Rockingham Bay

Place in Queensland, Australia

18°08′42″S 146°04′51″E / 18.1451°S 146.0808°E / -18.1451; 146.0808Location

150 km (93 mi) S of Cairns
1,250 km (777 mi) NW of Brisbane

RegionFar North Queensland

Rockingham Bay is a bay in Far North Queensland, Australia.

The bay opens onto the Coral Sea, part of the South Pacific Ocean. Adjacent to the bay is the Girramay National Park, south of which is the town of Cardwell. Goold Island is a small island in the bay, and south of this is Hinchinbrook Island, a larger island.^[1]^[2]

Rockingham Bay was one of the Australian places named by James Cook during his voyage in HMS Endeavour northwards along the east coast in 1770; he named it on Friday 8 June 1770.^[3]

The bay was significant in the exploration of the Cape York peninsula by Edmund Kennedy in 1848. He was landed here with a group of twelve men, to begin the journey north. On the way, Kennedy left eight members of the expedition at Weymouth Bay, intending to pick them up later on the return by sea. However Kennedy and all but one member died later during the journey; all but two of the eight members left at Weymouth Bay died before they were relieved.^[4]

References

^ Rockingham Bay, Queensland Map www.geodata.us, accessed 1 Oct 2014.
^ Map of Rockingham Bay, QLD bonzle.com, accessed 1 Oct 2014.
^ The First Voyage (1768-1771) Captain Cook Society, accessed 1 Oct 2014.
^ "History of Australia 1606 to 1876". History of Australia Online. Archived from the original on 20 August 2018. Retrieved 2 July 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)