They were observing the English bark, HMS Endeavour, and aboard it as master was the legendary explorer and navigator, Captain James Cook, who was in the process of discovering and charting the east coast of Australia. To put this time into perspective in world history, this was some 150 years after the Pilgrims had arrived and settled in America, and only six years before the Declaration of Independence was signed, yet this particular part of planet Earth was not known to exist. The theory that there was a large southern continent in the Pacific had been promoted for centuries but not proven, and in a bid to put an end to the speculation the King of England, George III, commissioned Cook to – among other things – make a thorough search for a possible undiscovered landmass somewhere in the Pacific.
The first Whitsunday cruise
After discovering New Zealand, Cook was sailing to the west aboard Endeavour when, on what he calculated to be Thursday, 19 April, he sighted land.
He named it Point Hicks, and soon it would be realised that it was the south-eastern corner of the ‘Great Southern Land’. From there he turned his ship to starboard and commenced a passage to the north, first anchoring and landing at Botany Bay, 26 kilometres (16 miles) south of where Sydney is located today. He continued to parallel the coast to the north and by the time he reached what are now the Whitsunday Islands, Endeavour had more than 1,200 nautical miles in her wake since land was first sighted.
Cook’s calendar told him it was Sunday, 3 June, 1770 – the day Whit Sunday is celebrated on the Christian calendar – when his ship entered a broad expanse of water which provided an unimpeded passage to the north, so accordingly he named it ‘Whitsunday Passage’. In reality the date was Monday, 4 June, an understandable error when it is realised that Cook, like so many other navigators of the day, had not made the necessary change to the date when Endeavour had earlier crossed the 180th meridian of longitude.
Cook and his crew were amazed by what they were observing – some 150 tropical islands spanning near one degree of latitude and in close proximity to the coast.
Cook blanketed the group with the name Cumberland Isles, but as time passed those islands adjacent to the Whitsunday Passage became more commonly known as ‘The Whitsundays’.
The Ngaro people
As Endeavour continued on her course through the island-studded Whitsunday Passage at a leisurely four knots, Cook embraced the beauty of the region, noting in his log: ‘Everywhere good anchorages, indeed the whole passage is one continued safe harbour.’ He also recorded the presence of the local Aborigines: ‘On one of the islands we discovered with our glasses two men and a woman, and a canoe with an outrigger, which appeared to be larger and of a construction very different from those of bark tied together at the ends, which we had seen upon other parts of the coast.’
Later in the day, when the outline of Endeavour was a fading image on the northern horizon, the Ngaro people returned to their everyday lifestyle; one that would remain unchanged for almost 100 years. The islands and the waters around them had, from time immemorial, provided a bounty of food and ideal opportunities for shelter for these people. In recent decades archaeologists have found evidence that the Ngaro people settled in the region around 8,000 years ago. They have based their theory on the analysis of middens – large piles of discarded shells, bones, charcoal and rocks that are
the remnants of their cooking and meals – which have been found on the islands and nearby mainland. Middens found in Nara Inlet, on Hook Island in the Whitsundays, confirmed Aborigines were there at least 2,500 years ago and revealed a diet of a wide variety of seafood, including small whales, turtles and shellfish. They also consumed some of the fauna, such as marsupials, snakes and lizards, plus birds.
However, once The area began to be settled in 1861, relations between Ngaro and settlers became strained. Bowen's old homes were principally made form hoop pine, sourced from the Whitsundays.
"There was a realisation that these people weren't passing through anymore - but they were actually encroaching upon the resources of aboriginal people. Then we start getting reports of attacks. A number of attacks were made on shipping, a couple of ships were even burnt and people were killed."
"The Native Police then went through there. From 1870 onwards, the traditional way of life that we have recorded archaeologically, was gone."
"The traditional life was so disrupted and people were forcibly removed from their land. A lot of traditional knowledge was dissipated. Aboriginal people continued to live in the Whitsundays, but they were no longer living the life they used to. They were employed by the sawmills on the islands, and there were Ngaro people working for the Nicholsons on Lindeman Island."
"Those contacts, and connections and the descendants of those people still live within this region today - in Proserpine, Mackay and Townsville. They still have stories, dreaming stories and stories related to places and events," says Dr. Barker.
"Their connection to the Whitsundays remains. Their way of life certainly changed, but they remain steadfastly Ngaro and strongly identify with country. They didn't just become extinct or go away. "
The real boom here arrived in the early 1980s with the development of the gateway to the Whitsundays and Great Barrier Reef: Hamilton Island. In the mid-1970s when the high profile Queensland tourism entrepreneur, Keith Williams, was enjoying a cruise through the Whitsundays aboard his large motor yacht, he noticed an island on the port side that he’d not seen before. It was Hamilton Island, and what impressed him most was that it had one of the very few north-facing beaches to be found anywhere on the east coast of Australia. He made some inquiries about the island, and within a very short time he and business associate Bryan Byrt had purchased the grazing lease that gave them ownership of the entire five-square kilometre (two-square mile) island. Sadly, Byrt passed away in 1978, so after that setback Williams abandoned plans for establishing a grazing property on the island, instead deciding to turn it into an exciting tourist destination. He built a commercial airport, harbour and resort from scratch and by the early 1980s he could lay claim to Hamilton Island being Australia’s premier tropical island resort destination.
The Oatley era begins
It was when Keith Williams was in the early stages of the development of his resort that noted Australian winemaker Bob Oatley was cruising through the islands aboard a yacht and just happened to sail past Hamilton Island: ‘I didn’t go ashore, but I could recognise the potential of the island,’ Oatley said. ‘It was the very early days of the development; they were building the airstrip and the harbour at the time, and there was a lot of activity going on. I remember saying “what a great project that is,” never thinking that one day I’d be the owner.’ Bob Oatley and his family purchased Hamilton Island in 2003 and was said to be financially backing the Hamilton Island Yacht Club as the Challenger of Record for the 35th America's Cup.
FridayWe arrived by plane from Brisbane at The Great Barrier Reef airport mid afternoon and were met by folks from our apartment community who had a small van to take us and our luggage to our apartment. ( this was significant as I understood that there were no cars on the island...turns out there are some working vehicles). She explained how our (golf) buggy worked and the Ins and outs of our apartment ( a beautifully appointed and well equipped one at that) and left us to get organized. The view from the balcony was wonderful. We overlook a garden and then the ocean, other islands. Very peaceful.
Joe, Janie and I appointed Jack chief driver since he has the most experiene with golf buggies. We headed toward "town" and stopped at a beachside lunch place for Lunch and a vacation- like drink: that means rum for me! We went the rest of the way to the Main Street and found the general store...the one market on this 5 square mile island. We settled into our place to watch the Olympics ...rooting for the u.s., Canada and Australia.
View from lunch table
As this is another "company town" almost all of the excursions and activities were organized by the Hamilton Island co. We wanted to snorkel in the Great Barrier Reef and do some kayaking around the Whitsundays, and sail....so we made reservations...weather and physical limitations made us cancel our kayaking trip, weather interfered with our sailing and ultimately with our snorkeling as well...turns out they have cyclones in this part of the world and at this time of year....and apparently they just had one recently...so they are careful.Saturday We had a leisurely morning..can you believe I slept past 9:00 am? We took walks, had lunch in town, explored the island and tried to take our kayak trip..so we rove to the top of the island with a consolation bottle of champagne and watched the sun go down....
made dinner at home and watched more Olympics.
SundayRained all day so we relaxed, read and hung out....something we all needed.
Monday After a relaxing day of rain, we looked forward to a sail on a 32' catamaran that was to be an "adrenaline rush". Well the winds were 22-28 knots so they wouldn't let us go out...company policy..so much for adrenaline! So we went for walks, etc and swimming on a tidal beach ( I.e. We walked out about 1/3 mile before the water got above our knees). I had fun taking pictures of tidal life.
At 1:00 we found out we could take the sail and had to be at the dock in 30 minutes...What fun to be back on a catamaran. When we got out on the trapeze it reminded me of sailing/ racing on Skip's class d catamarans, the Beowulfs. Of course the captain, Keith, knew of Skip and the legends about those boats and their speed. I found it more relaxing...like being in a hammock, rather than a rush...but that's because we probably did only 18-20 knots speed at most. 
Keith told us about Oatley who is now in his 80s and still racing in Sydney harbor...not so much ocean racing. And that his kids and grand kids race as well. They are now developing the island across from us, Dent island, which has a golf course and will have a very small hotel and some homes in the near future. He is back in the wine business ( which he had sold a dozen years ago for over a billion dollars) and his family is part of the business....
We went back up to Lone tree hill to watch the sunset...wasn't spectacular....Made a wonderful pasta dinner with Joe as chief chef....and watched Finding Nemo" in preparation for our tip tomorrow to the Great Barrier Reef.
Tuesdaywhat we all hoped to do by coming to Hamilton Island was to snorkel in the Great Barrier Reef: one of the 7 wonders of the world. Hamilton IIsland sits at the Southern end of the reef. we had read about .....island which is in the outer reef and this is what we hoped to dive. The weather, again, being the biggestt determinate of our future. SO...we were delighted when we woke up to a beautiful morning and got ready for an 8:15 arrival tiime at the docks. 
When we got there we found that the wind was blowing hard at the outer reef, the swells were too high and the chop would be too great for snorkeling and diving. So we would head for the North End of the Whitsundays where we would dive in severeal locations around Hook Island and Hayman Island. while we were disappointed, we were assured that the experience would be better since there is more live coral here and less damage fom the recent cyclone and the same fish and turtles, etc. Some of thepassengers deecided to get off of the boat since it isn't what they hoped for. About 30 of us continued for our adventure. 
Video of the electronic chart of our path
The plan was to go to Hook Island at Luncheon Harbor then head over toward Hayman Island where we would anchor, have lunch and then proceed to another dive spot for a second dive.the captain commented on the hundreds of Species of fish and dozens of types of Coral, (more soft coral) that we would have the opportunity to see at our initiial location: we were excited!
We suited up in "stinger suits" since there are a pretty deadly type of jelly fish in the area and it wasnice for although the water was pretty warm, it was still a bit of a shock when we got in and this provded a bit of a buffer.
The "bottom line" (if you will forgive the pun) was exquisite beauty. Swimming among schools of fishwho didn't seem at all perturbed about our preseence. a bouquet of corals of all kinds of colors and shapes that were simply spectacular and meeting quite a large Maori wrasses and his harem of girlfriends head on (he came over to the dinghy while I was gettting into the water and I landeed right on him!) and experiencing the calm and quiet of the underwater world. Quite humbling. It was so frustrating not having an under water camera. I borrowed a few photos from a gal swimming near by. To name a few, we saw: Surf parrot fish; Bat fish; Maori Wrasses and Sargent majors.
Fusilier (yellow tail) 
Some of the locations we had to ourselves; one got a little too congested for my liking. but we all agreed that what we saw was exceptional and quite a thrill.
The ride home took us past lovely islands (there are 74 islands in the whitsundays--1000 in all the Great Barrier Reef-only a few are inhabited....)
Then we came back into the harbor, past the Hamilton Island "Yacht Club" where we were celebrating Joe's birthday and our last night together:
The yacht club served an exquisite dinner with unusual combinations like Scallops with Baby leeks, sweet corn, chorizo and chicken wings....and a Great Barrier Reef fish, red emperor which was light and sweet.
What a magnificent trip! I love the birds and the fish. Amazingly beautiful. What a treat to witness all that you have. Beautiful water, islands, all of it. It may be hard to come home . . .
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