Malcolm Cole's "Captain Cook"
On 26 January 1988, Australia officially celebrated its bicentenary, marking 200 years since the arrival of the First Fleet of British convicts in the continent. For First Nations people, this meant 200 years of colonisation, dispossession, and the destruction of land and culture.
In response to public celebrations of the anniversary, gay Aboriginal and South Sea Islander man Malcolm Cole and artist Panos Couros came up their own way to mark the occasion – a float in Sydney’s Mardi Gras parade.
The float, known as the “Aboriginal Boat”, took the form of a sailing ship manned by Malcolm, dressed as Captain Cook, the British man who “claimed” the lands of First Nations people along Australia’s east coast for Britain. Narungga and Kaurna man Rodney Junga-Williams played botanist Joseph Banks, who was also instrumental in the decision to colonise the continent. The float was pulled by their white friends. It is now customary for the First Nations float to lead Sydney’s Mardi Gras, but this wasn’t the case in 1988. The “Aboriginal Boat” was the first official Indigenous community float in the parade.
Malcolm, a dancer, teacher, and counsellor, was openly gay, and in 1988 was diagnosed with AIDS. His twin brother Robert nursed him in the years leading up to his death in 1995. In 2024 Robert attended his first Mardi Gras, where he commemorated his brother by marching in a recreation of his Captain Cook costume.
That ends our celebration of queer Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history and culture for NAIDOC Week. Check out our posts throughout the week to catch up on what you missed!
