3-056-974 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Map of Botany Bay, New South Wales, Australia, 1770. The chart made of Botany Bay during Cook's stay there, drawn probably by Cook himself. Prior to Cook's voyage, the west and south coasts of Australia had been visited by other European explorers, but the east coast was unexplored. Cook first sighted the eastern coast of Australia on 19 April 1770, and landed at Botany Bay, so called because of the large number of previously unknown plants collected there by the expedition's scientists. The bay now forms part of the southern suburbs of Sydney.