Early Voyages to Terra Australis, Now Called Australia. Richard Henry Major
thus violently thrust out of their share in transatlantic commerce, the Dutch determined to gain it back with interest. Geography and hydrography now became the subjects of earnest study and instruction; and the period was distinguished by the appearance of such men as Ortelius, Mercator, Plancius, De Bry, Hulsius, Cluverius, etc., whom we are now bound to regard as the fathers of modern geography. Among these the most earnest in turning the resources of science into a weapon against the oppressors of his country, was Peter Plancius, a Calvinist clergyman, who opened a nautical and geographical school at Amsterdam for the express purpose of teaching his countrymen how to find a way to India, and the other sources whence Spain derived her strength. We do not here dwell on their efforts to find a northern route to the east. Their knowledge of the direct route to that wealthy portion of the world had become greatly increased by the appearance of Jan Huyghen van Linschoten’s great work. (Amst., 1595–96.) Linschoten had, for fourteen years, lived in the Portuguese possessions in the East, and had there collected a vast amount of information. The Dutch East India Company was established in 1602; and in 1606 we find a vessel from Holland making the first authenticated discovery of that great south land which in our own time has been designated—at the suggestion of that worthy navigator, Matthew Flinders, to whom we are so largely indebted for our knowledge of the hydrography of that country—by the distinct and appropriate name of Australia.
Of the discoveries made by the Dutch on the coasts of Australia, our ancestors of a hundred years ago, and even the Dutch themselves, knew but little. That which was known was preserved in the Relations de divers voyages curieux of Melchisedech Thevenot (Paris, 1663–72, fol.); in the Noord en Oost Tartarye of Nicolas Witsen (Amst., 1692–1705, fol.); in Valentyn’s Oud en Nieuw Oost Indien (Amst., 1724–26, fol.); and in the Inleiding tot de algemeen Geographie of Nicolas Struyk (Amst., 1740, 4to.). We have, however, since gained a variety of information through a document which fell into the possession of Sir Joseph Banks, and was published by Alexander Dalrymple, at that time hydrographer to the Admiralty and the East India Company, in his collection concerning Papua. This curious and interesting document is a copy of the instructions to Commodore Abel Jansz Tasman for his second voyage of discovery. That distinguished commander had already, in 1642, discovered not only the island now named after him, Tasmania (but more generally known as Van Diemen’s Land, in compliment to the then governor of the Dutch East India Company at Batavia), but New Zealand also; and, passing round the east side of Australia, but without seeing it, sailed on his return voyage along the northern shores of New Guinea. In January 1644 he was despatched on his second voyage; and his instructions, signed by the Governor-General, Antonio Van Diemen, and the members of the council, are prefaced by a recital, in chronological order, of the previous discoveries of the Dutch. The document is reprinted in the present volume.
From this recital, combined with a passage from Saris, given in Purchas, vol. i, p. 385, we learn that, “On the 18th of November, 1605, the Dutch yacht, the Duyfhen (the Dove), was despatched from Bantam to explore the islands of New Guinea, and that she sailed along what was thought to be the west side of that country, to 19¾° of south latitude.” This extensive country was found, for the greatest part, desert; but in some places inhabited by wild, cruel, black savages, by whom some of the crew were murdered; for which reason they could not learn anything of the land or waters, as had been desired of them; and from want of provisions, and other necessaries, they were obliged to leave the discovery unfinished. The furthest point of the land, in their maps, was called Cape Keer Weer, or “Turn Again.” As Flinders observes, “the course of the Duyfhen from New Guinea was southward, along the islands on the west side of Torres’ Strait, to that part of Terra Australis a little to the west and south of Cape York. But all these lands were thought to be connected, and to form the west coast of New Guinea.” Thus, without being conscious of it, the commander of the Duyfhen made the first authenticated discovery of any part of the great south land about the month of March 1606; for it appears that he had returned to Banda in or before the beginning of June of that year.
The second expedition mentioned in the Dutch recital for the discovery of the great south land, was undertaken in a yacht in the year 1617, by order of the Fiscal d’Edel, “with little success,” and the journals and remarks were not to be found; but various ships outward bound from Holland to the East Indies, in the course of the years 1616, 1618, 1619, and 1622, made discoveries on the west coast of the great unknown south land, from 35° to 22° south latitude, and among them the ship Eendragt (the Concord), commanded by Dirk Hartog, Hertoge, or Hartighs, of Amsterdam, fell in with land in about 25 degrees south, which afterwards received its name from this ship. The president, De Brosses, has fallen into the error of describing Dirk Hartog, as a native of Eendragt, adding that this coast has preserved the name of the vessel, and that of the country of its commander. The Dutch recital which mentions the voyage of the Eendragt, does not give Hartog’s name, but we learn it from a MS. chart by Hessel Gerritz, of Amsterdam, 1627, referred to by Dalrymple in his collection concerning Papua, note, page 6. An important part of Hartog’s discovery was Dirk Hartog’s Roads, at the entrance of the sound, afterwards called by Dampier Shark’s Bay, in 25°; and on Dirk Hartog’s island, one of the islands forming the road, he left a tin plate, bearing the following inscription: Aº. 1616 den 25sten October is hier vangecomen het schip de Endracht van Amsterdam, den Oppercoopmen Gilles Mibais Van Luyck, Kapitein Dirk Hartog, van Amsterdam, den 27sten. dito t’ zeijl gegaen na Bantam, den Ondercoopman Jan Stoyn, Opperstiermann Pieter Dockes van Bil Aº. 1616. Of which the following is a translation: On the 25th of October, 1616, arrived here the ship Endraght, of Amsterdam: the first merchant, Gilles Mibais Van Luyck; Captain Dirck Hartog, of Amsterdam; the 27th ditto set sail for Bantam; undermerchant, Jan Stoyn; upper steersman, Pieter Dockes, from Bil. Aº. 1616.
In 1697, this plate was found by Wilhem Van Vlaming, Captain of the Geelvink, of whose voyage we shall have to speak in due course, and was replaced by another on which the inscription was copied, and the following new inscription added:
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