“In 1770, Captain James Cook and his ship the ‘Endeavour’ ran afoul of the Great Barrier Reef and seriously damaged the hull. To avoid sinking, all the crew and stores had to be offloaded in order to free the ‘Endeavour’ from the reef. Cook needed to find safe waters, and fast, so he sailed his damaged 368 ton vessel into the closest river he could find. It was here that his crew of 87 men, some of whom all Australians are familiar with, like Banks, Solander, Hicks and Monkhouse, were evacuated to the shore and told to make camp in order to assist with the massive task of repairing the hull of their crippled ship.

Cooks’ stay in that harbour was to be his longest onshore stay for his entire voyage. He later named the river ‘Endeavour’ after the great vessel whose life it saved. It was the only river in Australia that he would name.”

Courtesy: Cooktown Historical Society

It wasn’t until 1872 when gold was discovered in the Endeavour River that white men once again came to the area. The settlement was then know as ‘Cooks-Town’ later to be shortened to just ‘Cooktown’. The gold flowed freely and the population increased to 30,000 and by 1900 Cooktown became the second largest town in Queensland. Then the gold soon started to run out and most of the population soon followed.

The town continued, though at a more leisurely pace and today is noted for its magnificent location amongst rainforest, great sports fishing for black marlin, sailfish as well as coral trout, red emperor and trevally, sun, beaches, national parks. Cooktown is located at the mouth of the Endeavour River, with the Daintree National Park to the south and the Aboriginal reserve Hopevale to the north. Surrounded by mother nature it makes a great place to escape.

Cook Shire is the largest land area shire in Queensland, encompassing some 80% of the Cape York Peninsula Region of Far North Queensland. The southern borundary comprised in part the Bloomfield River, while tot he north the Shire extends to the 11th parallel of latitude, slightly beyond the Jardine River.

Source: Cook Shire

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