Captain Cook Quiz
1. Approximately how many botanical specimens entirely new to science were discovered at Endeavour River?
3 …62 …184…280?
2. Which of the following were not present on the ship when she reached Endeavour River?
Hens…pigs…horses…ducks….dogs…a cow…sheep…a goat?
3. On what clan land of the Guugy Yimithirr tribe did Cook erect his shore settlement?
Gamay…Waymbuurr…Nguymbaarr…Dhiidhaarr?
4. Who was the first to shoot a kangaroo on Australian shores?
James Cook…Sergeant Edgecumbe…John Gore…Joseph Banks?
5. How long did the ship stay in Endeavour River?
1 week…5 weeks…7 weeks…11 weeks?
6. What was peculiar about the area known as ‘Gangarr’ where Cook built his shore settlement?
It had no fresh water…nobody lived there…bloodshed was forbidden…coconut palms were in abundance?
7. How many men were aboard “Endeavour” when the ship reached Endeavour River?
57…87…94…98?
8. What helped to save the ship from sinking after she wrecked an Endeavour Reef?
The Cooktown sea rescue launch…a broken off plug of coral…prayer…Bank’s greyhound?
9. Who did Cook describe as “an old man about 70 or 80 years and more or less drunk every day”?
Himself…Sailmaker John Ravenhill…Surgeon William Munkhouse…Cook’s Clerk Richard Orton?
10. How many dugout canoes did Cook see during his stay in Endeavour River?
1…4…8…11?
11. How many 200 to 300 pound turtles did Cook capture on Turtle Reef?
7…12…22…31?
12. How long did the Guugu Yimithirr Bama wait before making contact with the Europeans?
3 days…6 days…2 weeks…3 weeks?
13. What name did Cook give to the present Mount Cook?
Mount Saunders…Munkhouse Hill…Gores Mount …?
14. Did Cook name Grassy Hill, the hill over the south peninsular of the entrance to Endeavour River?
Yes…No (It was named by George Elphinston Dalrymple in 1873)?
15. What animal was described variously by the 1770 mariners as having “…very small legs, but a long tail … yet the size and shape of a greyhound … with the feet of a goat … upon which it jumps like a hare … or a deer … coloured like a mouse … and appears like a wild dog?
A flying fox…a dingo…a kangaroo…a possum?
16. How many Guugu Yimithirr Bama did Cook encounter at Endeavour River?
7…12…22…37?
17. On how many separate occasions did the Bama have contact with the Europeans?
Once…twice…eight times…eleven times?
18. What is the Guugu Yimithirr name for Endeavour River?
Wahalumbaal birri… Thiigurru (Lizard Island)…Gan-gurru (kangaroos generally)…Yaborego (A place near Cape Flattery and a family name of one of the nine tribesmen introduced by name to Cook in 1770. Yaborego was one of the Walmba malin or ambassadors who negotiated with Cook at their several meetings)?
19. Who on board was described by Cook as “a shrewd, sensible, ingenious man, but proud and obstinate, which often made his situation on board both disagreeable to himself and those about him”?
Astronomer Charles Green…Natural History artist Sydney Parkinson…ship’s Master Robert Molyneaux…Tupia the Tahitian priest?
20. Who described the Guugu Yimithirr bama as follows… “They may appear to some to be the most wretched people upon Earth, but in reality they are far happier than we Europeans”?
Banks…Parkinson…Cook…Phillip Parker King?
21. Did Cook release pigs at Endeavour River whose descendants now invest Cape York?
Yes…No?
22. What did the Guugu Yimithirr do with the medals Cook presented to them at their first meeting?
Threw them away…smoked them to remove any evil magic…melted them down to make spear heads…gave them to their children?
23. Why did the Guugu Yimithirr set fire to the grass surrounding the European settlement?
To cleanse the country…to demonstrate their discontent that Cook would not share his harvest of turtles…to hunt kangaroo…to ‘back burn’ to protect the settlement?
24. Did the Guugu Yimithirr take the opportunity of “pay-back” and slaughter a lost sailor who found himself in their power?
Yes…No ( They directed him back to the ship)?
25. What native food did some Europeans eat that Banks said killed two of their hogs and “violently effected the men who ate them both upwards and downwards”?
Stingray…Cycas media…Burdekin plum…Cluster figs…Topknot pigeon?
26. Cook remained in Endeavour River sixteen day after he was ready to depart, why?
Foul wind prevented his sailing…He wanted to learn more about the Bama…Banks insisted he had more plant collecting to complete…too many of the crew were sick and incapacitated to sail?
27. How old was Cook when he arrived at Endeavour River?
27…32…42…51?
28. Did Cook shoot dead any Guugu Yimithirr when he was at Endeavour River?
Yes…No (He wounded one man with small shot when he set a second fire alight in an attempt to burn the seine and ship’s laundry)?
29. How did Cook reconcile matters with the Bama after their attempt to fire the European settlement?
By returning the spears they had taken from the Bama…by distributing grog among them…by flogging some of his own men for not preventing the incident…by gifting the Bama one of the ship’s boats?
30. How long was it after Cook departed before the next known European set foot at Endeavour River?
18 years…30 years…49 years…102 years? (Phillip Parker King in 1819)