Cooman

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Little is documented of Cooman's life. He is mainly known through the oral histories of some of his descendants who state that Cooman was the older of the two Gweagal men who opposed the landing of James Cook and his crew at Kamay (later named Botany Bay) in 1770.

During Cook's first voyage to the Pacific, he charted the east coast of the Australian continent and claimed it for Britain.

On 29 April 1770, Cook and crew attempted their first landfall on the continent at a beach now known as Silver Beach at Botany Bay (Kamay). The older warrior, who some identify as Cooman, and another Gweagal man came down to the beach to fend off what they thought to be spirits of the dead. They shouted "warra warra wai" meaning 'you are all dead' and gestured with their spears.{{Cite web |title=Voices heard but not understood |url=https://www.gujaga.org.au/stories/voices-heard-but-not-understood |access-date=2022-05-28 |website=Gujaga Foundation |language=en-US}}Jonathon Jones, [https://opus.lib.uts.edu.au/bitstream/10453/133196/2/02whole.pdf Murruwaygu: following in the footsteps of our ancestors], Masters Thesis, University of Technology Sydney Cook's party attempted to communicate their desire for water and threw gifts of beads and nails ashore. The two Aboriginal men continued to oppose the landing and Cook fired a warning shot. The older warrior responded by throwing a rock, and Cook shot him in the leg with small shot.McGregor, Carol. Art of the Skins: Un-silencing and remembering. Diss. PhD thesis, Griffith University, Brisbane, 2019. The crew then landed, and the Gweagal men threw two spears before Cook shot at them again and they retreated.{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2020-04-22 |title=Eight days in Kamay |url=https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/stories/eight-days-in-kamay |access-date=2023-11-01 |website=State Library of NSW}} The crew took their spears and shield and Cook found several children in nearby huts, and left some beads with them.{{cite web |title=Cook's Journal: Daily Entries, 29 April 1770 |url=http://southseas.nla.gov.au/journals/cook/17700429.html |access-date=25 October 2019 |website=southseas.nla.gov.au |publisher=South Seas}}Blainey, Geoffrey (2020). Captain Cook's Epic Voyage pp. 141-43{{Cite journal |last=Smith |first=Keith Vincent |date=2009 |title=Confronting Cook |url=https://bl.iro.bl.uk/concern/articles/9740df81-e9c9-4776-b2fe-5c5b862bacdb?locale=en |journal=Electronic British Library Journal |issue=2009}}{{Cite news |date=2020-04-28 |title=Captain Cook's landing contested by Aboriginal leaders |language=en-AU |work=ABC News |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04-29/captain-cook-landing-indigenous-people-first-words-contested/12195148 |access-date=2023-10-30}}{{Cite web |date=2020-01-24 |title=Virtual Cook to face an actually changed Australia |url=https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/virtual-cook-to-face-an-actually-changed-australia-20200122-p53tox |access-date=2023-10-30 |website=Australian Financial Review |language=en}}{{Cite journal |last=Pearson |first=Elizabeth |date=2016 |title=Old Wounds and New Endeavors: The Case for Repatriating the Gweagal Sheild from the British Museum |url=https://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/artniqul21&id=213&div=&collection= |journal=Art Antiquity and Law |volume=21 |pages=201}}{{Cite journal |last=Thomas |first=Nicholas |date=2018 |title=A Case of Identity: The Artifacts of the 1770 Kamay (Botany Bay) Encounter |url= |journal=Australian Historical Studies |volume=49 |issue=1 |pages=4–27 |doi=10.1080/1031461X.2017.1414862 |s2cid=149069484 |via=Taylor and Francis Online}} The shield taken is now known as the Gweagal shield.{{Cite journal |last=Lawn |first=Kathryn |date=2019 |title=The Gweagal Shield |url=https://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/student-journals/index.php/NESAIS/article/view/1585 |journal=NEW: Emerging Scholars in Australian Indigenous Studies |language=en |volume=5 |issue=1 |doi=10.5130/nesais.v5i1.1585 |issn=2208-1232|doi-access=free }}

{{Blockquote|text="Shaking their lances and menacing, (they) in all appearances resolved to dispute our landing to the utmost though they were two and we were 30 or 40 at least. They remained resolute so a musket was fired over them. A musket loaded with small shot was now fired at the eldest of the two ... It struck him on the legs but he minded it very little so another was immediately fired."|author=Joseph Banks}}{{Blockquote|text=... I fired a musket between the two which had no other effect than to make them retire back where bundles of their darts lay and one of them took up a stone and threw at us which caused my fireing a second Musquet load with small shott and altho' some of the shott struck the man yet it had no other effect than to make him lay hold of a ^Shield or target ^to defend himself ...|author=James Cook|title=[https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20110403094436/http://southseas.nla.gov.au/journals/cook/17700429.html Cook's Journal: Diary Entries - 29 April 1770]}}

File:Two of the Natives of New Holland, Advancing to Combat.jpg

The name of Cooman as the warrior shot by Cook has been disputed.Dakin, F. H. (2019). Objects As Polyagents: Tracing The Histories Of The Gweagal Spears. {{doi|10.17863/CAM.45153}} In 2020, Noeleen Timbery of the Gujaga Foundation stated there were a "number of more feasible candidates present within the oral histories kept by Aboriginal families belonging to the area".{{Cite web |last=Timbery |first=Noeleen |date=2020-04-27 |title=Aboriginal history told by Aboriginal people |url=https://www.gujaga.org.au/stories/aboriginal-history-told-by-aboriginal-people |access-date=2023-11-01 |website=Gujaga Foundation |language=en-US}} Academic Maria Nugent, writing with Gaye Sculthorpe of the British Museum, states that there is "no consensus" that Cooman was one of the warriors.{{Cite web |last1=Sculthorpe |first1=Gaye |last2=Nugent |first2=Maria |date=2020-04-26 |title=Tall ship tales: oral accounts illuminate past encounters and objects, but we need to get our story straight |url=https://www.themandarin.com.au/131744-tall-ship-tales-oral-accounts-illuminate-past-encounters-and-objects-but-we-need-to-get-our-story-straight/ |access-date=2023-11-01 |website=The Mandarin |language=en-US}} However, many sources, primarily drawing from Biddy Giles, Keith Vincent Smith, and Rodney Kelly, refer to Cooman as the man shot and wounded in the leg by Cook.{{Cite news |last=Neill |first=Rosemary |date=17 June 2017 |title=Cambridge refuses to return Aboriginal spears 'stolen' by Cook |work=The Australian |url=https://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/indigenous/cambridge-refuses-to-return-aboriginal-spears-stolen-by-cook/news-story/2c3aa77192e4a6127e423d7e3112d240?amp |access-date=1 November 2023}}{{Cite web |last=McDonald |first=Alasdair |date=2016-05-22 |title=Gweagal warrior's descendants to travel to British Museum to demand return of Aboriginal artefacts |url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/gweagal-warriors-descendants-to-travel-to-british-museum-to-demand-return-of-aboriginal-artefacts-20160520-gozjyi.html |access-date=2023-11-01 |website=The Sydney Morning Herald |language=en}}{{Cite news |last=Sydney |first=Bernard Lagan |date=2023-11-01 |title=Cook's Aboriginal booty found in Berlin museum |newspaper=The Times |language=en |url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/cooks-aboriginal-booty-found-in-berlin-museum-vxw5zm6jp |access-date=2023-11-01 |issn=0140-0460}}{{Cite web |last=Taylor |first=James |date=2022-07-14 |title=No improper measure |url=https://overland.org.au/2022/07/no-improper-measure/ |access-date=2023-11-01 |website=Overland literary journal |language=en-US}}{{Cite news |last=Wahlquist |first=Calla |date=2016-10-11 |title=Australian Senate joins push to repatriate Indigenous artefacts from British Museum |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/oct/11/australian-senate-joins-push-to-repatriate-indigenous-artefacts-from-british-museum |access-date=2023-11-01 |issn=0261-3077}}Bourke, Anthony R (2008) [https://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&filename=1&article=1805&context=theses&type=additional Family footprints: tracing the past in the]

[https://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&filename=1&article=1805&context=theses&type=additional present through curatorial autobiographical practice] Masters Thesis, University of Wollongong{{Cite web |last=Constantinou |first=Menios |title=A womans bid to heal country |url=https://www.impact.acu.edu.au/community/a-womans-bid-to-heal-country |access-date=2023-11-01 |website=Impact - Australian Catholic University}}Vanderbyl, Nikita. "Aboriginal artworks and cultural objects as primary sources." agora 57, no. 3 (2022): 53-56.{{Cite journal |last=Jones |first=Michael |date=March 2019 |title=Collections in the Expanded Field: Relationality and the Provenance of Artefacts and Archives |journal=Heritage |language=en |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=884–897 |doi=10.3390/heritage2010059 |issn=2571-9408|doi-access=free }}{{Cite journal |last=Pearson |first=Elizabeth |date=2018 |title=Colonial Statutes and Statues: Rethinking the Law on Aboriginal Cultural Heritage in New South Wales |url=https://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/artniqul23&id=209&div=&collection= |journal=Art Antiquity and Law |volume=23 |pages=197}}{{Cite journal |last=Langlais |first=Pandora |date=2021 |title=Return of the Past: The Challenges of Oceanian Art's Restitution in Today's Art World |url=https://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/jartcrim25&id=88&div=&collection= |journal=Journal of Art Crime |volume=25 |pages=83}}{{Cite journal |last=DeMuynck |first=Ellyn |date=2020-01-01 |title=When Repatriation Doesn't Happen: Relationships Created Through Cultural Property Negotiations |url=https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/1739 |journal=Electronic Theses and Dissertations}}

The identification of Cooman as the name of the wounded warrior stems from an 1840s oral history told by Biddy Giles which was subsequently recorded. Biddy stated that Cooman was the grandfather of her husband, also called Cooman, who was often described as ‘the last of the Georges River Tribe’.Smith, Keith Vincent. "Confronting Cook." [https://bl.iro.bl.uk/downloads/88ab378e-7d3c-46a1-a69b-b052e7fa15b1 Electronic British Library Journal (2009)]. Smith cites a 1905 document recounting the 1840s oral history told by Biddy Giles.Smith, Keith Vincent. "Confronting Cook." [https://bl.iro.bl.uk/downloads/88ab378e-7d3c-46a1-a69b-b052e7fa15b1 Electronic British Library Journal (2009)]. However, there were several documented Coomans in Sydney, and it is not clear who Biddy's husband was.{{Cite web |last=Mason |first=Kody |date=2023 |title=Giles, Biddy/Biyarung (c. 1810–1888) |url=https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/giles-biddybiyarung-31922 |access-date=6 November 2020 |website=Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University}} Maria Nugent calls Smith's identification of Cooman as the Gweagal spearman on this basis "a mere assertion" based on "inconclusive evidence" and "a questionable interpretative leap."{{Cite web |last=Sculthorpe |first=Maria Nugent Dr Gaye |date=2020-04-26 |title=Tall ship tales: oral accounts illuminate past encounters and objects, but we need to get our story straight |url=https://www.themandarin.com.au/131744-tall-ship-tales-oral-accounts-illuminate-past-encounters-and-objects-but-we-need-to-get-our-story-straight/ |access-date=2023-11-01 |website=The Mandarin |language=en-US}}

Cooman fathered a lineage spanning at least six generations.{{Cite news |last=Donnelly |first=Marea |date=August 17, 2018 |title=Captain Cook shot my grandpa |work=The Daily Telegraph |url=https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/captain-cook-shot-my-grandpa-great-great-great-great-great-great-great/news-story/49ec3ef96dbf6e1a8f7662f02b3162b5}} His descendants Theresa Ardler and Rodney Kelly have campaigned for the return of a shield from the British Museum{{Cite web |date=2019-05-07 |title=Aboriginal man demanding British Museum return shield stolen from his ancestor granted private viewing |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/aboriginal-man-private-viewing-ancestral-shield-james-cook-australia-british-museum-a8896501.html |access-date=2023-10-31 |website=The Independent |language=en}}Ardler, Theresa. "Place, tradition, whales, and story of the Eora, Dharawal and Yuin nations: Linking Aboriginal life and spirituality from past to present." Historic Environment 33.1/2 (2021): 94-107. which later analysis has shown is likely not the shield collected by Cook's party from Botany Bay. In 2021, spears collected by Banks during the encounter were returned by Cambridge University to the La Perouse Aboriginal Land Council.{{Cite web |title=Historic Gweagal spears stolen at First Contact are repatriated back to Eora-Sydney |url=https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/historic-gweagal-spears-stolen-at-first-contact-are-repatriated-back-to-eora-sydney/4w5d41o8k |access-date=2023-10-31 |website=NITV |language=en}}

In August 2016, as part of Kelly's campaign, a motion passed the New South Wales Legislative Council acknowledging the Gweagal people as the “rightful owners” of the shield and spears and identifying Cooman as the man who was shot by Cook's party.{{Cite web |title=New South Wales Legislative Council Hansard, 23 August 2016 |url=https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/Hansard/Pages/HansardResult.aspx#/docid/HANSARD-1820781676-70268 |access-date=2 November 2023 |website=Parliament of New South Wales}} In October 2016, a similar motion was adopted by the Australian Senate, identifying Cooman as the man shot by Cook.{{Cite web |title=Senate supports return of Gweagal Shield |url=https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/the-point/article/senate-supports-return-of-gweagal-shield/w4deev5q6 |access-date=2023-11-01 |website=NITV |language=en}}

Theresa Ardler, a descendant of Cooman, is one of the Dharawal community working with libraries, museums and linguists to tell the story of Cook's landing from an Aboriginal perspective in an attempt to correct misrepresentations of the encounter.

There have been several other people named Cooman in the Sydney region who should not be confused with this Cooman.{{Citation |last=Mason |first=Kodie |title=Biddy/Biyarung Giles (c. 1810–1888) |url=https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/giles-biddybiyarung-31922 |work=Australian Dictionary of Biography |access-date=2023-11-01 |place=Canberra |publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University |language=en}} It is unclear if this Cooman is the grandfather of a later Cooman ('King Kooma'), an Aboriginal man who lived in the Liverpool region and who the local Aboriginal Cooman surname comes from.{{Cite web |title=1820s {{!}} A History of Aboriginal Sydney |url=https://www.historyofaboriginalsydney.edu.au/south-west/1820s |access-date=2023-10-30 |website=www.historyofaboriginalsydney.edu.au}}

• Gweagal shield

• Gweagal

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Category:Indigenous Australian people

Category:Violence against Indigenous Australians

Category:1770 deaths

Category:18th-century Australian people