Endeavour River National Park

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Endeavour River National Park
Replica of HM Bark Endeavour in the Endeavour River, Endeavour River National Park in the background
IUCN category = II
Coordinates = 15°26′31″S, 145°13′03″E
Nearest town or city = Cooktown
Area = 21.7 km²
Established = First in 1975, expanded and newly gazetted 24 November 2006^[1]
Managing Authorities = Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service
Official Site = Endeavour River National Park

Endeavour River National Park (1561 kilometres northwest of Brisbane) is a Queensland National Park gazetted to protect and preserve some of the natural and cultural resources in and around the mouth of the Endeavour River, immediately north of the small town of Cooktown.

It is within the area of this National Park that back in 1770 naturalists Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander first collected early European specimens of local 'Australian' flora^[2]; Sydney Parkinson first illustrated local Australian Aborigiinal peoples encountered, plus flora collected and fauna seen; and kangaroos were first given their modern English name (borrowing from the local Guugu Yimithirr language).

The HM Bark Endeavour, under the command of Lt James Cook, had struck reefs and been pulled ashore for repairs along the river locally known within Guugu Yimithirr as Wabalumbaal, possibly near the present site of Cooktown. The river was renamed on James Cook's charts as the Endeavour River, after the HM Bark Endeavour, and the current National Park appears, in turn, to be named after the river (although this name is not a formally registered place name)^[1].

The present National Park contains coastal dunes, freshwater wetlands, mangrove forests, heathlands, tropical woodlands and the estuary plus parts of the Endeavour River catchment. It is mostly accessible by boat only, and still contains flora and fauna species of the kind collected and illustrated back in 1770^[2].