There's been a few changes in this part of the world during the last forty thousand years and the best way to get a rough idea of what has been going on, is to check out a museum. The local Aboriginal peoples, who contributed almost the entire bulk of our human history, had very little need, or indeed concept, of material possessions, so there is astonishingly little portable, physical evidence remaining of one of the planet's most enduring cultures. However, a couple of centuries ago the Europeans came to stay. Not only did they bring with them far more than they could carry, of which innumerable items survive, they also indulged in archaeological pursuits. They managed to dig up a few small collections of Aboriginal artefacts, whilst also procuring as many of the contemporary Aboriginal peoples' possessions as they could. Today, there are museums scattered throughout our region with both indigenous and European collections. They are in the city, in the country towns, alongside remote highways and at outlying outposts of humanity. Anywhere relics of long-gone mining or farming boom days are to be found, someone will have been inspired to organise and present them for display. There are also a couple of sugar museums, a shipwreck museum, a military museum and a maritime museum. The Captain Cook Museum is dedicated to that plucky Englishman credited with discovering the east coast of Australia and contains some excellent, original artefacts. It's located, as you would expect, in Cooktown.