Captain Cook and the Discovery of Australia

It is strange to think now, that well into the eighteenth century, Australia and New Zealand were little more than a rumour to the wider world. Ferdinand Magellan had made the first Pacific crossing in as early as 1520 but the great Ocean was still virtually uncharted. There were a lingering suspicion that a vast unknown continent lurked in the depths of the world, it was generally referred to as Terra Australis Nondum Cognita, loosely translated as The Southern Land Yet Unknown. Many European sailors including Francis Drake had searched in vain for this secretive land. In 1769, the British Admiralty organised a scientific expedition to observe the transit of Venus which was to cross the sun, the expedition was also given the secret mission to hunt for the hidden continent. The Admiralty chose a brilliant young navigator named James Cook to lead the expedition. Cook had successfully charted the St. Lawrence river in Quebec, his charts later helping General Wolfe’s army capture Quebec from the French in 1759. Cook had been born in humble circumstances in the small village of Marton in Yorkshire. At the age of seventeen he became apprenticed to a firm of Whitby coal shippers, he spent several years on colliers sailing between Tyne and London mastering his craft; while at night studying algebra, geometry, trigonometry, navigation and astronomy. On completion of his apprenticeship he began working on trading ships on the Baltic Sea. He worked his way through the ranks, eventually being offered command of his own vessel in the merchant navy, however, quite amazingly he turned it down, opting instead to volunteer in the Royal Navy as an Able Seaman.

Cook quickly rose through the ranks obtaining the rank of Master which was the highest non-commissioned rank achievable. It was as a Master that he produced his highly valuable maps during the Siege of Quebec that first brought him to the attention of the British Admiralty. During the early 1760s, he surveyed the jagged coastline of Newfoundland gaining a mastery of the skill of practical surveying under the most adverse conditions. His appointment as Captain of the major expedition into the South Seas was a remarkable achievement, as very few men ever managed to rise from seaman to commander and in addition, such high class appointments were usually ridden with bribery and corruption and granted to those with influence. Cook chose a Whitby built collier named the Endeavour, the type of ship that he knew so well. It was stoutly built, well capable of withstanding the pounding sea, could hold a glut of provisions and could be managed by a small crew if necessary. It sailed from Plymouth on 26 August 1768 with a rather large crew of ninety-four. It made its way around Cape Horn and anchored in Tahiti on 13 April 1769 where the observations for the transit of Venus were to be made, however they did not prove to be as conclusive or accurate as had been hoped. It was an idyllic sojourn on the island with the crew and islanders striking up a camaraderie. The Endeavour then continued on to New Zealand, where Cook mapped the entire coastline, remarkably making only some minor errors, in fact the maps used today are little different.

 

 

Cook then sailed onto the south-eastern coast of Australia anchoring in Botany Bay, naming it after the rich specimens which the botanists of the expedition had gathered there. It was here that Cook’s crew made first contact with an Aboriginal tribe before heading northwards as far as Possession Island, declaring the entire explored coastline as British. They returned to England via the Cape of Good Hope landing on 12 July 1771. Cook was promoted from Master to Commander and was once again commissioned by the Royal Society to search for the mythical Terra Australis. His first voyage had proved that New Zealand was not connected to a larger landmass and although he had charted the eastern coast of Australia, it was not considered to be what they were looking for, as it was thought to lie much further south. He took two Whitby colliers for his second voyage, Resolution and Adventure, the expedition circumnavigated the globe at a very high southern latitude. Cook almost encountered the mainland of Antarctica but turned northwards back towards Tahiti. Cook’s third and last voyage was to find the North-West Passage, believed to link the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans. Once again he took the Resolution and another Whitby collier named Discovery. The expedition made landfalls at South Africa, Tasmania, New Zealand, Tahiti, Canada, Alaska and the Hawaiian Islands. Sadly however, Cook became involved in a confrontation with a party of Hawaiian islanders in which he was stabbed to death on 14 February 1779. His voyages paved the way for British colonisation of New Zealand and Australia and the advances in surveying and mapping that were garnered, reinforced the Royal Navy’s place as the naval superpower of the time.

North Queensland Fury v Perth Glory 11-December-2009

North Queensland Fury v Perth Glory 11-December-2009 www.a-league.com.au Fury hold off Glory North Queensland Fury settled for a 1-0 win over Perth Glory after a spate of missed chances at Dairy Farmers Stadium on Friday night. The Furys David Williams netted his first goal in the Hyundai A-League in the 32nd minute with a second-ditch header over the goalkeeper. It should have been the first of at least four with 17 attempts on goal and eight corners but simple shots were skewered and possession fumbled as execution was again their downfall. The Glory were never in the match except for a short burst after the break with a ‘Hail Mary’ long shot and in the dying minutes with sustained pressure in the box but could only manage six attempts on goal and five corners. North Queensland had its first opportunity in the third minute with a slick attacking move finding Jeremy Brockie in front of goal but his shot was fired straight into the goalkeeper’s legs. Matthew Smith thumped a long ball from the defensive line in the 26th minute which again found Brockie but he could not provide any power or direction with his header. Paul Kohler fired the ball into the defenders which bounced into the path of Williams in the 32nd minute but his initial strike was blocked and was forced to head the rebound into the net to open the scoring. The Fury could have doubled their lead in the 40th and 42nd minutes with a delicate through ball finding Brockie but his shot skewered wide and then a …

Aus Great Barrier Reef - grounded bulk carrier ship leaking oil could break up: lazy Labor gvmt!

(Xinhua) — A Chinese-registered bulk coal carrier Shen Neng 1 ran aground on a reef Saturday night, about 70 kilometers east of Great Keppel Island off the Queensland coast, Australian Associated Press reported Sunday. Aircraft are flying over the 230-meter-long bulk carrier aground in the Great Barrier Reef to determine the extent of an oil spill from the vessel. The vessel, which was carrying about 65000 tons of coal from Gladstone, has 950 tons of oil on board. An unknown amount of oil has leaked in the water and a national oil spill response plan has been activated. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority has airlifted a surveyor onto the vessel to carry out a damage assessment. Maritime Safety Queensland says it has approached the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority seeking permission to use aerial dispersants on the oil leak, and a dispersant-spraying aircraft is on standby in Rockhampton. The incident immediately sparks fears of environmental damage of the Great Barrier Reef from the oil spill. news.xinhuanet.com Grounded ship: 3km oil spill on Great Barrier Reef - environmentalists have expressed outrage that the state and federal governments for allowing the carrier to travel along the Queensland coast without the guidance of an Australia marine pilot. Greens leader Bob Brown said the Shen Neng 1 did not have a marine pilot on board when the accident occurred….. www.brisbanetimes.com.au Captain Patrick Quirk, general manager of Maritime Safety Queensland …