The Guurrbi Blog: The 51st Re-enactment of Cook's Landing

This weekend was the 51st Re-enactment of Cook's Landing, held every year during the Queen's birthday weekend in June. Although it has now been performed 51 times, only in the past two years has the story been told to include the perspective of the Guugu Yimithirr people, whose oral histories of the event have now been woven into the written account from Cook's Journals.

The input of Bama from Cooktown and Hope Vale has enriched the story beyond measure, as well as increasing the size of the cast! Instead of a mere handful participating, this year nearly forty Bama were involved in the Re-enactment and the sunset corroboree which followed. We are all very proud to have our story accurately portrayed in what is now acknowledged to be the First Reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in Australia. And it took place here at Gungardie, on the banks on Wahalumbaal Birri, the Endeavour River, where Cooktown now stands.