What did captain cook bring to Australia?

Answer 1

The extremely accurate charts and maps he made. Some are still in use today.

Captain's Cook's major contribution to the early development of Australia, apart from accurately charting the eastern coast of the continent, would be his recommendation for settlement of what he called "New South Wales".

His English predecessor to Australia, William Dampier, had only sent back extremely negative reports of the country, having landed on the western coast, much of which is dry and arid. Cook gave a more balanced view, highlighting the obvious fertility of the eastern coast, and recommended establishing a convict colony.

Without Cook's recommendation, there is every chance the French would have claimed the continent first. Had that been the case, Australia would not have been founded as a penal colony.

Answer 2

Lieutenant James Cook, who was not yet a captain when he first charted the east coast, had a huge impact on Australia, because he was the first British officer to show any interest in the continent. The first English sea captain to visit Australia, William Dampier, was most unimpressed by the barren landscape of the northwest, and returned only negative reports to England. Cook saw the fertility and the potential of the east coast. the Dutch, who had not explored the easy coast but only the west, had no interest in colonising the land, but it was quite a close contest between the French and the English. The French very nearly colonised the continent, and quite conceivably would have done so if Cook had not made the claim first.

It was only following James Cook's successful voyage that New South Wales was seen as a viable proposition for a convict colony. In particular, it was endorsed by Sir Joseph Banks, the influential botanist who travelled with Cook. Banks was one of three botanists aboard Cook's ship "The Endeavour", and he was a passionate advocate of British settlement and colonisation of the Australian continent. It was largely upon Cook's and Banks's recommendation that Australian ultimately was colonised by the British, and not by another power later. Because of Cook's positive report to England was enough to convince the authorities that it was worth colonising the continent - and so the history of white settlement in Australia began.

Unfortunately, Cook also negatively impacted Australia. He was the one who declared Australia to be terra nullius - a land without ownership, and he did not recognise the indigenous people as the true "owners" of the land. Upon European settlement, and for many generations afterwards, the indigenous people were wrongly regarded as an inferior species. As a result, they suffered terrible injustices, displacement and loss of culture. To this day, the indigenous people see Cook as an invader.