Maria Nugent is currently engaged in a large research project called “Remembering Dispossession”, which uses a series of case studies to explore the ways in which Aboriginal people interpret and narrate their historical experiences under colonial conditions.

One case study examines Aboriginal interpretations of the figure of Captain Cook over two hundred years, including little known oral stories told around Sydney in the early 1800s as well as contemporary art, such as Daniel Boyd’s We Call Them Pirates Out Here (2006).

In 2009, Maria published a book on this topic titled Captain Cook Was Here (Cambridge University Press). She is currently researching a history of Aboriginal people’s engagements with and interpretations of Queen Victoria, and has presented papers on this at conferences in Australia and overseas.