The Part Borne by the Dutch in the Discovery of Australia 1606-1765 | Page 5

this work of the journal of Tasman's famous expedition of 1642/3.[*]
[* I would have the present work considered as forming one whole with
my Tasman publication and with the fascicule of Remarkable Maps,
prepared by me, containing the Nolpe-Dozy chart of 1652-3 (Cf. my
Life of Tasman, pp. 75 f). Together they furnish all the most important
pieces of evidence discovered up to now, for the share which the
Netherlanders have had in the discovery of Australia.]
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The documents, here either republished or printed for the first time, are
all of them preserved in the State Archives at the Hague[*], unless
otherwise indicated. They have been arranged under the heads of the
consecutive expeditions, which in their turn figure in chronological
order. This seemed to me the best way to enable readers to obtain a
clear view of the results of the exploratory voyages made along the
coasts of Australia by the Netherlanders of the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries.
[* My best thanks are due to Jhr. Th. Van Riemsdijk, LL. D., Principal

Keeper, and to Dr. T. H. Colenbrander, Assistant-Keeper, of the State
Archives of the Hague.]
For this and this only, was the object I had in view in selecting the
materials for the present work: once more, as completely and
convincingly as I could, to set forth the part borne by the Netherlanders
in the discovery of the fifth part of the world. I have not been actuated
by any desire to belittle the achievements of other nations in this field
of human activity. The memorial volume here presented to the reader
aims at nothing beyond once more laying before fellow-countrymen
and foreigners the documentary evidence of Dutch achievement in this
field; perhaps I may add the wish that it may induce other nations to
follow the example here given as regards hitherto unpublished
documents of similar nature. Still, it would be idle to deny that it was
with a feeling of national pride that in the course of this investigation I
was once more strengthened in the conviction that even at this day no
one can justly gainsay MAJOR'S assertion on p. LXXX of his book,
that "the first authenticated discovery of any part of the great
Southland" was made in 1606 by a Dutch schip the Duifken. All that is
asserted regarding a so-called previous discovery of Australia has no
foundation beyond mere surmise and conjecture. Before the voyage of
the ship Duifken all is an absolute blank.
II.
CHRONOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE DUTCH DISCOVERIES ON
THE MAINLAND COAST OF AUSTRALIA.
If one would distribute over chronological periods the voyages of
discovery, both accidental and of set purpose, made by the
Netherlanders on the mainland coast of Australia, it might be desirable
so to adjust these periods, that each of them was closed by the
appearance in this field of discovery and exploration, of ships
belonging to other European nations.
The first period, extending from 1595 to 1606, would in that case open
with the years 1595-6, when JAN HUYGEN VAN LINSCHOTEN, in
his highly remarkable book entitled Itinerario, imparted to his

countrymen what he knew about the Far East; and it would conclude
with the discovery of Torres Strait by the Spaniards in 1606, a few
months after Willem Jansz. in the ship Duifken had discovered the
east-coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria, the latter discovery forming the
main interest of this period.
The second period may be made to extend from 1606 to 1622, i.e. from
the appearance of the Spaniards on the extreme north-coast of the fifth
part of the world, to the year in which the English ship Trial was
dashed to pieces on a rock to westward of the west-coast of Australia;
the discovery of this west-coast by the Dutch in and after 1616, and of
the south-western extremity of the continent in 1622, constituting the
main facts of the period.
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We next come to the palmiest period of Dutch activity in the discovery
of Australia (1622-1688), terminating with the first exploratory voyage
of importance undertaken by the English, when in 1688 William
Dampier touched at the north-west coast of Australia. This period
embraces the very famous, at all events remarkable, voyages of Jan
Carstensz (1623), of Pool and Pieterszoon (1636), of Tasman
(1642-1644), of Van der Wall (1678), etc.
The last period with which we wish to deal, lies between Dampier's
arrival and Cook's first visit to these regions (1688-1769), and is of
secondary importance so far as Dutch discoveries are concerned. We
may just mention Willem de Vlamingh's voyage of 1696-1697, and
Maerten van Delft's of 1705; Gonzal's expedition (1756) is not quite
without significance, but the results obtained in these voyages will not
bear comparison with those achieved by the expeditions of the
preceding