Editing Great Barrier Reef (section)

=="Discovery" and naming==

The Great Barrier Reef has long been known to and used by the [[Australian Aborigines|Aboriginal Australian]] and [[Torres Strait Islander]] peoples, and is an important part of local groups' cultures and spirituality.{{cn|date=September 2024}}{{clarify|Elaborate in which way it has been used and the spiritual and cultural part it has.|date=September 2024}}

The first European to sight the Great Barrier Reef was [[James Cook]] in 1770, who sailed and mapped the east coast of Australia. On 11 June 1770, Cook's ship, {{HMS|Endeavour}}, ran aground on a shoal south of the present-day location of [[Cooktown, Queensland|Cooktown]], requiring seven weeks to repair.

It was [[Matthew Flinders]] who named the Great Barrier Reef, after his more detailed mapping of it in 1802.<ref>{{cite web |title=Great Barrier Reef Timeline |url=https://www.gbrbiology.com/knowledge-and-news/great-barrier-reef-timeline/#:~:text=Naming%20of%20the%20Reef&text=In%201802%2C%20Matthew%20Flinders%20described,whilst%20surveying%20the%20Australian%20coastline. |website=GBR Biology |access-date=21 September 2023 |date=2022 |archive-date=28 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928152237/https://www.gbrbiology.com/knowledge-and-news/great-barrier-reef-timeline/#:~:text=Naming%20of%20the%20Reef&text=In%201802%2C%20Matthew%20Flinders%20described,whilst%20surveying%20the%20Australian%20coastline. |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=Flinders1814 /> Flinders used various terms to describe the reefs comprising what we now call the Great Barrier Reef including "great reef", for one such reef, "barrier reef", for any reef preventing a sailing vessel in, or waves from, the open sea, from reaching the coast, and "Barrier Reefs", for the collection of such reefs.<ref name=Flinders1814>{{cite book |last1=Flinders |first1=Matthew |title=A voyage to Terra Australis: Undertaken for the purpose of completing the discovery of that vast country, and prosecuted in the years 1801, 1802 and 1803... (volume 2) |date=1814 |publisher=G. & W. Nicol |location=Pall-Mall, London |url=https://archive.org/details/voyageTerraAustv2Flin/page/n4/mode/1up |access-date=21 September 2023 }}</ref>