crowdfunding site— argues that "it is very disrespectful to keep artefacts such as the Gweagal Shield away from their home".
The Australian Senate supported Kelly's demands in October by passing a motion which asked the Australian government to "extend diplomatic assistance" to him in his efforts in the UK to bring the shield and arrows back to Australia.
The British Museum says it is willing to talk about the issue not to transfer the shield's ownership to the Gweagal clan or Australia, but to loan it again to an Australian institution —as has already been the case before—, perhaps in a more or less permanent way. The British Museum's general policy, in fact, is not to give back any artefacts they keep or exhibit.
October and November this year, Kelly and another two Indigenous activists are touring Europe as they aim to explain their point of view on the conflict, and how the arrival of Europeans to Australia hit the Aboriginal peoples.