Our little van is now parked on then side of a hill above Agnes Water, Queensland. Not far away is the little town of 1770. Lieutenant James Cook, captain of the good ship Endeavour made landfall in only four spots on Australia’s east coast and 1770 was one of them.
Cook’s voyage had as its first objective to make observations of the transit of Venus in June 1769 from Tahiti. Once this was completed his instructions were to unravel the problem of terra incognita australis. Having unraveled New Zealand he sailed west until Lieutenant Zachary Hicks espyed Australia on April 19 1770. Cook bestowed the name Point Hicks on the spot now in Victoria.
Hicks is one of the unsung heroes of the voyage. He was born in Stepney in the east end of London not far from where I was born, one of the reasons I have a soft spot for him. The far more famous Cook, Banks and Solander owed their lives to Hicks’ quick thinking when they were attacked by Maori in New Zealand. Sadly he died on the voyage home probably from tuberculosis.
Cook turned right, sailed up the coast and made his first landing at Botany Bay. It didn’t take him long to realise that New South Wales was a dreadful place and sail north to Queensland where he made three stops. The first was on May 17 1770 at Bustard Bay now called 1770 (AKA Seventeen Seventy and The Town of 1770 because just calling it 1770 leads to confusion). The second Queensland stop was at Cooktown in far north Queensland to repair the Endeavour after she struck the Great Barrier Reef.
His final Queensland stop was on a small island off the tip of Cape York, Posession island, where he hoisted the flag and claimed everything he’d set eyes on for His Majesty King George lll (more than adequate compensation for America).
bobmcgee 