A Chart of Part of the Sea Coast of New South Wales On the East Coast of New Holland from Cape Morton to Cape Palmerston 1771

Old map of Australia, Cape Moreton, Cape Palmerston, New South Wales, Queensland.

This map is one of four manuscript charts from the first great voyage of exploration by Captain James Cook, which in April 1770 made the first clear delineation of the east coast of Australia. Sponsored by the Royal Society and the Royal Navy, the expedition had several objectives. Cook was to observe and describe the transit of Venus, chart the coastlines of places he visited in the South Pacific, and record details of the peoples, flora, and fauna he saw. The expedition sponsors also hoped Cook would find and claim for Britain the land then known as terra incognita australis. Cook did not sail close to shore, except in a few places, so the amount of detail shown in the map varied with his ship's distance from the coast.

Created by James Cook in 1771.

• Title devised, in English, by Library staff.
• "Relief shown by landform drawings. Depths shown by soundings. North oriented to the right. Longitude given as "Longitude west from the meridian of Greenwich." Scale 1:890,000."--Note extracted from World Digital Library.
• Original resource extent: 1 map : manuscript ; 47 x 73 centimeters.
• Original resource at: University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Libraries.
• Content in English.
• Description based on data extracted from World Digital Library, which may be extracted from partner institutions.

Map Tags

1771

Australia

Cape Moreton

Cape Palmerston

Exploration And Encounters

James Cook

Map

New South Wales

Queensland