A special event is to be held in Mallacoota later this year to mark the 250th anniversary of Lt James Cook and the Endeavour’s departure from Plymouth Sound in 1768
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The weekend event will likely be one of the first in Australia in the lead up to the commemoration the 250th anniversary of Cook’s charting of the eastern coasts of Australia in 2020.
As Cook set out on his epic voyage on August 25, 1768, Endeavour sailed out of Plymouth Sound past the distinctive Ram Head (Cornwall, UK) on her starboard side.
By a remarkable topographical coincidence, 20 months later the first land feature on the Australian coast named by Cook was a point that “rises to a round hillick, very much like the Ram head going into Plymouth Sound on which account I called it by that name”.
Cook’s Australian Ram Head lies on the coast of Victoria, south-east of Mallacoota and currently bears the name Little Rame Head.
The Restoring Cook’s Legacy Project 2020 is extending an invitation to the public to join them for the weekend of August 25/26 at Mallacoota, East Gippsland, to commemorate Cook’s departure from Plymouth, and to see and learn more about Australia’s Ram Head.
On the Saturday afternoon, courtesy of U3A Mallacoota, there will be an illustrated talk entitled “Lt James Cook on the coast of Victoria – a comedy of errors”, which will explain why today’s Point Hicks is not what Cook named, and why today’s Rame Head is not Cook’s Ram Head, as is popularly supposed.
Trevor Lipscombe, an amateur maritime historian who has had several articles published about Cook on this coast, will present the talk.
Mr Lipscombe is one of very few people to have stood on the “hillick” at both Ram Head, UK, and Ram Head, Victoria. He is project manager of Restoring Cook’s Legacy 2020, a project of Australia on the Map, the history and heritage division of the Australasian Hydrographic Society, and a member of the Captain Cook Society.
On the Sunday there will be an opportunity for self guided exploration of the area and visits to Cook-named features (some of which involve walking), or views of them from coastal viewpoints.
You will be able to see remote Little Rame Head at a distance, or walk there and stand on the “round hillick”. This is a beautiful coastal walk of 12km for the round trip, and one well worth the effort. There are also shorter walks for distant views to Gabo Island and Cape Howe, a coastal panorama from Mount Imlay, or a drive to Point Hicks or Rame Head near Wingan Inlet.
Register your interest for the Mallacoota weekend at restoringcookslegacy2020@gmail.com to receive more information as it becomes available.
