Captain James Cook - Sydney, New South Wales
Posted by: 
BruceS
S 33° 52.447 E 151° 12.717
56H E 334624 N 6250362
Statue of British sea captain and explorer at Hyde Park in Sydney, NSW.
Waymark Code: WMFNXV
Location: New South Wales, Australia
Date Posted: 11/10/2012
Views: 16
The bronze statue is larger than life-sized and is mounted on a granite base. Captain Cook is wearing his naval uniform without a hat. He has his right arm upraised and is holding a telescope in his left hand. The statue was sculpted by British sculptor Thomas Woolmer who spend many years in Australia. The statue was placed in 1879 to commemorate the centennial of Captain Cook's death in Hawaii.
"Captain James Cook, FRS, RN (7 November 1728 – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the Royal Navy. Cook made detailed maps of Newfoundland prior to making three voyages to the Pacific Ocean, during which he achieved the first European contact with the eastern coastline of Australia and the Hawaiian Islands, and the first recorded circumnavigation of New Zealand.
Cook joined the British merchant navy as a teenager and joined the Royal Navy in 1755. He saw action in the Seven Years' War, and subsequently surveyed and mapped much of the entrance to the Saint Lawrence River during the siege of Quebec. This helped bring Cook to the attention of the Admiralty and Royal Society. This notice came at a crucial moment in both Cook's career and the direction of British overseas exploration, and led to his commission in 1766 as commander of HM Bark Endeavour for the first of three Pacific voyages.
In three voyages Cook sailed thousands of miles across largely uncharted areas of the globe. He mapped lands from New Zealand to Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean in greater detail and on a scale not previously achieved. As he progressed on his voyages of discovery he surveyed and named features, and recorded islands and coastlines on European maps for the first time. He displayed a combination of seamanship, superior surveying and cartographic skills, physical courage and an ability to lead men in adverse conditions.
Cook was killed in Hawaii in a fight with Hawaiians during his third exploratory voyage in the Pacific in 1779. He left a legacy of scientific and geographical knowledge which was to influence his successors well into the 20th century and numerous memorials worldwide have been dedicated to him." - Wikipedia
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