What did James Cook do when he 'discovered' Australia?

Answer 1

Contrary to popular belief, Captain James Cook did not discover Australia.

After the Aborigines and then the Macassans, the discoverer of Australia is regarded as

Willem Jansz/Janszoon, a Dutchman who was seeking new trade routes and trade associates. He became the first recorded European to step foot on Australia's shores on the western shore of Cape York Peninsula, on 26 February 1606.

James Cook was on a scientific expedition to observe the transit of Venus from Tahiti when he continued west, coming across New Zealand and then continuing on until he reached the Australian mainland and charted the Eastern coast. Cook was the first European to sight and chart the eastern coast of Australia, which he did between April and August 1770, naming the land New South Wales. He explored much of the eastern Australian coast on behalf of Britain, which was looking to found new colonies given the looming probable independence of the American colonies. Cook took extensive notes of what he called New South Wales, eventually recommending the continent as an English penal colony.

Answer 2

James Cook did not actually discover or find Australia. Australia's existence was already known, as the continent had been named "New Holland" by the Dutch in the early 1600s.

After observing the transit of Venus in June 1769, Lieutenant James Cook (not yet a Captain) went on to search for Terra Australis Incognita, the great continent which some believed to extend round the pole. It was shortly after observing the transit of Venus that Cook came across New Zealand, which had already been discovered by Abel Tasman in 1642. He spent some months there, charting the coastline. Nearly a year later, he set sail east for New Holland, the eastern coast of which he later named New South Wales and claimed for Great Britain.

Captain Cook was commissioned by the Royal Society in England to search the southern seas and find the "Great Southland" ("Terra Australis") that was believed to exist in the world's southern oceans somewhere. The result was that although he hadn't been the first European to discover Australia, he was the first known to have sailed along and chart most of the eastern coast of Australia - which was eventually to become the most significant for settlement.

This was most significant in history because it helped to define the boundaries of the great southern nation: as a result, the Royal Society was still not satisfied that the great Terra Australis had actually yet been found, and Cook named the land, New South Wales, believing it to resemble Wales in the UK. Two years after this journey, in 1772, Cook was sent again to discover if another great land lay east of Australia. It was on this journey that he became the first European to cross the Antarctic Circle.

Answer 3

Captain James Cook did not discover Australia. Australia had been known as Terra Australis Incognita (Unknown Southern Land) since the Dutch and Portuguese explorers first came across it in the 1600s. The Dutch had named the western half "New Holland".

James Cook was on a scientific mission to Tahiti in 1768-69. He was under secret orders to try and find out more about Terra Australis Incognita. After stopping off at New Zealand (already discovered by Abel Tasman in 1642), he then set sail west and came across Australia's eastern coast, which he explored and charted.

Answer 4

James Cook did not discover Australia. He did, however, chart the east coast, and took extensive notes of what he called New South Wales, eventually recommending the continent as an English penal colony.

Answer 5

There are reports that James Cook was cannibalised, but cannibalism was not actively practised in Hawaii at this time. It seems his body was prepared in an unusual ritual, which may have seemed like cannibalism to those of his crew who witnessed it.

Because he had originally been regarded as a god by the natives, his heart was divided between tribal chiefs and eaten. His hands were stuffed with salt to preserve them, whilst many of his bones were placed around the island, given to other significant tribal chiefs. His remains were then returned to his crew in dignified fashion, with a cloak of white and black feathers, where they were placed in a small coffin and buried at sea.

Answer 6

Cook sailed southwards to round the Mahia Penisula, coast Hawke Bay and sail as far south as Cape Turnagain, before turning north again to circumnavigate the north and South Islands of New Zealand.

Answer 7

well he did very well in his first journey to australia