Rockingham Bay, on which Cardwell was settled nearly a century later, was named by Captain James Cook on June 8th, 1770, in honour of Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquis of Rockingham and former Prime Minister of England.
Cook, on his epic voyage of discovery to Australia, also named Point Hillock (on Hinchinbrook Island, which he assumed was mainland), Dunk Island and the Family Group of islands, all lying offshore from Cardwell.
