Cooktown is at the mouth of the Endeavour River, on Cape York Peninsula in Far North Queensland where James Cook beached his ship, the Endeavour, for repairs in 1770. The town was named after James Cook.
How did Cooktown get its name?
The town and nearby Mount Cook (1,415 feet [431 metres]) are named after the British navigator Capt. James Cook, who beached the Endeavour there for repairs in 1770. Cooktown was founded in 1874 during the Palmer River gold rush.
How did grassy hill Cooktown get its name?
Origin of Name
Cooktown was the site where Captain James Cook (after whom the town is named) beached, and repaired, the H.M. Barque Endeavour on the shores of the Endeavour River after it had struck the Great Barrier Reef near Cape Tribulation. Cook and his crew stayed from 17 June to 4 August, 1770.
When did Captain Cook come to Cooktown?
June 1770
James Cook arrived in what is now known as Cooktown on Cape York Peninsula in June 1770 and remained there for 48 days while repairing the Endeavour after it ran aground on the Great Barrier Reef.
How many places did Captain Cook name?
In his voyage, he would rename over 120 locations and landforms. But these places already had names and they had been used for tens of thousands of years.
What is the Aboriginal name for Cooktown?
The Guugu Yimithirr name for Cooktown is Gungardie, after the word gun-gaar – a type of crystal quartz found in the area which was used for cutting the chest skin for initiations. While you are in Cooktown there are some wonderful ways to learn more about Aboriginal history and culture.
Who are the traditional owners of Cooktown?
Indigenous culture
The Cooktown area covers the northern boundary of the traditional lands of the Eastern Kuku Yalanji Aboriginal people, including the Yuku Baja-Muliku, Kuku Bididji and Kuku Nyungkul clans.
Can you swim in Cooktown?
While Cooktown’s beaches are a thing of beauty, travellers take note: most of the beaches on this list are a look but do not swim situation – crocodiles and stingers are known to frequent the area. But just because you can’t go swimming doesn’t mean these beaches are not ripe for beach-combing and exploring.
What is the Aboriginal name for Cape York?
The Barungguan are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Cape York Peninsula of Northern Queensland. The name is associated with three languages: Ganganda, Umpithamu and Morrobolam.
How did Mareeba get its name?
Its present name is derived from an Aboriginal term meaning “meeting of the waters” or “place to meet.” The town serves as the commercial centre of the Mareeba-Dimbulah Irrigation Area, the tobacco farms of which receive water from the Tinaroo Falls Reservoir.
What did Captain Cook do at Cooktown?
Cook spent seven weeks here in 1770, the longest land base during Cook’s East Coast expedition. The major task was to repair the Endeavour but Banks and his team of botanists spent their whole time exploring and discovering many botanical and natural history wonders which were totally new to science at the time.
Where did Cook first land in Australia?
Botany Bay’s
In 1770, Lieutenant (later Captain) James Cook landed at Botany Bay’s Inscription Point. He and his Endeavour crew stayed in the area for eight days and had a dramatic impact on Australian history.
Where did Cook land in Cooktown?
The town of Seventeen Seventy is so named because on 24 May in that year, Lieutenant James Cook, captain of His Majesty’s barque HMS Endeavour, came ashore and landed on the beach of Round Hill Creek in the vicinity of the present village.
What places did Captain Cook name in Australia?
Cook’s names
- Booby Island (Torres Strait)
- Poverty Bay (North Island, New Zealand)
- Cape Foul Wind (South Island, New Zealand)
- Cape Tribulation (North Queensland)
- Hope Islands (Far North Queensland)
- Young Nick’s Head (North Island, New Zealand)
Why is the Captain Cook statue being removed?
A statue of Captain Cook standing in central Cairns since 1972 has been removed from public view. The 10m concrete structure depicting the British explorer with his hand aloft has been described as a “symbol of colonialism and genocide” of Indigenous Australians.
Who discovered Australia first?
explorer Willem Janszoon
While Indigenous Australians have inhabited the continent for tens of thousands of years, and traded with nearby islanders, the first documented landing on Australia by a European was in 1606. The Dutch explorer Willem Janszoon landed on the western side of Cape York Peninsula and charted about 300 km of coastline.
What is the indigenous name for Cairns?
Gimuy is the traditional place name for the area Cairns City now occupies. Gimuy being the Yidiny name of the slippery blue fig (ficus albipila) that grew in large number in this area.
What Aborigines called Brisbane?
The traditional name of Brisbane is Meeanjin – the place of the blue water lilies. It is the story of near-extinction of the Turrbal Tribe, the original inhabitants of Brisbane, that has enticed some neighbouring tribal groups (such as Jagera/Yaggera) to attempt to falsely claim Brisbane as their ancestral homelands.
What does balgowlah mean in Aboriginal?
Balgowlah was named in 1832 after an Aboriginal word meaning “north harbour” referencing Balgowlahs position from Port Jackson. Balgowlah is located on the Northern Beaches approx 12km north of Sydney’s CBD.
Who is Cape York named after?
Cape York Peninsula was named by Lieutenant James Cook in August 1770 in honour of Prince Edward, Duke of York and Albany, a brother of King George III, who had died three years earlier.
What is the Cooktown emblem of?
Queensland’s
The Cooktown orchid is Queensland’s offical floral emblem. The Cooktown orchid became known as Queensland’s floral emblem in 1959, during celebrations to mark the state’s centenary. Before this, the distinctive native flower had long been popularly considered as Queensland’s unofficial floral emblem.