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Primary sourceDiary entry1768–1771

The Endeavour Journal of Joseph Banks

Joseph Banks · 1768–1771

Joseph Banks's journal from the Endeavour voyage, recording Tahiti, New Zealand and Botany Bay alongside Cook's own account.

Banks sailed with Cook on the Endeavour, and his journal offers a parallel account of the voyage Cook commanded.

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Dark blue cloth book cover with a white University of Toronto library barcode label on the spine edge, showing barcode number 31761011692563. The cover is worn with faint light marks near the top left.
Joseph Banks, Endeavour journal, 1768–1771. State Library of New South Wales.

About this source

What it is

This is a journal kept by the naturalist Joseph Banks during the 1768–1771 voyage of HMS Endeavour, commanded by James Cook. It is now held by the State Library of New South Wales.

Why it matters

While Cook recorded navigation and ship's business, Banks wrote about plants, animals, and the peoples the expedition encountered, offering a scientific and social view of the same voyage. Together, the two accounts show how exploration combined naval command with scientific curiosity, and how different observers on the same ship saw very different things.

Look closer

  • How might Banks's perspective as a scientist differ from Cook's as a ship's commander?
  • What details does Banks include that a ship's log would not record?
  • Why is it useful for historians to have more than one account of the same voyage?

This diary entry is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of James Cook on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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