Description:
A white stone column, approximately 1.5 metres high, supporting a white stone sphere, and sitting on a six-pointed navigational star. The whole raised on a hexagonal plinth.
History:
In 1901 the Royal Society and the Royal Geographical Society placed a plaque on the monument which they claimed had been erected by Captain James Cook to commemorate the Transit of Venus.
In 1978 this monument was described as “ugly and banal”.
In 2009 this monument was fenced by iron railings on the hexagonal plinth, but no longer had the original 1901 plaque on it. It was hoped that a new plaque would be in place for the next Transit of Venus due in 2012.
By 2011 a new plaque was installed, a joint venture between the Captain Cook Society and the Government of French Polynesia. The iron railings had been removed.
Inscription:
On the plaque at the base of the column, in French and English:
Le Peuple de Tahiti a consiruii ce memorial
en I’honneur du Capitaine JAMES COOK RN.
venu observer ici le transit de Venus
- le 3 Juin 1769 lors de son premier voyage
dans le Pacifique, et qui a nomme ce site
Pointe Venus.
Il est revenue ici lors de ses deux aufres voyages.
Erige en 1901, sur proposition de la Société
Royale et, la Societe Geographique Royale.
Restauré en 2011 par le gouvernement de
la Polynesie Francaise sur proposition de la
Societe Capitaine Cook.
◊
The People of Tahiti built this memorial to
Captain JAMES COOK RN., who observed the
Transit of Venus near this site on 3rd June 1769
during his first Pacific voyage, and gave the name
Point Venus.
He returned here on his following two voyages.
Erected 1901, proposed by the Royal Society and
the Royal Geographical Society…
Restored 2011 by the Government of French
Polynesia at the suggestion of the Captain Cook
Society.
GPS Coordinates: -17.495046, -149.494298
References:
Cook’s Log, page 740, vol. 13, no. 3 (1990)
Cook’s Log, page 10, vol. 34, no. 3 (2011)
Cook’s Log, page 36, vol. 35, no. 1 (2012)
Cook’s Log, page 29, vol. 35, no. 3 (2012)
Cook’s Log, page 15, vol. 39, no. 1 (2016)
Cook’s Log, page 24, vol. 39, no. 4 (2016)
Endeavour Lines, page 8, no. 53 (Oct 2009)
Image gallery (click to enlarge)