On my previous visit I took a shot of this statue from outside the grounds, since I didn't go in. On this occasion I bring you face to face with Captain James Cook, RN... or this artist's impression of him. (Because while I'm not very good with faces, I think a lot of people would have to concede that from the handful of portraits painted of him it's hard to get a handle on what he actually looked like. Sometimes I wonder if I'm looking at paintings of the same guy. Oh to have had a 40D in 1768...)

This sculpture was done by English born (but now Australian citizen) Marc Clark in 1973. Clark was born in 1923, and was working at least into the mid-90's.The sculpture was originally created for the Endeavour Hills housing estate but was later donated to the state of Victoria. It was apparently installed here in 1997.