"As we approached the shore they all made off except two men who seemed resolved to oppose our landing. As soon as I saw this, I ordered the boats to lay upon their oars in order to speak to them but this was to little purpose for neither us nor Tupaia could understand one word they said."
- James Cook, 29 April 1770
This is the moment, 250 years ago, that two worlds collided.
In a hostile encounter, British explorer Captain James Cook stepped off HMS Endeavour and onto the shores of what is now known as Botany Bay in South Sydney.
There, he tried to communicate with two Gweagal men using a Tahitian Polynesian translator, Tupaia, who had helped him in New Zealand.
