An Australian author says he wrote a book on Captain James Cook in order to further Australia's racial politics.
Peter FitzSimons is the author of The Story Behind the Man Who Mapped the World.
FitzSimons spoke to Sean Plunket on Wednesday.
He says one of the main reasons he wrote the book was to understand the story of Captain Cook.
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"From my perspective, I'm in it for the story and I want Australia's indigenous politics to move forward and for us to move forward we need to understand what happened at first contact," he said.
"We need to understand the indigenous experience, especially in those first devastating decades."
"It's only through understanding that we can truly fix the wrongs of the past."
FitzSimons said he feels Australia has a lot to learn from New Zealand.
"We look to New Zealand. Your racial politics are so far more advanced than ours. You have the Waitangi treaty. You have a far more equitable relationship [than Australia]."
FitzSimons also defended Captain Cook, saying he was not the brutal man he has been painted as.
"Cook in of himself, as a man, was not an imperialist," FitzSimons told Plunket.
"He was an instrument of empire. What he primarily was, was a brilliant navigator, a brilliant seaman, an outstanding cartographer…he was not brutal and he did not come to kill."
Newshub.
