Memory of the World
The Endeavour Journal of James Cook
This is the original document in Cooks handwriting of his first exploration voyage in the Pacific on HMS Endeavour in 176871 The first European charting of the east coast of Australia and the first circumnavigation of New Zealand took place on the voyage This is the key document which foreshadows British colonisation of Australia which actually began in 1788 and presaged the tragic consequences for Australias indigenous peoples the oldest surviving culture on Earth who under British law were effectively deemed not to exist the terra nullius doctrine
Australia -