Halifax Bay

Halifax Bay entered James Cook's journal during the Endeavour's northward voyage along the Australian coast in June 1770. The bay he described formed part of a coast already inhabited and watched by Aboriginal people. On 8 June, as the ship passed islands off the northern end of the waters he called Halifax Bay, Cook recorded people gathered on a nearby island looking towards the vessel.

His account also shows the care required in navigating this coast. The Endeavour passed through a channel between the outer islands and those nearer shore, and soundings during the day's sailing ranged from seven to sixteen fathoms. Cook identified Dunk Island as the bay's northern boundary in his contemporary description. Islands, narrow passages and measured depths therefore accompanied the European charting of a sea landscape whose inhabitants were present throughout the encounter.