James Cook and HMB Endeavour

Cook's Voyages

Engage students with this interactive game. Players undertake scientific and navigational challenges while meeting with First Nations people in world-changing encounters.

wooden tall ship with white sails on the ocean with a blue sky

HMB Endeavour's Voyage of Exploration

In this resource produced by ABC Education in collaboration with Australian National Maritime Museum dive into the story of HMB Endeavour.

Learn about this momentous voyage, its famous crew and the lasting impact their visit had on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples – the continent's First Peoples.

Virtual Endeavour

Jump aboard and explore the life-sized replica of the HMB Endeavour in this virtual tour. Explore the sailing equipment on the upper decks or go below deck to see how the crew slept, ate and kept themselves amused during the voyage.

The Strange Big Canoe

(2:26 minutes)

The work, The Strange Big Canoe, created with the team from Ample Projects, is based on journal records and Indigenous histories that weave keynotes from HMB Endeavour’s voyage along the east coast into the perspectives of Indigenous communities along the shore and officers and crew on the ship. From first sightings of land and ship on 19 April 1770 at Tolylwarar in the south-east, a place Cook renamed Point Hicks, coastal communities watched as the ship made its way along the coastline - sending smoke signals ahead of it - as its commander Captain Cook watched, recorded and renamed lands from Kamay, Botany Bay to Bedhan Lag in the north on 22 August. There Cook planted the flag, renamed the island Possession Island, and sailed Endeavour north towards the spice islands, its hull full of plants and animals that had been collected.

Australian National Maritime Museum