Kōrero: European discovery of New Zealand

Cook anchored at Cook’s Cove (now called Ship Cove) in Queen Charlotte Sound during each of his three visits to New Zealand. From a high point near the anchorage he discovered the strait that now bears his name. John Webber, the artist on Cook’s third voyage, sketched the cove and then painted the scene on his return to England in 1788. The painting romanticises the landscape, but the light and vegetation are recognisably New Zealand’s.