[1] Starting in the 1860s, the Australia Patriotic Association held a public appeal for donations to erect a "double life-size bronze and granite" statue of Cook in Sydney's Hyde Park.

[2] Following the ceremony, however, the pedestal remained empty for nine years due to difficulties in raising additional funds; the Cook Statue Committee then asked the premier of New South Wales for assistance.

[2] Once Parliament voted to fund completion of the monument, Thomas Woolner, a fellow of the Royal Academy in London who had once lived in Australia, was commissioned for the sculpture.

[2] In a letter to Woolner dated 26 September 1874, Colonial Secretary Sir Henry Parkes requested the prolific sculptor send a design for the statue along with size and material specifications and a probable timeframe for its creation.

[1] The granite base of the statue was transported from a quarry in Moruya, New South Wales, initially by being rolled along a wooden-railed bush tram line, covering six miles and taking three days.

His Excellency the Governor, Sir Hercules Robinson, unveiled the statue; and; in doing so, made a speech, in which he gave a narrative of Cook's life, and characterised him as a humane, just, and God-fearing man.

[5] An electric light placed atop the post office was exhibited on the same night, illuminating the city and the face of Cook's statue, and "sufficient to enable one to read a newspaper two miles away.

[6] In The Captain Cook Myth, author Jillian Robertson argues that the inscription stating that the statue had been "erected by public subscription assisted by a grant from the New South Wales Government" is also misleading.

1908" Councillor Frank Sartor  Lord Mayor Sydney City Council  1994 Born at Marton in Yorkshire 1728 Discovered this territory 1770 Killed at Owhyee 1779