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Bicentenary of Captain Cook`s ExplorationPrint Page Print this page

13-October-2013
13-October-2013
Photographs supplied by Arthur Garland

The plaque and small sculpture of the Endeavour, commemorate the Bicentenary of the exploration of Australia by Captain James Cook in 1770.

The first voyage of James Cook was a combined Royal Navy and Royal Society expedition to the south Pacific ocean aboard HMS Endeavour, from 1768 to 1771. It was the first of three Pacific voyages of which Cook was the commander. The aims of this first expedition were to observe the 1769 transit of Venus across the Sun (3–4 June of that year), and to seek evidence of the postulated Terra Australis Incognita or "unknown southern land".

In April 1770, they became the first Europeans to reach the east coast of Australia, making landfall on the shore of what is now known as Botany Bay. The expedition continued northward along the Australian coastline, narrowly avoiding shipwreck on the Great Barrier Reef . In October 1770, the badly damaged Endeavour came into the port of Batavia in the Dutch East Indies, her crew sworn to secrecy about the lands they had discovered. They resumed their journey on 26 December, rounded the Cape of Good Hope on 13 March 1771, and reached the English port of Deal on 12 July. The voyage lasted almost three years.

Captain James Cook claimed the whole of the east coast of Australia for Great Britain on 22 August 1770, naming eastern Australia, 'New South Wales.'

 

Location

Address:50 Macquarie Street, Town Hall, Hobart, 7000
State:TAS
Area:AUS
GPS Coordinates:Lat: -42.882539
Long: 147.330807
Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate.
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Details

Monument Type:Plaque
Monument Theme:Landscape
Sub-Theme:Exploration
Approx. Event Start Date:1770
Approx. Event End Date:1970

Dedication

Front Inscription

HOBART CITY COUNCIL
Erected To Commemorate
The Bi-Centenary Of The
Discovery Of Australia By
CAPTAIN JAMES COOK
     1770 - 1970

Source: MA
Monument details supplied by Monument Australia - www.monumentaustralia.org.au