Captain Cooks Visit to Bruny Island - 26 Jan 1777
Captain Cook
Most Australians are ignorant of the fact that Captain James Cook did actually land again in Australia after his first voyage. On his first voyage in 1770 he landed on 29th April at Botany Bay, and later at many locations in QLD i.e. the town of 1770, Bustard Bay on May 23rd, Endeavour River now called Cooktown, Possession Island near Cape York on Aug 22, 1770, Booby Is west of Thursday Is., Cleveland Bay west of Magnetic Is, Cape Grafton east of Cairns, Cape Tribulation, Point Lookout, Lizard Is and Turtle Is in the Turtle Group.
On his 3rd voyage on 26th Jan 1777 his two ships Resolution & Discovery dropped anchor offshore at Adventure Bay on Bruny Island, Tasmania. Didn’t know! Bollicks you thought! I didn’t know also, until a few years ago.
At Bruny Island he stayed several days to gather wood, fodder and water before leaving on 30th Jan for New Zealand. I think he liked New Zealand and had made Queen Charlotte Sound his main base in the South Pacific.
Read this link for some amazing information about Cook and Queen Charlotte Sound. Cook: The “Adventure’ and misadventure in Queen Charlotte Sound, 1773–1777”. HMS Adventure had 10 of its crew eaten by Maoris while they were in the Sound. Crikey you thought! Those Maoris had really funny taste buds! So you’ll never eat a McDonalds Burger again. Just in case!
Tobias Furneaux
Tobias Furneaux was Captain of the 2nd ship, HMS Adventure, on Cook’s 2nd voyage to the South Seas He landed in Adventure Bay in 1773 after getting separated from Cook during the crossing of the Southern Ocean. Furneaux had found that Adventure Bay offered shelter and supplies and went on to map part of the east coast of Tasmania before re-joining Cook in NZ. Furneaux is also famous as the first British person to land in Tasmania which was at Adventure Bay. Furneaux also discovered and named the Furneaux Island Group that is located just off the top North East tip of Tasmania in Bass Straight. The island group contains the main island Flinders Island plus several smaller ones; Lady Barron Island, Clarke Island plus a few very small islands for a total of 52 islands.
Flinders Island, the largest island in the Furneaux Group, is a 1,367-square-kilometre island in the Bass Strait, northeast of the island of Tasmania. Flinders Island was the place where the last remnants of aboriginal Tasmanian population were exiled by the colonial British government. (from Wikipedia). It was named for Matthew Flinders, the English navigator who surveyed its coasts in 1798.
Cook’s landing at Adventure Bay
Cook’s landing at Adventure Bay is remembered there by a memorial to his visit as well as to Furneaux’s visit. There is also a plaque at Two Tree Point to celebrate where the explorers got their water from Resolution Creek.
This information may offer a different perspective to Australia Day as in fact Cook did arrive on our shores on this particular date. One day when we are a republic maybe we will adopt another date, however 26th Jan will always remain prominent especially to those who have some connection to Cook’s exploits.
This occurs in my extended family as my grandmother was actually born and raised near Two Tree Point and quite close to the creek from which they drew water.
I hope these facts give you some new insight into one of our greatest Australian explorers. Yes I know he wasn’t Australian, but most of us have adopted him.
The first Europeans to land in Tasmania
The first Europeans to land in Tasmania as distinct from mainland Australia were: Abel Tasman in 1642 and Marion du Fresne in 1772.
On 24 November 1642 Abel Tasman reached and sighted the west coast of Tasmania, north of Macquarie Harbour. He named his discovery Van Diemen’s Land after Antonio van Diemen, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies. Proceeding south he skirted the southern end of Tasmania and turned north-east. Tasman then tried to work his two ships into Adventure Bay on the east coast of South Bruny Island but he was blown out to sea by a storm.
This area he named Storm Bay. Two days later Tasman anchored to the north of Cape Frederick Hendrick just north of the Forestier Peninsula. Tasman then landed in the area he named Frederick Henricx Bay (now Blackman Bay) – in the larger Marion Bay. The next day, an attempt was made to land in North Bay. However, because the sea was too rough the carpenter swam through the surf and planted the Dutch flag. Tasman then claimed formal possession of the land on 3 December 1642. Obviously this was never acted on.
Marion Bay was later named after the Breton navigator Marion du Fresne, who arrived in his ship the “Mascarin” with the “Marquis de Castries” in March 1772. Marion recorded that “One sailor found numbers of crayfish, lobsters and huge crabs, and the oysters there are good and abundant”.
Marion’s landing is the first recorded sighting and description of the Tasmanian people by Europeans, unfortunately one of the Tasmanians was shot dead by Marion‘s men. Marion then sailed to New Zealand where he was killed by Māori in the Bay of Islands.
Some Useful References
The Captain Cook Society Jan – Mar 1777
A HISTORY OF TASMANIA FROM ITS DISCOVERY IN 1642 TO THE PRESENT TIME. By James Fenton, provided by McMillian & Co 1884
British Heritage of Tasmania by Reg Watson. Note that Reg Watson passed away on the 17th of March 2023
Australia Day and the 26th January and a Republic with a new flag
Australia Day and the 26th January. Every time we celebrate Australia Day, various media and other groups bring the 26th Jan into discussion about its appropriateness or not! We all know that it celebrates the landing of the first fleet, although some when asked will say it celebrates Cooks landing in Australia ie Botany Bay. Of course the date doesn’t celebrate the latter as Cook landed on 29th April 1770 in Botany Bay. Was it an invasion as many state or a landing, colonisation or settlement? It was probably a combination of all these things as the British needed a place to put their convicts and they wanted to stop the French setting up any settlement in Australia. It certainly was not specifically an invasion aimed at displacing the original aborigines.
To be frank I just don’t believe the aborigines were considered at all. Remember this was 1788 and the Europeans were still practising slavery. Actually the British abolished slavery in 1807 and stopped slavery in most of its colonies in 1834.
My personal thoughts are that one day when Australia becomes a Republic we will replace the Queen/Kings with a President, an elected President hopefully, and even take the union jack off the Australian Flag.
What direction for the flag. We could leave the space blank to enlighten the blue southern hemisphere and the Southern Cross, or maybe place the Aboriginal flag in that space. I hope not, as its colouring is too harsh and doesn’t add to the soft subtle colours of the southern cross. Another option I think is more suited to the flag, is a Flying Kangaroo above a Boomerang. These are symbols and thus the kangaroo can be placed to seem as though it is gliding over the boomerang. These symbols thus represent our unique fauna and indigenous aspects of Australia. The kangaroo could be grey, reddish brown like the red kangaroos and the boomerang could be a reddish brown colour. The aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander flags can still exist in their own right.
These are just my ideas. It may never happen.