Cape Byron Lighthouse Heritage Management Plan 2020
Early European historyEarly European history
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Early European history
Captain Cook is believed to have been the first European to sight, record and name Cape Byron during his travels along what would become the New South Wales coast in mid-May 1770. Naming the Cape after fellow circumnavigator Vice-Admiral John Byron (1723–1786), it was also on this same day that Cook observed people walking along a beach believed to be just south of Byron 5.
The region appeared to forgo further European interaction until 1828 when the Rainbow docked in Byron and the ship’s master, William Johns, charted the bay. This remains the earliest known landing at Byron Bay 6.