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This $5 dollar silver proof coin bears the image of Captain James Cook and is one coin out of a 5 piece set. "The Explorers" is the title of one of the Masterpieces in Silver proof coin sets, which was released in two parts in 1993 and 1994. Each of the two parts contains five coins, which commemorate the explorations done throughout Australia by various explorers. The other 9 coins that make up the complete set each feature the image of one important explorer, with the exception of one which bears the faces of three men Lawson, Blaxland and Wentworth.
This coin commemorating James Cook is taken from the first half of the "The Explorers" set released in 1993, from which
the remaining four coins commemorate the explorations carried out by Lawson, Blaxland and Wentworth, mentioned above, Tasman,
Flinders and of course the first explorers of the continent, the Aborigines. The five coins that make up the second half,
released in 1994 commemorate explorers Sturt, Leichhardt, McDouall-Stuart, Forrest and Mawson. The five coins that make up
the second half, released in 1994 commemorate explorers Sturt, Leichhardt, McDouall-Stuart, Forrest and Mawson. The
James Cook grew up in England and was enrolled in the Royal Navy. There he learned to survey and navigate the water and quickly began to work his way up through the ranks. An expedition to observe a rare sighting of the planet Venus passing in front of the sun was combined with a slightly more secretive expedition to search for a southern continent, of which there had been rumours. His vessel, named Endeavour reached New Zealand before continuing to find and sale along the length of the East Coast of Australia in 1770. This was the first time a European had reached this point and Cook named the land New South Wales and claimed it as British territory. From this point British settlers began to arrive on the continent and further exploration entailed. Cook is credited for changing the perceptions of the Western World regarding world geography through his extensive and highly accurate mapping. (Australian Dictionary of Biography, 2013)
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