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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.

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