One of many photographs of statues of Captain James Cook take by Jenny.
Jenny’s unusual hobby…
The year 2020 marks the 250th Anniversary of the voyage along the East Coast of Australia in 1770 of the Endeavour with Captain James Cook.
This Bundaberg woman has the most usable hobby of travelling around the world and taking photos of Capt. Cook statues.
Eat up your sauerkraut! Captain James Cook was known for taking excellent care of his crew and punishments were few. But the one thing certain to incur his wrath was if a sailor didn’t finish every scrap of sauerkraut on his plate!
“For the Vitamin C” explained self-confessed Captain Cook devotee and researcher, Jenny Thomson of Bargara.
“My bucket list is to photograph every Captain Cook statue in the world.” (she already has 22 of the known 26 in various, and at times, unexpected locations).
Born in Staffordshire England, Jenny was nine when her family emigrated to what was then Southern Rhodesia.
Moving with husband Robert from Zimbabwe in the late 80s, a visit to nearby Town Of 1770 sparked an overwhelming interest and admiration in the explorer and founder of the East Coast of Australia (as well as the restoration of his memorial cairn monument at Round Hill).
“Cook’s memorial cairn at Round Hill looked a bit downtrodden with the surrounding area badly needing work,” said Jenny. “Robert, then a Senior Ranger with Queensland Parks and Wildlife organised its restoration and general improvements befitting such a courageous and gifted voyager.”
So far Jenny has photos of 22 of the known 26 statues of her hero in locations including Anchorage Alaska, New Zealand, Hawaii (where Cook was killed aged 51) Canada, Cooktown, Melbourne, Sydney, Bendigo, and Yorkshire (in his birthplace Marton, at his school in Ayton and Whitby).
Newfoundland, here we come
The remaining four statues that have so far eluded Jenny’s camera include two in storage, one in a private Melbourne garden and in Newfoundland where she and Robert will visit in the near future.
“I admire Cook’s expertise as an explorer, navigator, cartographer and Captain, plus his seaman skills in the Royal Navy. As an hydrographer he learned from Captain Samuel Holland in Newfoundland in 1758 where he mapped the coastline.”