James Cook University - History

History

The university is named after the British sea captain James Cook who popularised the discovery and potential colonial value of the east coast of Australia and whose exploratory vessel HM Bark Endeavour ran aground for repairs in North Queensland.

After being proclaimed on 20 April 1970 as an Act of Queensland Parliament, The University College of Townsville became James Cook University of North Queensland on 29 April 1970. The official opening of the university was conducted by Queen Elizabeth II. On 1 January 1982, JCU amalgamated with The Townsville College of Advanced Education located adjacent to the main campus in Douglas. The university established a presence in Cairns in 1987 and moved to its current location in the suburb of Smithfield in 1996. On 1 January 1991, the School of Art and Design of the Townsville College of TAFE was transferred to JCU. The current name of James Cook University became official on 1 January 1998. In 2003 the University opened an international campus referred to as JCUS in Singapore. The university further expanded its presence by establishing another campus in Brisbane, Queensland in 2006.

A year after JCU's proclamation, Cyclone Althea struck the Townsville region. This, together with the destruction caused by Cyclone Tracy in Darwin 1974, prompted the establishment of a cyclone research facility. The Cyclone Testing Station started out as a small project of Professor Hugh Trollope and began its operations on 1 November 1977 as James Cook Cyclone Structural Testing Station. The facility has since grown and changed its name to Cyclone Testing Station in 2002 to better indicate its scope of testing and services provided. The Cyclone Testing Station operates as an independent unit of The School of Engineering and serves as an advising member to the Australian Standards committee in areas of structural design, more specifically wind actions.