
Question: The famous English explorer, Captain James Cook, was born in Marton, Yorkshire, on November 7th, 1728, and grew up in Great Ayton, Yorkshire. Where is his parents’ house?
Answer: Melbourne, Australia, transported there brick by brick (save one, which a local is said to have absconded with) in 1934. Cook never actually visited Melbourne, which wasn’t colonized until after his demise, but since it’s the capital of the state in which he first landed (Victoria), and that state was about to celebrate its centenary, they thought it would be a nice thing to have.
https://www.captaincooksociety.com/home/detail/cooks-cottage
The house the Aussie’s have isn’t Cook’s own home, though. Theirs was built after he went to sea and belonged to his parents. The location of his boyhood home isn’t known for certain, but it’s somewhere in Great Ayton, and the local populace is determined to find it.