Description:
A plaque marks the site of the watercourse where Cook obtained water for his ship Endeavour and crew when he landed here in 1770.
History:
A commemorative tablet is recorded as marking the site in 1928.
The site of this monument passed into public ownership in 1899, and became part of the ‘Captain Cook’s Landing Place Reserve’ in which historical monuments were preserved and displayed. including the one above.
On 28th April 1899, Sir Frederick Darley, the Lt Governor of New South Wales dedicated the site of Captain Cook’s Landing on Kurnell Beach, in Botany Bay for public use.
This public space was under the auspices of the Departments of Lands, and managed by a Trust, for the following 74 years. It was during this time that work was done on erecting monuments and plaques, memorials to Captain Cook and his crew.
In 1967 the Reserve was passed to the National Parks and Wildlife Service, which had custody of the historic sites. By 1974, the Service took on full management and the Trust was disbanded. In 1988 it became the Botany Bay National Park.
In 1970, on the bicentenary of Cook’s landing at Botany Bay, there was a protest from the indigenous people about their rights and recognition within Australian society. This was resolved during the 1990s with a shift towards reconciliation between the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people.
The site has since been reviewed from a different angle, reinterpreted as a place for both races to embrace their shared history.
Inscription:
At the stream:
FROM THIS SMALL STREAM
CAPTAIN COOK
TOOK WATER FOR HIS SHIP
ENDEAVOUR
WHICH ENTERED THE HEADS 29th APRIL 1770
On a worn metal sign on a stone, there is a chart and the legend reads:
Cook’s stream
Cook obtained fresh water for ‘Endeavour’ from this
stream and from wells dug in the sand close to the
landing place.
“Sunday 29th (Log date) – After breakfast we sent some
Empty Casks a shore and a party of men to cut wood,
and I went myself in the pinnace to sound and explore
the bay” (Cook’s Journal April, 1770).
For the next eight days Cook, Banks, Solander and the
crew of ‘Endeavour’, whilst exploring the bay attempted
to make contact with the local Aboriginal people.
Cook’s chart of Botany Bay showing “Fresh water” at
Point Sutherland
GPS Coordinates: -34.004667, 151.217556
References:
Cook’s Log: page 26, vol. 30, no. 4 (2007)
Endeavour Lines, page 11, no. 40 (Apr 2003)
Morning Post, Wednesday 26th April 1899. p.7.
Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, Friday 17th August 1928. p. 16.
Website: http://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/landscape/discovery/display/21766-captain-cook%60s-landing-site
Website: http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/resources/parks/KamayKurnellShortHistory.pdf
Website: http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/heritageapp/ViewHeritageItemDetails.aspx?ID=5061543
Website;: http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/resources/parks/KamayKurnellShortHistory.pdf
Website: http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/heritageapp/ViewHeritageItemDetails.aspx?ID=5061543
Image gallery (click to enlarge)