Academics are divided as to whether the boomerang, due to be sold at Christie's for upto £60,000, is the same item presented to explorer Captain James Cook more than 250 years ago by aborigines in Botany Bay, on his first voyage to Australia.

Christie's argues the boomerang is "likely" to be Captain Cook's as it belonged to the estate of his widow Elizabeth and because his botanist Sir Joseph Banks wrote in his journal about the aborigines giving Cook "a wooden weapon much resembling a scymeter".

However, Arthur Palmer, an expert on Cook, who learnt his sailing skills in Whitby, boomerangs and Captain Bligh, says the relic was never given to Cook and is worth just £600.

Mr Palmer, 55, of Brisbane, said: "The boomerang is authentic and a reasonable example but there is not the slightest shred of evidence or probability that Captain Cook was anywhere near it, or anyone else on the Endeavour."

He says it is clear from his studies of the diaries of Cook and his botanist as well as a painting of the scene by the ship's artist that the captain was presented with a wooden Persian-style sword during the encounter.

Mr Palmer thinks the boomerang was given to Cook's widow much later by one of the naval officers who idolised him and possibly by Captain Bligh, who was one of his biggest fans.

The boomerang which Christie's values at £40,000 to £60,000 is being sold along with two clubs worth between £20,000 to £30,000, which the auctioneers say were also likely to have been collected by Cook at Botany Bay.

Mr Palmer says they were made 800 miles away long after the Endeavour sailed home and there is no mention of the items in an official cataloguing of what the explorer brought back.

A spokesman for Christie's said: "Christie's has described the lot in its catalogue in accordance with its usual cataloguing practice."

When the auctioneers announced the sale, which is on September 25, there were calls from aborigines for the Australian government to buy the boomerang and present it to them.

Sydney MP Scott Morrison urged the British government to join the bidding war and donate the boomerang to Australia.

Only six aboriginal artefacts from Cook's collection have been traced to his first expedition including three fish spears, a lance or javelin, a spear shaft and a shield.