April  – Captain James Cook claims possession of the whole east coast of Australia for the British Crown on Possession Island, a small island in the Torres Strait Islands. Many history classes and books start teaching Australian history from this point on.

July  – The Guugu Yimithirr people and Captain James Cook clash over a dozen sea turtles that Cook’s party caught for food near present-day Cooktown. Later, an Elder approaches Cook, offering a broken spear as a gesture of reconciliation and the two parties settle their dispute. The National Trust of Australia nominated the event as Australia’s first documented act of reconciliation. Because the area where the two parties met is rocky it is now known as Reconciliation Rocks.