SYDNEY: The University of Cambridge has refused a request by an Australian man to return important Aboriginal artifacts taken by British explorer Captain James Cook nearly 250 years ago.
Rodney Kelly is seeking the return of four spears from the university’s Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology on behalf of the Gweagal people, who traditionally inhabited southern parts of Sydney, Australia’s largest city.
According the to the university, Cook took the spears following a violent first encounter between Aborigines and Europeans on the shores of Botany Bay in Sydney in 1770. He also took a shield, which is currently held by the British Museum and for which Kelly has also sought repatriation.
The artifacts are recognized as a significant symbol of first contact between the British and indigenous Australians and of Aboriginal resistance to colonization. However, the University of Cambridge has rejected a request for their return lodged by Kelly.
“Removing parts of the Cook-Sandwich collection, which is of great historical, scientific and educational importance nationally and internationally, would cause considerable harm by depriving the collection of its integrity,” a spokeswoman said in a statement to Reuters on Saturday.
The university said the request contained no clear proposal for housing and conserving the spears if they were to be returned, and added it was important that any request for change be made with “accredited representatives of the Gweagal people.”
Kelly, who submitted a formal request for the repatriation of the spears in November last year, claims to be a direct descendant of the Gweagal warrior Cooman, from whom he claims the spears and shield were taken.
However, a report prepared by the University of Cambridge has questioned Kelly’s ability to prove his descent — something disputed by the Sydney man.
“It makes me angry they are trying these tactics to discredit me and my history,” Kelly told Reuters in an interview.
Cook’s landing in Botany Bay on April 29, 1770 marked the first point of contact between the British and Aborigines and preceded the arrival of the first waves of colonists to Australia eight years later.
Two Aboriginal men holding spears tried to resist Cook’s party landing and one was injured by British musket fire, the university says. The Gweagal then retreated and Cook and his crew entered their camp and took the spears and a shield.
According to Kelly, Cooman was the injured man in the historical account, a claim the university says is not well-supported.
Both the Australian Senate and state parliament of New South Wales voted last year to support the repatriation of the artifacts from the British Museum and the Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.
Kelly said he would continue to fight for the artifacts’ return.
“I want to do everything I can to bring those artifacts home for my people and every indigenous and non indigenous person in Australia,” he said.
Cambridge University refuses to return Aboriginal artifacts to Australia
Cambridge University refuses to return Aboriginal artifacts to Australia
Progress for Ukraine talks in Paris uncertain with US focus shifting to Venezuela
- Ukraine’s allies are meeting in Paris to discuss security guarantees after a potential ceasefire with Russia. The Trump administration’s focus on Venezuela could complicate progress
- France and the UK lead efforts to strengthen post-ceasefire defenses for Ukraine, possibly with European forces
PARIS: Ukraine’s allies are meeting Tuesday in Paris for key talks that could help determine the country’s security after a potential ceasefire with Russia. But prospects for progress are uncertain with the Trump administration’s focus shifting to Venezuela.
Before the US capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, French President Emmanuel Macron had expressed optimism about the latest gathering of so-called “coalition of the willing” nations. For months, they have been exploring how to deter any future Russian aggression should it agree to stop fighting Ukraine.
In a Dec. 31 address, Macron said that allies would “make concrete commitments” at the summit “to protect Ukraine and ensure a just and lasting peace.”
Macron’s office said Tuesday’s meeting will gather an unprecedented number of officials attending in person, with 35 participants including 27 heads of state and government. The US will be represented by President Donald Trump’s envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
Macron’s office said the US delegation was initially set to be led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who changed his plans for reasons related to the military intervention in Venezuela.
Participants seek concrete outcomes on five key priorities once fighting ends: ways to monitor a ceasefire; support for Ukraine’s armed forces; deployment of a multinational force on land, at sea and in the air; commitments in case there’s another Russian aggression; and long-term defense cooperation with Ukraine.
But whether that’s still achievable Tuesday isn’t so clear now, as Trump deals with the aftermath of his decision to effect leadership change in Venezuela.
Ukraine seeks firm guarantees from Washington of military and other support seen as crucial to securing similar commitments from other allies. Kyiv has been wary of any ceasefire that it fears could provide time for Russia to regroup and attack again.
Recent progress in talks
Before the US military operation targeting Maduro, Witkoff had indicated progress in talks about protecting and reassuring Ukraine.
In a Dec. 31 post, Witkoff tweeted that “productive” discussions with him, Rubio, and Kushner on the US side and, on the other, national security advisers of Britain, France, Germany and Ukraine had focused on “strengthening security guarantees and developing effective deconfliction mechanisms to help end the war and ensure it does not restart.”
France, which with the United Kingdom has coordinated the monthslong, multination effort to shore up a ceasefire, has only given broad-brush details about the plan’s scope. It says Ukraine’s first line of defense against a Russian resumption of war would be the Ukrainian military and that the coalition intends to strengthen it with training, weaponry and other support.
Macron has also spoken of European forces potentially being deployed away from Ukraine’s front lines to help deter future Russian aggression.
Important details unfinalized
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said during the weekend that potential European troop deployments still face hurdles, important details remain unfinalized, and “not everyone is ready” to commit forces.
He noted that many countries would need approval from parliament even if leaders agreed to military support for Ukraine. But he recognized that support could come in forms other than troops, such as “through weapons, technologies and intelligence.”
Zelensky said that post-ceasefire deployments in Ukraine by Britain and France, Western Europe’s only nuclear-armed nations, would be “essential” because some other coalition members ”cannot provide military assistance in the form of troops, but they do provide support through sanctions, financial assistance, humanitarian aid and so on.”
“Speaking frankly as president, even the very existence of the coalition depends on whether certain countries are ready to step up their presence,” Zelensky said. “If they are not ready at all, then it is not really a ‘coalition of the willing.’”
