Warra Warra Wai cover art

Warra Warra Wai

How Indigenous Australians discovered Captain Cook, and what they tell about the coming of the Ghost People

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Warra Warra Wai

By: Darren Rix, Craig Cormick
Narrated by: Wayne Blair, Lewis Fitz-Gerald
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About this listen

 Shortlisted for the Queensland Literary Awards, Work of State Significance and The University of Queensland Non-Fiction Book Award
Shortlisted for the 2025 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards, Australian History
Winner of the 2025 NSW History Award, Australian History Prize
Winner of the 2025 Marion ACT Literary Award, Non-Fiction
Winner of the First Nations History Award, Canberra Critics’ Circle Awards 2024
Winner of the 2025 ACT Book of the Year Award

For the first time, the First Nations story of Cook’s arrival, and what blackfellas want everyone to know about the coming of Europeans.

Both 250 years late and extremely timely, this is an account of what First Nations people saw and felt when James Cook navigated their shores in 1770.

We know the European story from diaries, journals and letters. For the first time, this is the other side. Who were the people watching the Endeavour sail by? How did they understand their world and what sense did they make of this strange vision? And what was the impact of these first encounters with Europeans? The answers lie in tales passed down from 1770 and in truth-telling of the often more brutal engagements that followed.

Darren Rix (a Gunditjmara-GunaiKurnai man, radio reporter and Archie Roach’s nephew) and his co-author Craig Cormick travelled to all the places on the east coast that were renamed by Cook, and listened to people’s stories. With their permission, these stories have been woven together with the European accounts and placed in their deeper context: the places Cook named already had names; the places he ‘discovered’ already had peoples and stories stretching back before time; and although Cook sailed on, the empire he represented impacted the people’s lives and lands immeasurably in the years after.

‘Warra Warra Wai’ was the expression called to Cook and his crew when they tried to make landfall in Botany Bay. It has long been interpreted as ‘Go away’, but is perhaps more accurately translated as ‘You are all dead spirits’. In adding the First Nations version of these first encounters to the story of Australian history, this is a book that will sit on Australian shelves alongside Cook’s Journals, Dark Emu and The Fatal Shore as one of our foundational texts. Australia, New Zealand & Oceania Indigenous Studies Social Sciences Specific Demographics

Critic Reviews

'You will close this book feeling closer to your country.' (Bruce Pascoe, author of Dark Emu)
'These are the stories that Australians need to hear.' (Karen Mundine)
'As this instructive re-enchantment of the standard “discovery” narrative shows, point of view is everything when it comes to how history is told and understood.'
'Rix and Cormick started with a supposedly "simple idea" but the result is complex, subtle, surprising and poignant … Warra Warra Wai is a triumph of collaborative truth-telling.' (Kate Fullagar, author of Bennelong and Phillip)
'A wonderful contribution to the most creative and innovative new chapter in Australian history, which merges settler stories with those of the First Nations - a must-read.' (Henry Reynolds)
'Impressive collaboration in truth-telling and history, so essential in these times.' (Dr Jackie Huggins, AM, FAHA, author/historian)
'A fascinating exploration of the view from both the ship and the shore … Warra Warra Wai is told with freshness, gentle humour and empathy … The land itself begins to sing to us all.' (Jeff McMullen, journalist, author, filmmaker)
‘Ambitious in scope … Warra Warra Wai successfully creates a keeping place for the stories that everyone must know’
‘a riveting read’
All stars
Most relevant
A must listen. Esp for those living on the east coast of Australia. Will def give a new perspective.

Amazing truth telling

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Nothing to dislike about learning these stories. It’s an important step for us all to take.

Learning a new perspective.

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As a teacher I’m glad to be able to share a perspective of our history that reveals a more truthful account of Cook and Banks and the others who were in positions where they betrayed the First People of this country. It’s amazing to me and reassuring that 9 year old children can question these inhumane acts and ask why they were so greedy and didn’t recognise the wealth of knowledge that could have been shared. Truth telling is giving the younger generation the knowledge and facts and showing them the importance of equality and understanding the trauma that exists in this country. Showing respect and kindness and speaking up against racism is the only way forward. Thank you for shedding the light.

Shameful history that needs telling!

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This telling of the “discovery” of Australia from an Indigenous perspective is informative and entertaining. This book has taught me many things that my formal Australian education did not. The narrator brings the story and traditional languages to life.

Thought provoking

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In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.