Sunday 26 January 2014

Kurnell, monument

This small monument is located on the rocky shore at Silver Beach, in the southern suburb of Kurnell. It marks the first landing on Australian soil by Captain James Cook, on the shore of Botany Bay in 1770. The English explorer, navigator and cartographer led the first recorded European expedition to navigate and map the eastern coastline of Australia. When the First Fleet arrived here to create a colony, they found this area unsuitable for settlement, so they moved further north, arriving at Sydney Cove in Port Jackson on 26 January 1788. This day is now celebrated as Australia Day, our national day. The grander Captain Cook Memorial Obelisk is located in the reserve behind the beach but this monument remains as a marker for the actual spot where the expedition came ashore.

14 comments:

  1. After all James Cook went through on his voyages of discovery, this seems like such a small token!

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    1. There is a grander monument in the nearby park and I've added a link in my post now.

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  2. I do agree with MMT! Hope your weekend is going well, Jim!

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  3. That man sure got around when you think about what it is that they sailed in and on! We have a Cook's landing site in Hawaii too, of course. That man changed the world.

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  4. The coastline here looks way to rough to build upon this anchorage so the settlement upstream was a hood idea...Happy Australia Day!

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    1. There was a lack of fresh water, the soil was poor for crop growing and Botany Bay was open to the ocean, making it unsafe for ships,

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  5. It seems like too simple a monument for Captain Cook!

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  6. Yes, I like it, very interesting monument!

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  7. luv the textures and shadow shapes

    much love...

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  8. That has been there a long time. I remember it there in the 50's.

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