Our first Captain Cook Society (Australia) meeting for 2026 was held at the State Library of New South Wales in the magnificent Jean Garling boardroom.
Australian National Maritime Museum (ANMM) volunteers, Pam Forbes and Greg Jackson, gave a wonderful two-part presentation on Science on Endeavour; explaining the part the Endeavour journey played in the advancement of exploration and the important role in the 18th century Age of Enlightenment. They also detailed the great part played by Joseph Banks and his team of scientists, botanists and astronomers in advancing the studies of not just plants and flowers but the examination of unknown lands and peoples of the Pacific region, as a part of their search for the "Great South Land", following the important observation of the Transit of Venus in Tahiti.
Discussion was held on the distressing continuation of ignorant vandalism, destruction and graffiti carried out on Cook Monuments and Statues around Australia. The Society has taken a deliberate policy of not acknowledging such senseless acts, as this is the aim of those seeking only attention to their own causes and beliefs, even if they have no real basis of fact or relationship to Cook. However, we have created a Publicity Officer role to help spread the true picture of Cook in relation to Australian history.
Originally published in Endeavour Lines, page 2, volume 86 (2026).