Plaque to Cook at Adventure Bay Road, Bruny Island, Tasmania, Australia

Description:
A Bicentennial Memorial to Captain Cook, at the far end of the road around the bay, which was the site of a plaque which marked the site of Cook’s Tree.  
The monument is a plaque on a rough-hewn rock.

History:
The tree was growing when Cook anchored at Adventure Bay, and he left a plaque nailed to its trunk, on which was simply “Cook, 26 Jan 1777”.  The plaque was lost, and after the tree had been severely hacked about, the small piece of trunk that remained was removed to the Bligh Museum for safe keeping.  The Museum is a small building a few hundred metres to the west.  The site where the tree once grew is on the same point as the freestone pillar, erected in 1977, but on the high, landward side of a tight curve in the road.
In 1989 it was reported that barely the roots remained of the tree which had stood forgotten above a beach on Bruny Island, weatherworn and vandalised and burnt.  In 1930 it had stood over three metres tall, with Cook’s carving still intact.
The site has recently been cleaned up by ‘Friends of Adventure Bay Inc’, with Callistemons (Bottle Brush) Captain Cook and Adventure planted beside it.

Inscription:
On the freestone pillar:

CAPTAIN COOK’S TREE

This is where Captain Cook’s tree stood
inscribed COOK
26 JAN
1777


Remains removed for posterity, now to be
found in the Bligh Museum in Adventure Bay

 

GPS Co-ordinates:  -43.36425,  147.352078

References:
Cook’s Log, page 685, vol.12, no.3 (1989)
Endeavour Lines, page  12 , no.32 (Apr 1999)
The Bruny Island Historical Society.
Website:  http://www.aussietowns.com.au/town/bruny-island-tas
Website:  http://monumentaustralia.org.au/display/70082-captain-james-cook


Image gallery (click to enlarge)