Lt James Cook paid three pennies and an empty bottle for NZealand. Nothing for Oz.

This email is received:

'Navy Command Secretariat
HMS EXCELLENT
Portsmouth
Hampshire
PO2 8BY
29 February 2024
Dear Mr xxxx
Thank you for your email dated 9 February 2024 in which you raise points about Captain Cook’s voyage to New Zealand and Australia.[..]
1. The voyage of the Endeavor, 1768-1771 edited from the original manuscripts.
This volume also contains the secret instructions issued by the Lords Commissioners to James Cook. [..]  if you find the Country uninhabited take Possession for His Majesty by setting up Proper Marks and Inscriptions, as first discoverers and possessors.”
The actions of Cook in New Zealand, which reflect the instructions from the Admiralty, do not relate to the question of claiming possession of Australia. The coins and the empty bottle given to the unnamed old man are specified as a gift, not a price paid, so their value is not relevant. It would also not have been possible for Cook to have spent money in Australia at the time, as it did not yet bear that name, and it had no central government and no commercial infrastructure to support a financial exchange. In current times it certainly would not be the responsibility of the Royal Navy to acquire half of modern-day Australia.
Navy Command Secretariat'.
----------------
My response :
'Dear NCS,
Your economical use of Naval Budget and the £2.95 is noted.  Lt J Cook did obey orders in Aotearoa to
'take Possession for His Majesty by setting up Proper Marks and Inscriptions, as first discoverers and possessors'.
The payment was a contractual agreement about the inscribed post. 'They not only gave their free Consent to set it up, but promised never to pull it down'.

This instruction to RN awaits completion in Dharawal or Kaurareg countries of 'New South Wales'. HM High Commission in Canberra could set up an inscribed post in its grounds, obtained from Bunnings Hardware.
Corner Collie &, Newcastle St, Fyshwick ACT 2609.
https://www.bunnings.com.au/140-x-12mm-2-4m-lining-board-pine-321_p0042741
---
$8 a plank. HM the King could put in $4.

Very little.

Planted some seedling today.
Just thought I should mention that.
Anyone else plant some seed today?
How about you sexy JC Denton darling?