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Clip description
In the year 1770, Captain James Cook (Rob Sitch) and Joseph Banks (Michael Veitch) approach Australia on their ship. They imagine the future of the country as they decide whether to land.
Curator’s notes
In 1988, Australia was due to mark the 200th anniversary of the First Fleet’s arrival and the subsequent British colonisation with extensive celebrations. That this episode is already poking fun of the hyperbole of Australia’s 1988 bicentennial celebrations in 1986 says something about its extent.
Sitch, as Cook, replaces an intrepid explorer narrative and grand ideas of nationhood with a hilarious vision of suburban and consumer lifestyles. The sketch in this clip offers a good example of the show’s comedic strengths – a seamless mix of none-too-subtle satire (of consumerism, for example) and silliness (such as Magda Szubanski’s unintelligible interruptions to Cook’s pompous speech).
