Captain Cook Was Here

This book tells the story of the first landing of Captain Cook on the east coast of Australia in 1770.

Maria Nugent (Author)

9780521762403, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 5 May 2009

176 pages
24 x 16.4 x 1.8 cm, 0.49 kg

This book is a dramatic and lively account of the encounters between Captain Cook, his crew and the Indigenous people of Australia during the Endeavour's first landing at Botany Bay, on Australia's east coast in 1770. These encounters were marked by poise, fragility, humanity, intrigue, fear, confusion and regret. The book brings together for the first time all the known surviving objects collected, and all the visual material produced, during Cook's time on shore, and incorporates them into the history told. The story about cross-cultural encounters in 1770 is complemented by stories told in art, word and performance by both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians over two centuries or more. The book includes a rich store of historical and contemporary visual images, which are used to show the way in which the meanings and interpretations of these encounters have changed over time.

Prologue
Part I. In the Beginning: The first day
Always beginning
The first day continued
Part II. In Between: The second day
The third day
The fourth day
The fifth day
The sixth day
The seventh day
Part III. In the End: The eighth day
Never ending
The Endeavour sails
Sources
Illustrations
Acknowledgements
Index.

Subject Areas: Australasian & Pacific history [HBJM], General & world history [HBG]