Claim of New South Wales

Date: August 22, 1770 • Location: Bamaga, Australia

James Cook names and lands on Possession Island, and claims the east coast of Australia for Britain as New South Wales.

Captain James Cook was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer, and cartographer who led three voyages of exploration to the Pacific and Southern Oceans between 1768 and 1779. He completed the first recorded circumnavigation of the main islands of New Zealand, and led the first recorded visit by Europeans to the east coast of Australia and the Hawaiian Islands.