James Cook and The Art of Exploration

Artworks that resulted from Cook's voyages.

In this talk Graeme Lay, historian and author of six books relating to the life of Captain James Cook, will concentrate on the legacy of the artworks that resulted from Cook’s voyages, the paintings and drawings of artists such as Sydney Parkinson, Tupaia, William Hodges and John Webber.

Tuesday, 8 October 2019 marks the very day, 250 years ago, that James Cook’s party first set foot on New Zealand soil. The location was the banks of the Turanganui River, near today’s Gisborne city.
A Friends of the Turnbull Library event.

About the speaker
Graeme Lay was born in Foxton and grew up in coastal Taranaki, which imbued him with a lifelong love of the sea. He graduated from Victoria University in 1967 and since 1972 has lived in the maritime suburb of Devonport, on Auckland’s North Shore.

He has published collections of short stories and travel writing, novels for adults and young adults, and non-fiction works. Graeme Lay has written six books based on the life of James Cook, including the best-selling novel trilogy 'The Secret Life of James Cook', 'James Cook’s New World' and 'James Cook’s Lost World' (HarperCollins).

Images: “A view of the North side of the entrance into Poverty Bay & Morai Island in New Zealand” [1769} by Sydney Parkinson (1745?-1771). Plate XIV from 'A journal of a voyage to the South Seas, in his Majesty's ship the Endeavour' by Sydney Parkinson, printed for Charles Dilly in the Poultry and James Phillips in George-Yard Lombard-Street MDCCLXXXIV [London, 1784]] Ref: PUBL-0037-14. Alexander Turnbull Library.