16th May 1770

Today marks 250 years since Lt (later Capt) James Cook sailed HM Bark Endeavour into Queensland waters here in Australia. He named the rocky outcrop at the now border between New South Wales and Queensland as Point Danger and the peaked mountain behind it as Mt Warning. I know a number of you have visited this area as it is at the southern end of the famous Gold Coast.

James Cook was the son of a Yorkshire labourer who started his working life as a grocer's apprentice. The Endeavour was formally a North Sea collier which was purchased by the Admiralty for Cook to lead a group of scientists to Tahiti to observe the transit of Venus across the sun. Having completed this task, he opened his sealed orders which directed him to search the south Pacific for that rich southern continent, Terra Australis.

Having sailed around New Zealand waters he then sailed westward reaching Pt Hicks on the southeastern coast of Australia on 19th April 1770.Ten days later, on 29th April the sailed into Botany Bay, just south of Sydney Harbour.

The Endeavour continued north with several stops along the way until that fateful moonlit night of 11th June when she hit Endeavour Reef (part of the Great Barrier Reef). After successfully refloating her, Cook made landfall at what is now the Endeavour River and Cooktown where the Endeavour is hauled ashore and repairs are effected over a 6 week period. Whilst here, Cook's crew sight for the very first time, on 23rd June, a kangaroo.

Continuing north, Cook, on 22nd August 1770 on Possession Island in the Torres Strait, Cook claims the east coast, on behalf of King George 111, as British and names it New South Wales.

Now, 250 years later, I have the privilege of living in this great country, Australia.

For some further reading, try https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Cook

The package holiday business was alive and well from circa 1788 the British exported estimate's suggest 160,000 of their 'felons' to what they named NSW over the following 80yrs+.

And exporting continued to the mid 20th century as portrayed in the 2010 Oz film Oranges and Sunshine....but this time, children.

First Bruce: Is your name not Bruce?

Michael: No, it's Michael.

Second Bruce: That's going to cause a little confusion.

Third Bruce: Mind if we call you 'Bruce' to keep it clear?



Bruce

Yep my Grandfather was 'exported' to Canada with his brothers and sister's his Father having died fighting in WWI; his Mother subsequently could not provide for her children; all to different workhouses/homes and did not know about each other for about 60yrs+!!! The British Govt basically exported them as slaves/servants many were abused exploited and beaten, over 100,000 children were treated in this way. A National Disgrace.

And so began the dispossession, murder and enslavement of the indigenous population. Just like other places the British "Discovered". But it wasn't only the British, the Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, French and many others all had their discoveries. China, Russia, the yanks and others are still doing it, without the "discovery" bit.