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Captain Cook's Secret Mission | Tony Robinson's Time Travels
Apr 4, 2025
In the 18th century, Captain James Cook undertook a secret state mission given to him by King George II himself. Almost 200 years later, secret secrets continued to wreak havoc in the height of the Cold War, and many were often caught in the crossfire!
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In 1769, this vast ocean was the scene of a covert mission
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that would determine the fate of empires. And it all began with a once-in-a-generation celestial event
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At that time, the planet Venus was due to make a rare transit across the sun
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English astronomers wanted to observe it from the South Pacific. And that gave King George III of England an idea
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For centuries, the superpowers of Europe had been battling for colonial supremacy
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spreading out across the globe towards Asia. A bit like today, access to the Chinese market was highly prized in the 18th century
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And the idea that the unknown land to the south could be a strategic base in the region
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was catching on. Britain now had an excuse to pursue her imperial ambitions
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in the South Pacific, and the well-heeled scientists of the Royal Society
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had the financial clout to back it. 39-year-old Lieutenant James Cook was charged with leading the expedition
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Already a brilliant cartographer and navigator, Cook was the obvious choice to take the scientists to Tahiti
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The Navy board purchased a little second-hand coal transport called the Earl of Pembroke
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Before handing her to Cook, they refitted her and renamed her the Endeavour
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Cook, the ever-stoic Yorkshireman, never complained about his second-hand coal ship, nor having to share his cabin with a bunch of scientists and their gear
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It must have been really crowded on board ship. There were 94 people, including the captain, the crew
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the scientists, the artists, the one-armed cook, and last but by no means least, the lucky goat
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who was a mascot and considered lucky because she'd already sailed round the globe once, hadn't you
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In fact, she became as celebrated as any of the other members of the endeavour
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She was given a pension by the British government. Not only that, but she was voted a member of the Royal Society
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not only the first goat, but also the first female ever to be given that award
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by such an august body of scientists. What a lucky girl you were
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Cook sailed the endeavour in the opposite direction to most previous explorers of the Southern Seas
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who clung to the west coast of Africa before heading eastward across the Indian Ocean
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Instead Cook took the Magellan route across the Atlantic Ocean down the east coast of South America around Cape Horn and out into the vast Pacific to locate the tiny island of Tahiti
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It took almost eight months to reach it. This was never going to be a jolly little jaunt across the pond
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It was dangerous, cutting-edge science through uncharted waters, as big a deal as a moon landing today
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But what no-one apart from the Navy Board knew, was that there was another very secret agenda
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which wouldn't be revealed until the ship was on the other side of the world
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You are to proceed in order to make discovery of the continent or land of great extent
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There, with the consent of the natives, you will take possession for His Majesty
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by setting up proper marks and inscriptions as first discoverers and possessors
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Tom, what do you think would have been going through Cook's mind when he set off? Well, there was the great belief that there had to be a great south land
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to balance the continents of the northern hemisphere, otherwise the world would dip
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And Cook's objective was to find this great south land. So, in a way, part of it's adventure, part of it's this idea
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that there might be some massive commercial bonus, but there's also science and intellectual inquiry
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Yes, and you don't know what bonus you're going to get. Cook began his quest for the great southern land
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by heading across the Pacific. First, he charted and claimed New Zealand for the crown
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Then, on the evening of 19 April 1770, Cook knew he was getting close
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Seabirds started to appear. It's as though Cook could smell land ahoy
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And indeed, at 6am the next morning, they found it. They'd bumped into nothing less than an island continent
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Cook had taken 20 months to guide his overloaded little ship to the end of the world
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but they could now lay claim to being the very first Europeans to see the east coast of Australia
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The idea of creating a colony in New Holland took shape, and the legal fiction of Terra Nullius was born
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At that time, the British believed indigenous people only had right to sovereignty over their land
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if they'd changed the landscape through agriculture and building. Cook knew the inhabitants of the Australian East Coast used fire Cook actually called it the continent of smoke
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but they didn't associate fire with agriculture. So the British decided that New Holland was untouched by mankind
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Terra nullius, and theirs to claim. COOK Cook and his crew stepped ashore and proclaimed this strange land for England
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Although that's actually not quite true because he actually proclaimed it for George III
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But that was mission accomplished Cook's secret orders led to the conquering of a continent that would in time bring Britain great wealth
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but it came at enormous expense to the indigenous Australians whose land and way of life was taken from them
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The stories of the victims of state secrets are just as important as those of the victors
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On my next time travel, I'm meeting a casualty of the Cold War
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To find him, I'm going from the 1770s to the 1960s to a place you'd least expect
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I've come to the regional city of Bendigo in Victoria
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to meet a man whose life was changed forever by a chance encounter
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Imagine the scene. It's the summer of 1962 here on Bendigo High Street
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and there's a man pacing up and down and up and down
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and in the curb there is a mini right here. Up and down, he paces up and down
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and eventually he puts his hand on the door, opens it, gets in and starts talking to this man
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Who was this mysterious bloke, Philip, and what was he wanted? He called himself Mr Mac and he said he was an ASIO agent
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Which means what? The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation. And were you aware of that organisation
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Never heard of it. Forget the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Cold War had come to Bendigo
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and ASIO was recruiting new agents. The younger the better, apparently. I was 19
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You were a bit young, weren't you? Young and I, yes, yes. So you went home and told your parents
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Yes. Mr Mac said, well, here's some papers. You're too young to sign them yourself
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The official secrets out of course I had to take him home to my mum and dad for them to sign which they said
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You know you sure you know what you're doing Phil, you know, I to be honest. I said well
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That a no idea Why do you think that you did it Well I think it was out of patriotism because my friends are all off to Vietnam and my number hadn come up
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So it was for Queen and Country? Well, yes, Queen and Country. So now you're a spy
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Who were the people you were spying on? Communists, Tony. What were they like
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They were just ordinary, everyday people, or working class people, between late 50s to early 60s
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So getting on. Getting on him, yeah. It was more than ten years since the Communists
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had had any real political clout, and Philip's targets were its senior citizens
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Who was your minder? Was it Mr Mack? No, I had Mr Mack first, and then I had about six or seven others
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And you had to meet them at secret places? Secret places, always secret places
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What sort of places? Oh, like the bush, down the lake. For two decades, Philip masqueraded as a communist
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The deception cost him his marriage, his friends and his reputation, but Philip's commitment to the cause never wavered
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But then, after 23 years, it's staggering that it was that long
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Yes. One of your minders got in touch with you and said he wanted to meet you at the Shamrock Hotel
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in 1986 philips asio minder summoned him to a lunch on the balcony so you had the meal and a
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bit of small talk then what did he say you're no longer required in the organization and he gave
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you an envelope handed me an envelope and the envelope contained twelve hundred dollars for
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twenty three years service and that was all the money you ever got from them apart from expenses
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That's right. How did you feel then? Oh, well, I was... I felt gutted
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Even to this day, I feel gutted. And they told you that you were never allowed to contact them again
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Exactly right. Did you? I tried once. I rang the field agent and he said to me
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Phil, don't ever ring here again. We're going to change the number
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And the extraordinary thing to me is that it happened right here in Bendigo
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Exactly right. I just hope that this meal has been a bit better than the other one
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Eh, Tony. Nice to meet you. You too. Bye. Bye. Philip's such a gentle and sweet guy
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I didn't have the heart to tell him that in the 1960s I used to hang around with Marxists
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and communists and I was demonstrating against the Vietnam War. In fact, if I'd been living in Bendigo at the time
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it would have been me that Philip would have been spying on
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