Cooktown

Cooktown, a port (dating from 1873) in the north of Queensland, on the Endeavour River, 1050 miles NNW. of Brisbane, and 122 by rail NW. of the Palmer gold-field. There are handsome public buildings and a monument (1889) to Captain Cook, who beached his ship, the Endeavour, here in 1770. Near there are gold-diggings and tin-mines, pearl-fisheries, and fisheries of trepang. Pop. (1891) 2482; at one time it was 10,000, three-fifths of them Chinese.