Australian History: Endeavour Exploration
The Endeavour expedition left Plymouth, England in 1768 with ninety-four men on board. For eight months it sailed, stopping at the Madeira Islands, Rio de Janeiro and Tierra de Fuego for repairs, food and water. Cook and his men stayed in Tahiti for three months. They built a wooden stockade on the beach and from there watched the transit of the planet Venus.
For the next two months Cook sailed south in search of the unknown south land. he found nothing and turned towardsNew Zealand which had been found 125 years earlier by Abel Tasman. In October 1769 land was sighted and for the next six months the Endeavour sailed around New Zealand. Cook’s journey proved two things: the country was divided by two islands; and it was not part of the unknown south land.
On March 1770 Cook left New Zealnd and sailed west. He hoped to reach Tasmania but a wind blew the Endeavour to the north. On April 19th the lookout sighted the southeast coast corner of Australia. For the next four months the Endeavour sailed up the eastern coast. Important landmarks were charted and named and the coastline was mapped. Cook continued further north until he reached Cape York the most northern part of the east coast. From there the Endeavour sailed to Batavia in the East Indies for repairs. At Batavia, some of his crew died from dysentery, malaria and other diseases. On 13 July 1771, three years after they had left, Cook and his men returned to England.