Cape York is one of the most interesting parts of Australia, with a very colourful history. From the early European explorers to the pioneers, miners, settlers, sailors, shipwrecks and WWII when the north of the country was in defence.

Cape York was the first place on the Australian mainland that Europeans discovered. In February 1606 the Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon and his ship the Duyfken, landed on the west coast of the Cape. Later came the Spanish explorer Luis Vaz de Torres, he sailed through and navigated the area which is now named after him, the Torres Strait.