Cooktown Museum

Cooktown Museum is a history museum housed in the heritage-listed former St Mary's Convent at 50 Helen Street, Cooktown in Far North Queensland. It documents James Cook's 1770 landing and 48-day stay on the Endeavour River for repairs, the Guugu Yimithirr people, the Palmer River gold rush and Chinese heritage. Notable for its collection of Endeavour relics, Indigenous cultural material and convent architecture.

Visitors can expect a heritage convent building with two floors of curated galleries. Ground floor displays focus on James Cook's voyage, the Endeavour's beaching and repair, and contact with Guugu Yimithirr people, including an original anchor and cannon. Upper floors cover Cooktown's gold rush era, Chinese community, natural history, and local social history. Exhibits include artefacts, photographs, documents, and interpretive panels in a central town location near the Endeavour River.

The building was constructed in 1888-1889 as St Mary's Convent for the Sisters of Mercy. In 1970 it was established as the James Cook Historical Museum to commemorate the bicentenary of James Cook's 1770 landing on the Endeavour River, where HMB Endeavour was beached for 48 days for repairs after striking the Great Barrier Reef. It preserves artefacts from Cook's voyage and documents Cooktown's development during the Palmer River gold rush of the 1870s.

The museum presents the shared history of European exploration and Guugu Yimithirr people, including the first recorded act of reconciliation between Cook's crew and Indigenous Australians. It also preserves the heritage of Cooktown's multicultural gold rush community, particularly Chinese settlers, and the religious heritage of the Sisters of Mercy convent.