Queensland's history—pre 1700s
1770
- Captain James Cook searches the south Pacific for signs of a rich southern continent of Terra Australis, reaching the south-eastern coast of Australia on 19 April. In doing so, his expedition becomes the first recorded Europeans to have encountered Australia’s eastern coastline.
- The Endeavour sailed through the Torres Strait and on 22 August Cook landed on Possession Island, where he claimed the entire coastline he had explored as British territory.
1606
- Captained by Willem Janszoon, the Dutch ship the ‘Duyfken’ sails into the Gulf of Carpentaria. While exploring the western coast of Cape York, the ‘Duyfken’ crew records the first European contact with the Aboriginal people of Queensland.
Pre 1600
- Aboriginal occupation of Australia is believed to predate 50,000 BCE. The first recorded contact with Indigenous Australians took place in 1606. Find out more about the history of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.