Editing History of Australia (section)

===British and French exploration===
[[File:Captainjamescookportrait.jpg|thumb|left|Lieutenant [[James Cook]], the first European to map the eastern coastline of Australia in 1770]]

[[William Dampier]], an English buccaneer and explorer, landed on the north-west coast of New Holland in 1688 and again in 1699, and [[A New Voyage Round the World|published]] influential descriptions of the Aboriginal people.<ref>Konishi, Shino; Nugent, Maria (2013). "Newcomers, c. 1600–1800". ''The Cambridge History of Australia, Volume I''. pp.&nbsp;49–50</ref>

In 1769, Lieutenant [[James Cook]] in command of {{HMS|Endeavour}}, travelled to [[Tahiti]] to observe and record the [[transit of Venus]]. Cook also carried secret Admiralty instructions to locate the supposed [[Terra Australis|Southern Continent]].<ref>Admiralty instructions cited in A.G.L. Shaw (1972) ''The Story of Australia''. p. 32 Faber and Faber, London. {{ISBN|0-571-04775-0}}</ref> Unable to find this continent, Cook decided to survey the east coast of New Holland, the only major part of that continent that had not been charted by Dutch navigators.<ref>J.C. Beaglehole and R.A. Skelton (eds.), ''The Journals of Captain James Cook on His Voyages of Discovery'', Vol. 1, ''The Voyage of the Endeavour, 1768–1771'', Cambridge University Press for the Hakluyt Society, 1955, pp. 288–91; J.C. Beaglehole, ''The Life of Captain James Cook'', London, The Hakluyt Society, 1955, pp. 273–74.</ref>

On 19 April 1770, ''Endeavour'' reached the east coast of New Holland and ten days later anchored at [[Botany Bay]]. Cook charted the coast to its northern extent and formally took possession of the east coast of New Holland on 21/22 August 1770 when on [[Possession Island (Queensland)|Possession Island]] off the west coast of [[Cape York Peninsula]].<ref>Cook, James, Journal of the HMS Endeavour, 1768–1771, National Library of Australia, Manuscripts Collection, MS 1, 22 August 1770</ref>

He noted in his journal that he could;<ref>J.C. Beaglehole and R.A. Skelton (eds.), ''The Journals of Captain James Cook on His Voyages of Discovery'', Vol. 1, ''The Voyage of the Endeavor, 1768–1771'', Cambridge University Press for the Hakluyt Society, 1955, p. 387.</ref><ref>Bill Gammage, "Early Boundaries of New South Wales", ''Historical Studies'', Vol.19, No.77, 1981, pp. 524–31.</ref>
{{blockquote |text=land no more upon this Eastern coast of New Holland, and on the Western side I can make no new discovery the honour of which belongs to the Dutch Navigators {{strikethrough color |linecolor=#da291c |and as such they may lay Claim to it as their property}}{{efn |name="markupNote" |Words crossed out in the original.}} but the Eastern Coast from the Latitude of 38 South down to this place I am confident was never seen or viseted by any European before us and {{strikethrough color |linecolor=#da291c |therefore by the same Rule belongs to great Brittan}}{{efn |name="markupNote"}} [...]. }}

In March 1772 [[Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne]], in command of two French ships, reached Van Diemen's land on his way to Tahiti and the South Seas. His party became the first recorded European to encounter the Indigenous Tasmanians and to kill one of them.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Konishi|first1=Shino|title=The Cambridge History of Australia, Volume I|last2=Nugent|first2=Maria|year=2013|pages=60–61|chapter=Newcomers, c. 1600–1800}}</ref>

In the same year, a French expedition led by [[Louis Aleno de St Aloüarn]], became the first European to formally claim sovereignty over the west coast of Australia, but no attempt was made to follow this with colonisation.<ref>Ducksey C. C. Cowan and John C. Camm, ''Objects & History of the Voyage of Mm. Yves de Kerguelen and François Alesne de Saint Allouarn in the Australian Seas'', Paris, 1934. Walter R. Bloom, "The role of a French ecu in the colonization of Western Australia", ''Journal of the Numismatic Association of Australia'', Vol. 9, July 1998, pp. 34–42.</ref>