News & Information

Dr Daniel Solander was a Swedish natural scientist who sailed on the Endeavour alongside Sir Joseph Banks and James Cook on their expedition to Tahiti and returned via Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia in 1768–71. Paradise Lost brings together the work of 10 contemporary New Zealand based artists responding to the life of the Swedish botanist and his contribution to James Cook's first voyage to the Pacific.

The Australian government has committed A$10.1m ($7.2m) over four years from 2020-21 to support the return of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural heritage overseas to traditional owners. The funding extends a A$2m ($1.4m) pilot project that was launched in 2018 by the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS), a government agency, whose latest report reveals the scale of ambition held for repatriation in this field.

The $50 million redevelopment of the site where Captain Cook first clashed with Aboriginal Australians is at the centre of a government push to incorporate Indigenous culture into public spaces. Indigenous architects and artists are leading the redevelopment of the Meeting Place Precinct in Kamay Botany Bay, which will include an exhibition space at the visitor centre, a cafe, and educational programs.

The Black Lives Matter protests have stirred up anti-Captain Cook sentiment around the country, but Indigenous people in one Queensland town say they are still committed to commemorating the 250th anniversary of their ancestors' first encounter with the explorer. James Cook arrived in what is now known as Cooktown on Cape York Peninsula in June 1770 and remained there for 48 days while repairing the Endeavour after it ran aground on the Great Barrier Reef.

This year marks the 250th anniversary of James Cook’s arrival in Australia. AUSTRALIAN TRAVELLER explores the legacy of Cooktown, the final stop of his tour.

A major festival commemorating the 250 year anniversary of Captain James Cook's landing at Cooktown has changed its name and theme amid continuing protests and controversy over Australia's colonial past. The Cooktown and Cape York Expo 2021 - the event formerly known as Cooktown Discovery Festival - will be held in June next year with a focus on reconciliation, regeneration and economic recovery for the Cape region.

The view from the ship and the view from the shore will feature in a major exhibition at the National Museum of Australia in Canberra, marking the 250th anniversary of James Cook’s remarkable 1770 passage up the nation’s east coast on the HMB Endeavour. In a landmark exhibition showcasing one of the great seafaring feats of our time, Endeavour Voyage: The Untold Stories of Cook and the First Australians immerses visitors in the moment when two great knowledge systems came face to face...

2020 marks the 250th anniversary of the Endeavour’s voyage along the east coast of Australia – part of James Cook’s first Pacific voyage. To mark the 250th anniversary of the voyage, the Australian Government has funded a range of activities through the Endeavour 250 program.

UK booksellers Mark James and Anke Timmermann of Type & Forme have launched a virtual exhibition and accompanying catalogue to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Captain Cook’s arrival in Australia. Botanist Joseph Banks was along for that ride aboard the Endeavour, and during the voyage from Brazil via Tahiti and New Zealand to what would later become Queensland, Australia, he discovered and documented 1,300 previously unknown botanical species.

Swedish naturalist Daniel Solander published little in his lifetime. But through his botanic collections from his travels and a rigorous application of a revolutionary naming system, he laid important foundations in taxonomy for scientists today. Born in Piteå, northern Sweden, naturalist Daniel Solander (1733-1782) is primarily remembered for his scientific contributions during James Cook's first voyage.

This film by Jeff McMullen tells the story of the East Coast Encounter project, where a group of artists (who all feature in the exhibition of the same name) re-visit Australia's East Coast and the key places where Cook Landed and got his first impressions of the country and its inhabitants. The artists express their views and reflect on the impact of this event in the lives of Australia's Indigenous peoples and the generations to come.

At the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, vivid colors splash across a five-panel, 180-degree semi-circular screen, as enormous images bring to life Captain James Cook and Joseph Banks’ journey aboard the Endeavour. On view to mark the 250th anniversary of the expedition’s docking in today’s Botany Bay, is the 20-minute film Beauty Rich and Rare, a visual blend of science, art and technology, incorporating digital scans from Banks’ original floral sketches that are used to craft an animated time-lapse of the growth of many of the plants on the continent.

2020 marks 250 years since Captain James Cook and the HMB Endeavour charted the East Coast of Australia. Encounters 2020 is an Australian National Maritime Museum program designed to recognise both the achievements of Cook’s 1770 scientific voyage, its lasting impact on Australia’s First Peoples, and the nation as a whole. The aim is to engage all Australians and foster a respectful discussion about Australia's past.

Tuia – Encounters 250 commemorates the 250 years since the first onshore meetings between Māori and Pākehā in 1769–70. It also celebrates the voyaging heritage of Pacific people that led to the settlement of Aotearoa New Zealand many generations before. Learn more about these aspects of New Zealand history, as well as access educational resources for teachers and parents.

The Tuia – Encounters 250 national commemoration celebrates Aotearoa New Zealand’s Pacific voyaging heritage and acknowledges the first onshore encounters between Māori and Pākehā in 1769–70. There are events happening now in regions right around the country. There are opportunities to join the journey by going on board the vessels at the landing sites. Crews are offering family-friendly opportunities to learn about Pacific, Māori and European sailing and navigation traditions through interactive activities, displays, star domes, guest speakers, roadshow trucks and more.

Cast your gaze to Te Moananui a Kiwa – the mighty Pacific Ocean – from the shores of Aotearoa New Zealand this October to December, and you’ll be treated to the sight of the Tuia 250 Voyage – a journey of national significance. Crews on two waka hourua from Aotearoa, three tall ships including the Endeavour replica from Australia, and the va’a tipaerua Fa’afaite from Tahiti are sailing to and engaging with 14 communities. The Tuia 250 Voyage flotilla lands at sites of historic and cultural significance giving a platform to communities, iwi and hapū to share their stories of arrival and their encounters with Tupaia, James Cook and the Endeavour crew.

Tuia 250 is excited to announce the six core vessels in our flotilla that will sail around Aotearoa, New Zealand from October - December 2019. Vessels include the Fa'afaite, Haunui, Ngahiraka Mai Tawhiti, HMB Endeavour, Spirit of New Zealand, and R Tucker Thompson.

A major new initiative aimed at commemorating Captain James Cook’s arrival in Australia and marking the impact on Australia’s Indigenous peoples has been launched on Thursday. Through a series of exhibitions around the country, educational projects and outreach events, the program, Encounter 2020, will commemorate the 250th anniversary since Captain Cook arrived in Botany Bay and went on to chart the east coast of Australia. Central to it will be the lasting impact it had on Australia’s First Peoples and in shaping the country’s future.

The logs of James Cook as he charted the east coast of Australia in 1770 gave the perspective from the deck of the H.M.S Endeavour looking to shore. Now for the first time, the view of his ship and men from the shore, including some Aboriginal people yelling at them to go away, will be given equal weight during activities in 2020 to mark 250 years since Cook's voyage.

The Australian Government has announced a package of measures to mark the 250th Anniversary of James Cook's first voyage to Australia and the Pacific in 1770 (Cook 250). To mark the 250th anniversary of the voyage (Cook 250), funding is being provided for a range of activities, including a range of reflective exhibitions, activities and events delivered by the National Library of Australia (NLA), Australian National Maritime Museum (ANMM) and National Museum of Australia (NMA).

Te Whanganui o Hei | Mercury Bay is one of four landing sites in Aotearoa/New Zealand where Māori and European first met during Cook’s 1769 voyage, therefore a significant place for Tuia - Encounters 250 commemorations. Regional Tuia 250 commemorations will also take place in Tūranga-a-Kiwa | Gisborne, Te Tai Tokerau | Northland and Totaranui |Marlborough Sounds. The communities of each region are developing events, activities and also what is known as 'Legacy Projects' which all reflect the kaupapa | objectives of Tuia 250.

On the 250th anniversary of Captain James Cook landing in Aotearoa, Ian Taylor is vowing to tell the story of those who came before Cook: the Polynesian celestial navigators. “My ancestors travelled across a third of the planet to get here,” says Ian Taylor, “they used state-of-the-art craft and the stars and they knew exactly what they were doing. People need to know this story.”

‘Captain Cook after 250 years: Re-exploring The Voyages of James Cook’. An International Conference on Captain James Cook’s voyages (1768-1779). Organised by the SELVA, the Hakluyt Society, HDEA and VALE, supported by LARCA. 7-8 February 2020. Sorbonne Université

In 2019 the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra presents a diverse mix of soloists and conductors from New Zealand and around the world, including Music Director, Maestro Edo de Waart. This diversity is also reflected in the repertoire with The Planets, Linz Symphony, Prague Symphony and contemporary works from Europe and America, performed alongside NZSO commissions, marking 250 years since the first encounters between Māori and Captain James Cook. 

The University of Otago and the Tōtaranui 250 Trust announce a conference to take place in Blenheim, New Zealand from 1-3 December 2019 that will explore the global history of science, technology, medicine, and mātauranga (indigenous knowledge). The conference will be part of a sequence of national events in New Zealand titled Tuia – Encounters 250 Commemoration. These mark the 250th anniversary of James Cook’s first Pacific voyage and the first onshore meetings between Europeans and the indigenous people of New Zealand, the Māori.

The latest video from the National Library of Australia takes a look inside The Cook And The Pacific exhibition which brings together objects from Australia and around the world to explore what Captain James Cook's voyages meant for the Pacific region through the eyes of the British voyagers and the Indigenous peoples they met. It also highlights the advances in mapping which occurred during this period, with his 3 Pacific voyages between 1768 and 1780 leading to large parts of the world being accurately charted for the first time.

This year marks 250 years since Captain James Cook first visited in New Zealand and the Government is spending millions of dollars to commemorate his arrival. But the anniversary has provoked a fierce debate over Cook’s true legacy – an intrepid explorer or a murderous invader?

This year marks the 250th anniversary of the first visit to New Zealand by Captain James Cook. Unfortunately history has not covered Cook’s skills as an astronomer particularly well so the importance of his observations of the transit of Venus in 1769 have often been overlooked. Cook and the crew of the Endeavour contributed to the measuring of one of the most important constants in astronomy, one that gave 18th century astronomers an understanding of the scale of the known universe.

Commemorations marking the 250th anniversary of Captain Cook’s 1769 voyage to New Zealand start will start in March and are being expressed through music, storytelling, kapa haka, arts, and other cultural activities on the Coromandel. The national Tuia – 250 Encounters celebrates and recognises the connections made by the maori communities from Ngati Hei and Ngati Whanaunga to Captain Cook and his crew’s arrival.

In 2018, 250 years on from the Endeavour’s departure from Plymouth, it feels right to revisit Cook’s legacy, but with fresh eyes looking through different lenses. Over time, Cook has become a symbol, as much myth as man. Why? The National Library of Australia has long had a strong collecting interest in Cook’s voyages, offering rich pickings to investigate these questions. Yet Cook and the Pacific is its first full-scale, international exhibition about Cook.

Climb aboard the magnificent Australian-built replica of James Cook's Endeavour and tour one of the world's most accurate maritime replica vessels. On board the beautifully crafted ship, you glimpse a sailor's life during one of history's great maritime adventures, Captain Cook's epic 1768-71 world voyage. Look and you'll see almost 30 kilometres of rigging and 750 wooden blocks or pulleys! The masts and spars carry 28 sails that spread approximately 10,000 sq feet (930 m2) of canvas.

Join the voyage of a lifetime and the most bucket-list-worthy adventure on the high seas! Learn to sail HMB Endeavour and experience 18th century blue water sailing at its best. This magnificent tall ship will sail to and from Tasmania, New Caledonia and New Zealand in 2019. For adventure seekers and history lovers alike, the professional crew will train you in all aspects of 18th century sailing.

In a world first, all three of explorer Captain James Cook's handwritten journals from his three Pacific voyages will be on display together. The National Library of Australia's Endeavour Journal will be joined by Cook's two other journals, on loan from the British Library in London, to mark the 250th anniversary of the beginning of his three Pacific voyages.

Visitors to Cook and the Pacific will follow James Cook’s three remarkable Pacific voyages, and explore this spectacular region through the eyes of the British voyagers and the First Nations peoples they met. The exhibition takes visitors on a journey to the Pacific 250 years ago, with destinations including Tahiti, New Zealand, the east coast of Australia, Hawaii and even Siberia.

Sam Neill says he is fascinated with those "initial awkward, often funny, sometimes tragic first encounters" between Captain Cook, his crew, and the people they met in the Pacific. When we think about Cook's time in the Pacific, 'funny' isn't usually the first, or even the second, word that comes to mind. But in this six-part series helmed by Neill, viewers discover the very human, and sometimes humorous, side of Cook's three voyages to the Pacific.

Two hundred and fifty years ago today, Lieutenant James Cook sailed a 30m coal carrier named Endeavour out of Plymouth, England, plotting a course for wonder, immortality and a turquoise-edged, red-hearted paradise we’d come to call Australia. There should have been fireworks that day; angel-voiced choristers and a hundred stout men with snare drums lining the Plymouth dockyards.

As celebrations kick off in Plymouth, England this weekend to mark 250 years since Captain James Cook set sail for Australia in 1768, local maritime historians are pushing for the establishment of a Cook Heritage Trail along the east coast of Australia. While the federal government announced plans to mark the Cook legacy with a $50 million park at Kurnell in Botany Bay by 2020, including a $3 million commemorative statue of Captain James Cook, amateur historians are calling to redraw our east coast map and rename land features according to Cook's log.

The Australian government has allocated $48.7 million over four years to commemorate the 250th anniversary of James Cook’s first voyage to Australia. The package, detailed in the budget, will support events and exhibitions including a digital platform and educational material for the anniversary. Funding will go towards the Kamay Botany Bay National Park 250th Anniversary project, ...

The Australian Government has announced a package of measures to commemorate Captain James Cook’s first Pacific voyage between 2018 and 2020. Funding is being provided to support a range of reflective exhibitions, activities and events to be delivered by the National Library of Australia (NLA), Australian National Maritime Museum (ANMM) and National Museum of Australia (NMA)

In 2019, a national commemoration - Tuia Encounters 250 - will mark 250 years since the first meetings between Māori and Europeans during Captain James Cook and the Endeavour's 1769 voyage to New Zealand. The Department of Internal Affairs has announced that $9M will be available for community projects that align with the kaupapa of Tuia – Encounters 250.

As Australia and the world prepares for next year’s 250th anniversary of Endeavour’s departure in 1768, the Australian newspaper tells the five-part story of a voyage that transformed our knowledge of mathematics, navigation, geology, geography, botany, psychology, nutrition, astronomy, medicine, cartography and languages....

In November 2019 it will be the 250th anniversary since Captain Cook came to NZ and sailed into Mercury Bay, which will host a replica of the HMS Endeavour for eight days, playing a significant role in celebrations to mark the 250th year since Captain James Cook made his first landfall in New Zealand.

A PROPOSED exhibition in 2020 at the National Museum of Australia to mark the 250th anniversary of Captain Cook’s arrival in Australia, brought the museum’s senior curator Ian Coates to Gisborne this week.  HMS Endeavour arrived on the east coast of New Zealand in 1769 and on the east coast of Australia in 1770.  

The year 2020 marks the 250th anniversary of Cook's exploration of the east coast of Australia and the nation will be celebrating. Our community of Town of 1770/Agnes Water will take part in the national celebrations and the Cook 250 in 1770 team, has been assembled to oversee this momentous event.

James Cook’s Endeavour journal is perhaps the most famous item in the National Library of Australia’s collection. With the 250th anniversary of the first Endeavour voyage sailing into view in 2018-2020, the Library’s 2016 End of Year Appeal is raising funds to undertake essential preservation and selective digitisation of our extraordinary collection of material ...

The Bay of Islands will be one of four main sites around the country in large-scale commemorations marking 250 years since Captain Cook's first landfall in New Zealand.  If all goes to plan, the celebrations will include a voyage around the country by a flotilla of vessels including a replica of Cook's Endeavour, waka hourua (double-hulled ocean-going canoes) and Navy ships.

New Zealand Arts, Culture and Heritage Minister Maggie Barry has announced a national commemoration to mark the 250th anniversary of the first encounters between Māori and Europeans. In October 2019, First Encounters 250 will commemorate the early meeting of Māori and Europeans during James Cook’s 1769 voyage to New Zealand.

THE 250th anniversary of the landing of Captain James Cook is six years away, but Cook Shire Council has already started planning the mammoth event.  It will be a six-week-long party in 2020, with lots of celebrations and events to mark the day he landed at the Endeavour River in 1770. 

A replica of Captain Cook's ship the Endeavour will sail to Ship Cove in the Marlborough Sounds, Australia as part of the 250th anniversary celebrations of the 18th century explorer's landing.  The Marlborough District Council has budgeted $100,000 annually over five years in its draft annual plan towards celebrating the locally and nationally significant event.