Now the descendants of the Gweagal people from the Tharawal tribe have launched a crowdfunding campaign in a bid to raise money to travel to London and negotiate with the British Museum, where the shield is currently held, to have it returned permanently to Australia.

"I’ve given the British Museum a claim of right – I told them that my ancestors own the artefacts and we wish for them to be returned," Rodney Kelly, a descendant of the Gweagal clan, told BuzzFeed News.

"We’ve got our own museums [In Australia] and it’s clear the shield was taken from Botany Bay. They didn’t pay for it, it was taken. It’s written in the journals [of Captain Cook]. It clearly doesn't belong to them."