‘The decision to colonise New South Wales cannot be isolated from the strategic imperatives of the world’s first truly global struggle, the Seven Years’ War (1757-63′. Jeffrey Grey, A Military History of Australia, Third Ed. Cambridge University Press, 2008
1788: It is imperative Britain’s invasion of New Holland in 1788 be seen in context of the Seven Years’ War and Prime Minister [Elder] Pitt’s ‘war strategy’,
‘Pitt’s war strategy set the pattern of colonisation for the next one hundred years’. Vanessa Collingridge, Captain Cook, Ebury Press, 2003.
THE BACK STORY
‘Once more the discoveries of Captain Cook were influencing the direction of Britain’s overseas expansion…During period 1763 and 1793 the character of the Second British Empire was being formed…the empire of commerce in the Indian and Pacific Oceans’. Vincent T. Harlow, Founding of the Second British Empire 1763-1793, Vol.2 Longmans, 1964
Lieutenant James Cook RN, during the North American theatre of the Seven Years’ War, distinguished himself as a talented mathematician, innotative navigator and exceptional map-maker.
Canada was where Cook played his first part in world affairs.
1758 – Louisberg, Canada: It had been Cook’s intention as crew of HMS Pembroke to take part in the capture of Louisberg, but so badly damaged was the ship during its stormy passage from England to Canada it failed to reach the battle zone.
1758 – Canada, Nova Scotia: Halifax, the Royal Navy’s principal base in Canada, proved an ideal spot from where to mount an land attack on Quebec.
Canada – Quebec: Quebec was to be Prime Minister Pitt’s main amphibious assault against French forces defending France’s North American colonies.