Home » Media Library » photos » Opening of James Cook Monument, 1913

Opening of James Cook Monument, 1913

Opening of James Cook Monument, 1913

Cook monument

Click on thumbnail to see a larger version of this image

Robert McNab, historian and minister of lands in the Liberal government, was closely associated with the development of the Ship Cove monument in Queen Charlotte Sound. This is where Captain James Cook spent most time in New Zealand throughout his voyages.

An estimated crowd of 2000 attended the unveiling of monument was on 11 February 1913. It can still be seen on the Queen Charlotte Walkway. The reserve pre-dates the Scenery Preservation Act and was established in 1896. The area remains of continuing interest to historians and anthropologists.

Images of the monument today:

James Cook monument James Cook monument James Cook monument James Cook monument

A plaque on the monument reads: 'To this Cove Captain Cook made five visits while navigating the globe. On this beach he erected tents for his invalided sailors and from this stream he watered his vessels'. Another lists his visits on the Endeavour: 1770 and the Resolution: 1773 (twice), 1774 and 1777.

Credit:

Historic image: Appendix to the journals of the House of Representatives 1913, C-6

Modern images: Francis Vallance, 2011

Bookmark/Search this post with:
How to cite this page: 'Opening of James Cook Monument, 1913', URL: http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/media/photo/opening-of-cook-monument, (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 17-Nov-2011

Community contributions

admin
16 Nov 2011
Hi Andrew
Thanks for your post. The original image appears in the Appendicies to the Journals of the House of Representatives, 1913, C6 - this should be held in most major NZ libraries
I've just rescanned it at a larger size, click on the thumbnail below the main image to see this.
When you zoom right in you can see the photographer - here is a detail of how he looks:


Regards, Jamie Mackay
Andrew Vinsen
15 Nov 2011
Hi,
My great uncle, J.S. (Vaney) Vinsen was sent from Wellington to film the unveiling of this monument. He was a photographer and cinematographer.
I'm currently researching a biography on him.
An article entry regarding this and the subsequent showing of the film at Kings Theatre in Wellington can be found here:
http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=EP19130218.2.8&e=-------10--1----0--
I'm wondering if it is possible to view the original photo?... to see if a cameraman is present.
Thank you for your help, it is much appreciated.
warm regards,
Andrew Vinsen
Liam Daly
07 Apr 2011
The marble stone tablets on each of the four sides of the Cook Monument at Ship Cove were cut by my Grandfather a Wellington Monumental Mason: Walter James Helyer Tonks. The Ship Cove preservation society approached my Grandfather, who was a well known monumental mason and he cut the lettering on the marble stone tablets and beat the lead into the lettering as was the fashion in those days.

What do you know?

Can you tell us more about the information on this page?
Perhaps you have a related experience you would like to share?

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.

Comments will be reviewed prior to posting. Not all comments posted. Tell me more...

© Crown Copyright. All text is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 New Zealand Licence. Commercial re-use may be allowed on request. All non-text content is subject to specific conditions.
This site is produced by the History Group of the New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Meet the NZHistory.net.nz team