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On this day – April 29th

29th April 2018 @ 6:06am – by Webteam
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Cook lands in Australia

Having mapped the coastlines of the two islands of New Zealand in six months of careful exploration, Captain Cook took the Endeavour westwards. On April 19 1770 the Endeavour sighted land again, at what is now called Point Hicks. They were the first Europeans known to have reached the eastern seaboard of Australia. Three days after sighting land he saw people on the seashore, noting what he supposed to be their dark skins, though as the ship was some distance offshore he was unsure if the colour was due to clothing rather than skin colour.

The vessel then moved down the coast from what became known as Queensland to the region Cook named South Wales, adding the word 'New' to the name for clarity later.

On April 29, 1770, the Endeavour put a party ashore. Cook named the place Stingray Harbour at first, impressed by the sea-life he observed, though after the botanists on board, Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander, had collected a cornucopia of new plants and seeds he changed the appellation to Botany Bay.

After further exploration of the northern coast, and a hair raising episode when the ship ran aground and was seriously damaged on a part of the Barrier Reef – had they sunk the crew would have been marooned in a land no other Europeans were aware of, probably for life – the Endeavour sailed through the Torres Straits before landing at Possession Island, where he claimed all the lands he had just mapped as the possessions of the British crown.

When Cook arrived back in England, via the Cape of Good Hope and St Helena, his fame was assured, though Banks with his incredible new specimens, and not least because of his aristocratic connections, was more lauded in the press than the one-time farm-boy Cook.

Where was Captain Cook born?

Click here for the answer

Marton, then in Yorkshire, now swallowed up by Middlesbrough.


This article is from our news archive. As a result pictures or videos originally associated with it may have been removed and some of the content may no longer be accurate or relevant.

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