They were removed by members of the public before council inspected the site, Wollongong Lord Mayor Gordon Bradbery said.

Cook had attempted to land there in 1770, but aborted the try and moved on to Botany Bay instead.

For many, Cook represents the start of British colonisation of Australia, and the dispossession of Aboriginal people that went well beyond the his riding orders from Buckingham Palace.

"Whoever put them there has made their point," Cr Bradbery said.

"I can't expunge the fact that Captain Cook made an attempt to land there, and we can't expunge the fact that this place has been occupied by Aboriginal people for tens of thousands of years.

"Do we represent the negatives in our history - there are positive as well, and that's got to balanced out by recognising sites of Aboriginal heritage as well."

He said the Woonona memorial was done by high school students and a local artist in 2008, and told the story of the original inhabitants as well as European arrival.

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