James Cook came ashore at Botany Bay on Australia's east coast

On April 29, 1770, the HMB Endeavour, commanded by Lieutenant (later Captain) James Cook, anchored in the bay Cook would name Botany Bay for the wealth of new plants his naturalists collected there. It was the first British landing on the eastern coast of Australia — though, of course, hardly the first human arrival.

The land was already home to the Gweagal people of the Dharawal nation, who had tracked the strange ship for days using smoke signals before it came ashore. Two warriors met the boats at the water’s edge and tried to wave the newcomers off; the encounter turned tense and shots were fired.

From the Gweagal shore, it was not a discovery at all — it was an intrusion.

Cook’s party stayed roughly eight days, charting the bay before sailing north up some 3,200 km of coastline. His later report helped persuade Britain to plant a penal colony at nearby Sydney in 1788, with consequences that still echo across the continent.