COOKTOWN, a seaport of Banks county, Queensland, Aus tralia, opposite a gap in the eastern cordillera at the mouth of the Endeavour river, about 1,osom. N.N.W. of Brisbane. In 177o Captain Cook here beached his ship the "Endeavour," to repair the damage caused by striking a reef near the estuary. Cook town became a municipality in 1876.
It is visited by ocean steamers and is the centre of a beche de-mer and pearl fishery. Tin and gold are mined and coffee and rice are -grown. Cooktown is the port of the Palmer goldfields. A railway runs to Laura on the goldfield. It is the chief port of , Queensland for the New Guinea trade; and is also the seat of a Roman Catholic vicariate whose bishop has jurisdiction over Queensland north of lat. i8° 50'.