Cook off Otago

New Zealand Listener, Volume 17, Issue 435, 24 October 1947, Page 17

Cook off Otago

"HE 1948 celebrations" of Otago’s Centenary may be said to have begun already, at least on the radio side. Dr. A. H. McLintock, from 4YA, began a series of talks on Otago’s history by telling us in his first talk about the mapping of the coastline by Captain Cook. Cook did not land on the East coast of Otago, but merely sailed along it, giving names to various well-known landmarks, Cape Saunders, Saddle Hill, and the Molyneux. It might amaze listeners to find that by mere observation of the coast, Cook was able to make a surprisingly accurate chart, and to come to various conclusions regarding the inland. Cook didn’t think much, evidently, of Otago, or of the South Island in general-which proves that even famous explorers are capable of snap judgments, and may be proved wrong by an ungrateful posterity. The voyage of Cook along both Otago coasts, east and west, was transformed by Dr. McLintock from a dusty record to an exciting account of adventure in search of the mythical southern continent which was_halfbelieved to exist in these regions, The description of the forbidding vastnesses of the Western ranges, as seen from the Tasman sea, presented us with a picture of a part of Otago which is wildly different from the docile. Pacific coastline. These talks about Otago and its history will be heard weekly on Tuesdays at 8.30 p.m. from 4YA,