On Visiting the Spot Where Captain Cook, and Sir Joseph Banks, First Landed in Botany Bay

Here fix the tablet:— This must be the place Where our Columbus of the South did land; He saw the Indian village on that sand, And on this rock first met the simple race Of Australasia, who presum'd to face, With lance and spear, his musket. Close at hand Is the clear stream, from which his vent'rous band Refresh'd their ship; and thence, a little space, Lies Sutherland, their shipmate; for the sound Of Christian burial, better did proclaim Possession than the flag, in England's name. These were the commelineæ Banks first found, But where's the tree with the ship's wood-carv'd fame? Fix then th' Ephesian brass. 'Tis classic ground.