Possession Island
Located in the Endeavour Strait 17 kilometres south-west of Cape York Peninsula's northern tip and approximately 940 kilometres north-west of Cairns in Kaurareg and Anggamudi country, Possession Island (Kalaw Lagaw Ya: Bedanug or Bedhan Lag) is reputedly the location where James Cook claimed possession of Australia's east coast for George III on 22 August 1770.
A recent work by Margaret Cameron-Ash suggests the event was pencilled into Cook's Journal after the Endeavour arrived in Batavia to forestall a possible French claim to the coast he had just passed. Although there were no details of any discoveries he may have made, Louis-Antoine de Bougainville had passed through Batavia after his voyage to the South Pacific and may have landed on Australia's east coast en route.
In the second half of the 19th century, the island became a base for vessels collecting beche-de-mer and tortoiseshell from Torres Strait.
After gold was discovered on the island in 1896, the Possession Island Gold and Mineral Field produced 155.42 kilograms of gold from 7245 tonnes of ore between 1897 and 1905. Attempts to reopen the workings in 1919 and 1934–35 were unsuccessful.
Links to add:
Margaret Cameron-Ash
HMB Endeavour
beche-de-mer
tortoiseshell
Possession Island Gold and Mineral Field
