 This was the first recorded landing of a European in Australia, and it also marked the first reported contact between European and Aboriginal Australian people.The region was also explored by French and Spanish explorers (commanded by Louis Antoine de Bougainville and Luís Vaez de Torres, respectively) prior to the arrival of Lieutenant James Cook in 1770.Cook claimed the east coast under instruction from King George III of the Kingdom of Great Britain on 22 August 1770 at Possession Island, naming Eastern Australia, including Queensland, 'New South Wales'.