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Possession Island, Qld



King Gorge III

Possession Island, known to the local Kaurareg Aboriginal peoples as Bedanug, is a small and seemingly insignificant island of the tip of Cape York, the most northerly point of mainland Australia. It was here, just before sunset on Wednesday 22nd August 1770, that British navigator Lieut. James Cook came ashore and took possession of the east coast of Australia under the name of South Wales (he later amended it to New South Wales), for the King of England, His Majesty King George III, and set in motion a series of events that resulted in the establishment of the colony of New South Wales and later the commonwealth of Australia. A cairn marks the location.
It could be said that it was here where all of Australia's recent land control battles started. It is ironic that the place of possession is not on the Australian Mainland; and the reason? Cook feared the Aborigines of the area were hostile, so he decided to make possession on an uninhabited island!
Cook recorded the event thus: "As I was about to quit the eastern coast of New Holland, which I had coasted from latitude 38 deg. to this place, and which I am confident no European had ever seen before, I once more hoisted English colours, and though I had already taken possession of several particular parts, I now took possession of the whole eastern coast, from latitude 38 deg. to this place, latitude 10 deg. 30 min., in right of his Majesty King George the Third, by the name of New South Wales, with all the bays, harbours, rivers, and islands situated upon it. We then fired three volleys of small arms, which were answered by the same number from the ship."
Cook had recorded signs that the coast was inhabited during the voyage north, and here he noted as he returned to the ship the great number of fires on all the land and islands about them, 'a certain sign they are Inhabited'. Cook then sailed through Torres Strait, returning to England in May 1771.

Possession Island or Botany Bay?


TA Gilfillin's painting titled 'Captain Cook taking possession of the Australian continent on behalf of the British Crown'

There is some conjecture as to whether or not Cook claimed the Australian continent in the name of King George III while at Botany Bay. TA Gilfillin's painting titled 'Captain Cook taking possession of the Australian continent on behalf of the British Crown', which was presented to the Philosophical Society of Victoria in 1889, is used as evidence to support this notion. The painting is clearly of Botany Bay and not Possession Island, where Cook's journal states he took possession. There is no way that the place where Cook declared he took possession (see top left photo) is the same place as the one shown in the painting (above). Speaking of his time at Botany Bay, Cook stated; "During my stay in this harbour I caused the English colours to be displayed on shore every day, and the ship's name, and the date of the year to be inscribed upon one of the trees near the watering place." He says nothing about taking possession, so one can only assume that the artist, who was not present on the voyage, got the two locations mixed up.

The Kaurareg People sought a determination of their native title rights in respect of seven islands (Muralag, Bedanug (Possession), Zuna (Entrance), Mipa (Turtle), Yeta (Port Lihou), Dumaralag and Horn (Ngurupai)) of the Kaurareg Archipelago in the Torres Strait.

In 1922, the Kaurareg People were removed from the seven islands (Muralag, Bedanug (Possession), Zuna (Entrance), Mipa (Turtle), Yeta (Port Lihou), Dumaralag and Horn (Ngurupai) of the Kaurareg Archipelago in the Torres Strait to Moa Island but returned in 1946 to Ngurupai (Horn). In 1969, they re-established governance with the formation of the Horn Island Village Council. The descendants of original occupiers of the islands at the time of Cook’s visit to Possession Island (Bedanug) in 1770 were granted native title to the islands in 1993.


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