Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Arrival of the British
In April 1770, Aboriginal people standing on a beach in southeastern Australia saw an as-
tonishing spectacle out at sea. It was an English ship, the
Endeavour,
under the command
of then-Lieutenant James Cook. His gentleman passengers were English scientists visiting
the Pacific to make astronomical observations and to investigate 'new worlds'. As they
sailed north along the edge of this new-found land, Cook began drawing the first British
chart of Australia's east coast. This map heralded the beginning of conflicts between
European settlers and indigenous peoples.
A few days after that first sighting, Cook led a party of men ashore at a place known to
the Aboriginal people as Kurnell. Though the Kurnell Aboriginal people were far from
welcoming, the
Endeavour's
botanists were delighted to discover that the woods were
teeming with unfamiliar plants. To celebrate this profusion, Cook renamed the place
Botany Bay.
As his voyage northwards continued, Cook strewed English names the entire length of
the coastline. In Queensland, these included Hervey Bay (after an English admiral), Dunk
Island (after an English duke), Cape Upstart, the Glass House Mountains and Wide Bay.
One night, in the seas off the great rainforests of the Kuku Yalanji Aboriginal people, in
what is now known as Far North Queensland, the
Endeavour
was inching gingerly through
the Great Barrier Reef when the crew heard the sickening sound of ripping timbers. They
had run aground near a cape which today is a tourist paradise. Cook was in a glowering
mood: he named it Cape Tribulation, 'because here began all our troubles'. Seven days
later Cook managed to beach the wounded ship in an Aboriginal harbour named Charco
(Cook renamed it Endeavour), where his carpenters patched the hull.
Back at sea, the
Endeavour
finally reached the northern tip of the Cape York Peninsula.
On a small, hilly island (Possession Island), Cook raised the Union Jack and claimed the
eastern half of the continent for King George III. His intention was not to dispossess the in-
digenous peoples, but to warn off other European powers - notably the Dutch, who had
already charted much of the coastline.
A classic biography is
The Life of Captain James Cook
(1974), by JC Beaglehole. Another fascinating read is
Tony Horwitz's
Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before
(2002)
,
both travelogue and bio-
graphy.
