Description:
In Discovery Park, Liverpool, on the corner of Atkinson and Charles streets, It is a sadly neglected milestone showing distances to Sydney and Campbelltown.
It was thought to have been 12 feet high, but it is now almost half its original height. The part eroded inscription is now fixed in the wrong order.
History:
Reputed to be the oldest known monument to Captain Cook in Australia.
In 1854 it was erected on the corner of George and Elizabeth streets in Liverpool. as a tribute to Cook by the Harbourmaster of Sydney, Captain Thomas Watson (1795-1879).
Captain Watson suggested to the Commissioners of the Road Trust that an obelisk be made as a marker to begin a series of mile-stones between Liverpool and Cambelltown. The Commissioners agreed, and on the square part of the monument they had engraved the distances to various towns in the country.
Four times it has been relocated, by 1931 it had been moved to Bigge Park, Liverpool, and it once stood outside the railway station.
In 1970 it was moved to be the centrepiece of Discovery Park, Liverpool, the obelisk had then lost nearly half of its original height.
After years of neglect, it was reported by the Liverpool Leader on 6th February 2017 that it is to be restored and relocated to Bigge Park.
Inscription:
On the top part of the obelisk:
“In memory of Captain Cook RN the celebrated navigator and discoverer of New South Wales.
Born in Marton in Yorkshire October 27 1728; killed at the Sandwich Islands 11th February 1779.”
Also:
“Charles A Fitzroy KCB Governor General Camptelltown XIII Sydney XX”
GPS Coordinates: -33.921664, 150.928046
References:
Endeavour Lines, page 7, no. 62 (Apr. 2014)
Website: www.weekendnotes.com/cooks-obelisk-discovery-park/
Website: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/liverpool-leader/oldest-surviving-stone-monument-to-captain-cook-will-be-restored-and-relocated-after-years-of-neglect/news-story/80472894de6f28e94067437c4ef74515
Website: http://www.pittwateronlinenews.com/captain-watson-and-his-captain-cook-statue.php