Note 24 — Chapter XX · THE GREAT BARRIER REEF

There has been considerable difference of opinion among writers on the early history of Australia, as to whether Captain Cook did or did not name the whole of this district New South Wales. It is true that the name New South Wales does not appear in Cook’s journals, and Bladen, editor of the “Historical Record of New South Wales,” says that “the name appears to have originated with Hawkesworth,” who edited “Cook’s Voyages.” Kitson, however, cites a letter written by Cook, 1771 (“Life of Cook,” p. 149), in which the words occur, “The east coast of New Holland, or what I call ‘New South Wales.’” Hawkesworth therefore did obtain the name from Cook.