The James Cook Museum administered by the National Trust of Queensland is considered one of the most significant Trust Museums open to the public.
The building, designed by Scottish architect F D G Stanley was constructed in 1889 by the Catholic Church as St. Mary's Convent for the Sisters of Mercy and until the second world war was a major centre for the education of women in Far North Queensland. In 1960 the Catholic Church donated the building to the National Trust of Queensland.
Altar-Convent This is the original altar that came from the convent chapel used by the Sisters of Mercy. The chapel would presumably have been in use from 1888. The museum building then was known as the "Convent of Saint Mary"
Used by the convent girls to access the attic. The nuns left the convent in 1941, and had the stairs dismantled and sent to their new location in Herberton. The stairs were later recovered and have come back "home" to the Cooktown convent/museum.
The Ostensorium (Monstrance) From ostendere, "to show".
The large star shaped object is a Monstrance. A monstrance is the vessel used in the Roman Catholic, Old Catholic, and Anglican Churches to display the consecrated Eucharistic Host, during Eucharistic adoration or Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.
From left to right, the objects are:
1. A votive lamp (candle) is a small, typically white or beeswax yellow, candle, originally intended to be burnt as a votive offering in a religious ceremony. It also refers to a standard size of candle 2 inches high by 1.5 inches diameter, of any color or scent.
2. An Urn used for burning ballot papers after the election of superiors.
3. Monstrance
4. Chalice
Built by Captain Dan Moynihan in 1915. This model of the Endeavour was used in Cooktown ceremonies.
Lieutenant James Cook sailed in the Endeavour on his first voyage of discovery to Australia and New Zealand from 1769 to 1771.
These came from Cooktown's Chinese Joss House (Taoist/Buddhist temple), and would probably date from the Gold Rush days of the late 1800's.
Antique Phones No exact record available but possibly predate the switchboard (See next photo)
Commissioned in 1873 by the Posmaster General to service ninety telephone subscribers. When the switchboard was decommissioned in June 1985 there were 400 subscribers to the now automatic exchange.
This is a view of Endeavour Harbour from the balcony of the James Cook museum. The foreground building has no significance.
This lovely tropical garden was to the left side of the James Cook Museum as you faced the street. I took this from the upstairs balcony.
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