THE North Yorkshire-built home of Captain James Cook has been vandalised by Australia Day protestors.

The cottage was originally built in 1755 in Great Ayton by Captain Cook’s parents but was dismantled and transported to Melbourne in 1934 where it has become a museum and tourist attraction in the city’s Fitzroy Gardens.

Australia Day is celebrated as the day, in 1788, that Cook landed on the country's east coast - but is known among some indigenous people and their supporters as "Invasion Day" because the British colonists who followed Cook claimed Australian land without a treaty.

The words “26th Jan Australia's shame” have been spray-painted across on the building.

Captain Cook was born in Marton, Middlesbrough, on October 27, 1728, and grew up in Great Ayton before becoming one of the most famous maritime explorers of the 18th Century.