First voyage of James Cook

Endeavour's crew sights Australia's eastern coast

Before sunrise Cook lowered 130 fathoms of line and still could not touch the seabed. At six, Hicks saw land.

Six in the morning, 19 April 1770

At 6 a.m. on 19 April 1770, after slowing during the dark and taking a deep sounding, Endeavour's crew saw land extending from northeast to west at an estimated distance of five or six leagues — roughly 28 to 33 kilometres.

The pre-dawn sounding had run out 130 fathoms, about 238 metres, without reaching bottom. When the land came into view the water was 80 fathoms deep.

Named for the officer of the watch

Second Lieutenant Zachary Hicks, the officer of the watch, was credited with first seeing the land. Lieutenant James Cook named the southernmost point then visible "Point Hicks" and recorded its estimated latitude and longitude.

Endeavour stayed well offshore and then bore northeast along the coast. Nobody landed near Point Hicks that day; later that morning Joseph Banks described sloping, partly wooded hills interspersed with sandy areas.

Which morning, and which headland

The National Museum of Australia conventionally dates the sighting to 19 April. Cook's nautical day, his unadjusted westward calendar and later conversions to local civil time have left the same dawn labelled 18, 19 or 20 April in reputable accounts.

Identifying Cook's Point Hicks with today's Munda Bubul/Point Hicks is disputed. His plotted coordinates fall in the sea on modern charts, and some researchers argue Hicks saw a more elevated inland feature or another headland.

This was the first recorded European sighting of Australia's eastern coastline. Aboriginal peoples had lived on the continent for tens of thousands of years, and Europeans had previously reached other Australian coasts.

Sources

Researched 24 Aug 2026 5 sources not yet audited Date disputed

How this was checked

Researched from the web into a fact sheet and rewritten from that sheet. This article has not yet had an independent model audit. How the pipeline works →

Date disputed. Sources disagree; the research places it at 1770-04-19.

What the sources leave uncertain

The National Museum of Australia conventionally dates the sighting to 19 April 1770. Cook's nautical day, his unadjusted westward calendar and later attempts to convert it to local civil time have produced 18, 19 and 20 April formulations in reputable accounts. Nineteenth- and twentieth-century commemorations commonly distinguish 19 April as the ship's date and 20 April as the adjusted calendar date.
The identification of Cook's named Point Hicks with today's Munda Bubul/Point Hicks is disputed. His estimated coordinates place the feature offshore, and some researchers argue that Hicks saw a more elevated inland feature or another headland.
'First recorded Europeans' is deliberately narrow. Aboriginal peoples had lived on the continent for tens of thousands of years, and Europeans had previously reached other Australian coasts.