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Ghosts
When James Cook and his crew first encountered Aboriginal Australia on the 29th April 1770, at Kamay (Botany Bay) they were warned that they were not welcomed and not meant to be there. Their landing was opposed and the gifts of nails and beads from Cook’s men thrown from their longboat, not collected.

As Cook and his men stepped onto the Great Southern Land for the first time, they were met by two men from the Gweagal clan of the Dharawal nation who made threatening gestures and yelled “warra warra wai” which has recently been interpreted to mean “you’re all dead!”. Dharawal man Ray Ingrey, explains that “warra is the root word for either white or dead in our language”; his ancestors, thinking that the ship’s sails were a low floating cloud, reasoned that Cook and his men were spirits returned from the dead and that their opposition was a form of “protecting the country in a spiritual way, from ghosts” .

The confrontation was violent. Misunderstandings between Colonial and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Australia have ensued ever since.
Higgins, I., & Collard, S. (2020, April 28). Captain James Cook’s landing and the Indigenous first words contested by Aboriginal leaders - ABC News. Www.abc.net.au. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04-29/captain-cook-landing-indigenous-people-first-words-contested/12195148
National Museum of Australia. (n.d.). National Museum of Australia - Kamay — Botany Bay. Www.nma.gov.au. https://www.nma.gov.au/exhibitions/endeavour-voyage/kamay-botany-bay