• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

The Institute of Australian Culture

Heritage, history, and heroes; literature, legends, and larrikins

  • Home
  • Articles
  • Biographies
  • Books
  • Ephemera
  • Poetry & songs
    • Recommended poetry
    • Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
    • Poetry and songs, 1901-1954
    • Rock music and pop music [videos]
    • Early music [videos]
  • Slang
  • Timeline
    • Timeline of Australian history and culture
    • Calendar of Australian history and culture
    • Significant events and commemorative dates
  • Topics

Discovery of Australia: The Tercentenary [1 September 1916]

14 March 2014 · Leave a Comment

[Editor: An article regarding Dirk Hartog’s discovery of Australia. Published in The Western Mail, 1 September 1916.]

Discovery of Australia.

The Tercentenary.

On the 25th of October next it will be exactly 300 years since the first white men who left a definite record of their visit landed in Australia. The following quotation from the Western Australian Year Book for 1906 shows that Dirk Hartogs arrived at the island named after him on October 25, 1616:—

“In 1616 Dirk Hartogs (Hartochsz), in command of the Dutch vessel Eendragt, or Eendracht (Concord), supercargo Cornelis Buysero, outward bound from Holland to the Indies, entered Shark Bay, and gave his name to the island upon the western side of the bay. The name ‘Dor Eylandt,’ or ‘Dorre Eylandt’ (Barren Island) was then, or subsequently, given to the largest island at the entrance of the bay. A tin plate nailed to a post erected at the north end of Dirk Hartogs Island remained for many years a memento of his visit. His countryman, William De Vlaming, who visited the island in 1697, relates that he found the plate on the 4th of February of that year, and taking it away with him, entrusted it to the Governor-General at Batavia, who forwarded it to the Board of Seventeen Directors of the Dutch East India Company in Holland, the president of which was, at that time, Burgomaster Nicolass Witsen. Vlaming gave a rendering of the inscription, which, translated from the Dutch, runs as follows:—

Anno 1616, the 25th of October. — Arrived here the ship Eendracht, of Amsterdam; the first merchant Gillis Miebais of Liege. Dirck Hartogs, of Amsterdam, captain. 27th Do. — Sailed for Bantam.

On the lower part, cut with a knife, were to be read in Dutch the words:—

The Under Merchant Jan Steyn, Upper Steersman, Pieter Ledoecker of Bil. Anno 1616.

“Such, at least was the wording of the duplicate plate which he caused to be substituted for the one removed. The original plate of Dirk Hartogs was discovered in 1902 by Mr. J. F. L. De Balbain Verster, in the ‘Rijks-Museum’ (State museum) at Amsterdam, and it was then seen that the latter part of the inscription thereon reads as follows:—

The Under Merchant Jan Stins, Upper Steersman, Pieter Dockes of Bil. Anno 1616.

“Vlaming’s inscription was seen by Captain Hamelin, of the French exploring vessel Naturaliste, in 1801; but the plate had disappeared in January, 1822, when King caused a careful search to be made for it. This disappearance can be accounted for by a statement made by De Freycinet to the effect that he had removed it and deposited it for safe keeping in the museum of the French Institute, which fact is referred to in the minutes of the society, dated March 23, 1821. In spite, however, of this statement, a careful search very recently made by the secretary of the institute has failed to discover its present whereabouts.

“Dirk Hartogs examined the coastline between south latitude 26deg. 30min. and 23 deg., and called the intervening country ‘Eendracht’s Land.’”

The event is also referred to in the following words in “The part borne by the Dutch in the discovery of Australia,” by Professor J. E. Heeres, of Leiden, the greatest living authority on the subject of the early Dutch explorations.

“In the year 1616 the Dutch ship Eendracht, commanded by Dirk Hartogs, on her voyage from the Cape of Good Hope to Batavia, unexpectedly touched at ‘divers islands, but uninhabited,’ and thus for the first time surveyed part of the west coast of Australia. As early as 1619 this coast, thus accidentally discovered was known by the name of ‘Eendrachtsland,’ or ‘Land van de Eendracht.’ The vagueness of the knowledge respecting the coastline then discovered, and its extent, is not inaptly illustrated in a small map of the world found in ‘Gerardi Mercatoris Atlas sive Cosmographicae Meditationes de Fabrica mundi et fabricata figura. De nove . . . auctus studio Judoci Hondij (Amsterodami; Sumptibus Johannis Cloppenburgij. Anno 1632.)’ If, however, we compare this map of the world with Keppler’s map of 1630, we become aware that Hondius has not recorded all that was then known in Europe respecting the light which since 1616 European explorers had thrown on the question of the western coastline of Australia. In Keppler’s map, namely, besides the English discovery of the Trial Rocks (1662), and the name “T. Landt van Eendracht” in fat characters, passing from the north to the south, we meet with the following names, which the smaller letters show to have been intended to indicate subordinate parts of Eendrachtsland : ‘Jac Rommer Revier,’ ‘Dirck Hartogs ree,’ ‘F. Houtmans aebrooleus,’ and ‘Dedells lant.’ What is more, Keppler’s map also exhibits the south-west coast of Australia.

“Whence all those names? The answer to this question, and at the same time various other new features, are furnished by the chart of Hessel Gerritez of 1627, and by the one dated 1618, in which corrections have been introduced after date. The 1627 chart is specially interesting. Gerritsz, at the time cartographer in ordinary to the East India Company, ‘put together this chart of the Landt van d’Eendracht from the journals and drawings of the Steersmen, which means that he availed himself of authentic data He acquitted himself of the task to admiration, and has given a very lucid survey of the (accidental) discoveries made by the Dutch on the west coast of Australia. In this chart of 1627 the Land of d’Eendracht takes up a good deal of space. T0 the north it is found bounded By the ‘Willems-rivier,’ discovered in July, 1618, by the ship Mauritius, commanded by Willem Janszoon. According to the chart this ‘river’ is in about 21deg. 45min. S. lat., but there are no reliable data concerning this point. If we compare Hessel Gerritsz’s chart with those on which (about 1700) the results of Willem De Vlamingh’s expedition of 1696-7 were recorded, we readily come to the conclusion that the ship Mauritius must have been in the vicinity of Vlaming Head (N.W. Cape) on the Exmouth Gulf. From Willem Janszoon’s statements it also appears that on this occasion in 22deg. an ‘island (was) discovered, and a landing effected.’ The island extended N.N.E. and S.S.W. on the west side. The land-spit west of Exmouth Gulf may very possibly have been mistaken for an island. From this point then the Eendrachtsland of the old Dutch navigators begins to extend southward. To the question, how far it was held to extend, I answer that in the widest sense of the term (Land van Eendracht or the South-land) it reached as far as the south coast, at all events past the Perth of our day. In a more restricted sense it extended to about 25deg. S. lat. In the latter sense it included the entrance to Shark Bay, afterwards entered by Dampier, and Dirk Hartogs Island, likewise discovered by Dirk Hartogs.”

Professor Heeres, in the same book, adduces strong indirect proof that the Dutch paid an earlier visit to Australia when, in 1605, the ship Duifken, commanded by Willem Jansz. surveyed what can only have been the east coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria, as far as about 13deg. 45min., viz. to Cape “Keerweer” (Turnagain).

As, however, Dirk Hartogs’ visit has been authenticated by indisputable records, its date, viz., the 25th of October, 1616, may be considered as the first definitely ascertained date when white men landed in Australia.



Source:
The Western Mail (Perth, WA), 1 September 1916, p. 11

Editor’s notes:
divers = a number of items (all of which are not necessarily different, they may all be identical, i.e. distinct from “diverse”), several, sundry, various; “divers” is also an archaic spelling variant of “diverse” (a number of items which are different to each other, a wide range of various types)

tercentenary = an anniversary of 300 years; also known as a “tricentenary”

Filed Under: articles Tagged With: Australian explorers by sea, Dirk Hartog (1580-1621) (subject), SourceTrove, year1916

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Australian flag, Kangaroo, Wattle, 100hThe Institute of Australian Culture
Heritage, history, and heroes. Literature, legends, and larrikins. Stories, songs, and sages.

Search this site

Featured books

The Man from Snowy River and Other Verses, by Banjo Paterson A Book for Kids, by C. J. Dennis  The Bulletin Reciter: A Collection of Verses for Recitation from The Bulletin The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke, by C. J. Dennis The Complete Inner History of the Kelly Gang and Their Pursuers, by J. J. Kenneally The Foundations of Culture in Australia, by P. R. Stephensen The Australian Crisis, by C. H. Kirmess Such Is Life, by Joseph Furphy
More books (full text)

Featured lists

Timeline of Australian history and culture
A list of significant Australiana
Significant events and commemorative dates
Australian slang
Books (full text)
Australian literature
Rock music and pop music (videos)
Folk music and bush music (videos)
Early music (videos)
Recommended poetry
Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
Poetry and songs, 1901-1954
Australian explorers
Topics
Links

Featured posts

Advance Australia Fair: How the song became the Australian national anthem
Brian Cadd [music videos and biography]
Ned Kelly: Australian bushranger
Under the Southern Cross I Stand [the Australian cricket team’s victory song]

Some Australian authors

E. J. Brady
John Le Gay Brereton
C. J. Dennis
Mary Hannay Foott
Joseph Furphy
Mary Gilmore
Charles Harpur
Grant Hervey
Lucy Everett Homfray
Rex Ingamells
Henry Kendall
“Kookaburra”
Henry Lawson
Jack Moses
“Dryblower” Murphy
John Shaw Neilson
John O’Brien (Patrick Joseph Hartigan)
“Banjo” Paterson
Marie E. J. Pitt
A. G. Stephens
P. R. Stephensen
Agnes L. Storrie (Agnes L. Kettlewell)

Recent Posts

  • Danger-signals from Australia [2 January 1942]
  • Australian Commonwealth: Kangaroo issues [1964]
  • Phil Ately [re the Kangaroo and Map stamps, 29 April 1931]
  • Concerning a stamp [17 July 1913]
  • [From Greek literature to the new Australian postage stamp] [23 April 1913]

Top Posts & Pages

  • Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
  • The Man from Snowy River [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • Rommel’s comments on Australian soldiers [1941-1942]
  • Australian slang
  • Clancy of The Overflow [poem by Banjo Paterson]

Archives

Categories

Posts of note

The Bastard from the Bush [poem, circa 1900]
A Book for Kids [by C. J. Dennis, 1921]
Click Go the Shears [traditional Australian song, 1890s]
Core of My Heart [“My Country”, poem by Dorothea Mackellar, 24 October 1908]
Freedom on the Wallaby [poem by Henry Lawson, 16 May 1891]
The Man from Ironbark [poem by Banjo Paterson]
Nationality [poem by Mary Gilmore, 12 May 1942]
The Newcastle song [music video, sung by Bob Hudson]
No Foe Shall Gather Our Harvest [poem by Mary Gilmore, 29 June 1940]
Our pipes [short story by Henry Lawson]
Rommel’s comments on Australian soldiers [1941-1942]
Shooting the moon [short story by Henry Lawson]

Recent Comments

  • rob buntine on No Foe Shall Gather Our Harvest [poem by Mary Gilmore, 29 June 1940]
  • Carol on Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
  • Annie Crestani on Under the Southern Cross I Stand [the Australian cricket team’s victory song]
  • Peter Pearsall on The Clarence [poem by Jack Moses]
  • Trevor Hurst on Timeline of Australian history and culture

For Australia

Copyright © 2023 · Log in