The Cumberland Islands form a group of 70 islands at 20°34′S 149°08′E / 20.567°S 149.133°E / -20.567; 149.133 on the Great Barrier Reef, off the coast of Mackay in Queensland, Australia.
[1] In 1770 James Cook (then a lieutenant in the Royal Navy) in HMS Endeavour sailed past the coast off what is now the city of Mackay.
After travelling north for a further two days, in his journal for Monday 4 June he recorded that he named the body of water through which he sailed Whitsunday's Passage "… as it was discovered on the day the Church commemorates that Festival" and called the islands in the area "Cumberland Isles in honour of His Royal Highness the Duke of Cumberland" (Henry Frederick, the brother of His Majesty King George III of Great Britain).
More detailed charts by those following Cook showed likewise.
This North Queensland geography article is a stub.