Cook discovers Bass Strait

As we know, Captain James Cook was the one who discovered Australia. During his first and third voyages in the Pacific, he narrowly missed discovering the Bass Strait.

The PoD is that he discovers it on his first voyage in the Pacific.

Effects on Australian development, anyone (no, I'm not asking for a large population for Australia)?
 
Apart from the usual western and northern coastal sightings/charting the Dutch charted the sth coast to about Gulf st Vincent in 1627 and Abel Tasman charted the sth coast of Tasmania. Cook charted the valuable east coast from 1770, and Mathew Flinders did the Victorian coast in 1804.

Perhaps if Cook had found Bass St the First Fleet would have been sent to Victoria instead of Sydney. Sydney was/is hemmed in by the Blue mountains, whereas there is easy access to the Victorian hinterland so people could move out of the initial settlement more easily and settle more evenly and gently.
 
In the light of today's celebrated events in Australia, I would dare argue that the Aboriginals discovered Australia, including Bass Strait, some 40 000 years before Captain James Cook was even born!
 
South East Asians were common enough visitors 3000 years ago to bring their dogs with them and leave them here.
 
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