jan 2, 1770 - 1770: Captain James Cook sailed his ship

Description:

the Endeavor, into Botany Bay on Australia's east coast, claiming the land in the name of the British crown. One of his crew was an Italian seaman named Antonio Ponto, so the first Italian to set foot on Australian soil did so at the very beginning of the colony's 'official' history.

But he was not the first Italian to actually see Australia. In 1520, Ferdinand Magellan's voyage to the Pacific Ocean included a number of Italian crewmen. One, Antonio Pigafetta, recorded the epic journey in his log. Later, in 1789, Alessandro Malaspina led a scientific voyage to the South Pacific on behalf of the Spanish crown. He dropped anchor in 1793 at the British colony at Port Jackson, where two of the Italian artists on board captured the harsh Australian landscape.