1728 Captain James Cook was born in Marton

1728 Captain James Cook was born in Marton, North Yorkshire. 1755 Captain James Cook joined the Royal Navy where he learnt to sail and charter the seas. 1768 Captain James Cook was appointed commander of HMS Endeavour and sent on an expedition to observe the planet Venus pass in front of the Sun. However, the real reason he was sent was to find the ‘Great Southern Continent’ now known as Australia.

1770 Crew members on-board HMS Endeavour first spotted Australia on April 19 th 1770. Captain Cook then claimed Australia for Great Britain on April 28 th 1770 and he called it ‘New South Wales’, finding lots of new and exciting things including the Kangaroo. 1771 Captain James Cook returns home to England to present and explain his discoveries of Australia. 1779 Captain James Cook is killed in Hawaii during an argument with a native tribe. The native tribe eat his heart and burn his skin. Once his body is returned to his ship his crew bury his body at sea.

1784 The British prison populations are overcrowded so plans are created to ship convicts to the newly discovered land of Australia. 1787 The first fleet of ships carrying convicts leave England to sail to Australia. There are 11 small ships carrying around 750 convicts including 17 child convicts. 1860 By 1860 there are six British colonies in Australia with laws made up by the British Parliament.

1868 The last consignment of convicts arrived in Australia ending the transportation system which had shipped 160, 000 convicts over the years. 1901 The Commonwealth of Australia is created. 1908 Canberra is selected to become Australia's capital city.