Description: Astronomers in the 1700s believed there had to be a “great southern land” to balance out the land mass in the north; however, no one could prove its existence.
Enter Captain James Cook, who sailed around the Pacific and kind of bumped into Australia (but said the great southern land didn’t exist.) He metaphorically put a stake in the ground and claimed the land for England. He made notes about how hospitable the land was, and how it would be suitable for habitation. His one journey there and his notes were all that England went on when they started sending convicts (or “people with too much initiative”) to Australia. The military commanders were astonished that where they landed was the same land that Cook described.
Cook is a pretty big hero in Australia, though on another journey in the Hawaiian Islands, he met his untimely death by being considered unlucky by the natives, and sent away only to return. He was killed and essentially cooked. Mmmm. Yum.
Captain Cook’s cottage was brought to Australia in the 1930s, dismantled in England and shipped brick by brick to Australia, and put back together again in Fitzroy Gardens, a huge park at the edge of Melbourne.
You can visit Cook’s cottage and see his gardens. The cottage stands as a tribute to him.
It was pretty interesting to see, and essentially free (though there was a charge to go inside. No thanks.) I don’t know if it’s a “must-see” on your trip, but honestly I didn’t find there was a lot to do in Melbourne proper, so this might be a highlight.
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