<P> The voyage was commissioned by King George III and commanded by Lieutenant James Cook , a junior naval officer with good skills in cartography and mathematics . Departing from Plymouth - Dock ( Devonport ) in August 1768 , the expedition crossed the Atlantic , rounded Cape Horn and reached Tahiti in time to observe the transit of Venus . Cook then set sail into the largely uncharted ocean to the south , stopping at the Pacific islands of Huahine , Borabora and Raiatea to claim them for Great Britain , and unsuccessfully attempting to land at Rurutu . In September 1769 the expedition reached New Zealand , being the second Europeans to visit there , following the first European discovery by Abel Tasman 127 years earlier . Cook and his crew spent the following six months charting the New Zealand coast , before resuming their voyage westward across open sea . In April 1770 they became the first Europeans to reach the east coast of Australia , making landfall at Point Hicks , and then proceeding to Botany Bay . </P>
<P> The voyage was commissioned by King George III and commanded by Lieutenant James Cook , a junior naval officer with good skills in cartography and mathematics . Departing from Plymouth - Dock ( Devonport ) in August 1768 , the expedition crossed the Atlantic , rounded Cape Horn and reached Tahiti in time to observe the transit of Venus . Cook then set sail into the largely uncharted ocean to the south , stopping at the Pacific islands of Huahine , Borabora and Raiatea to claim them for Great Britain , and unsuccessfully attempting to land at Rurutu . In September 1769 the expedition reached New Zealand , being the second Europeans to visit there , following the first European discovery by Abel Tasman 127 years earlier . Cook and his crew spent the following six months charting the New Zealand coast , before resuming their voyage westward across open sea . In April 1770 they became the first Europeans to reach the east coast of Australia , making landfall at Point Hicks , and then proceeding to Botany Bay . </P>
who was discovered first australia or new zealand
who was discovered first australia or new zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand