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Accidental Discoveries
Australia's West And South Coasts

Thanks to the vagaries of navigation and a set of revolutionary sailing instructions, it was only a matter of time before VOC (Dutch East India Company) ships would make landfall on the coast of Australia.

The chain of events that led to the eventual discovery of Australia began when the first Dutch traders sailed east from Europe in search of spices.

An instruction from the VOC in 1616—the Seynbrief—was the turning point. It directed VOC voyages to take advantage of the 'roaring forties' on the eastbound trip to hasten the journey to the East Indies. The intent was that the ships should turn north in time to sail easily to Batavia and other East Indies destinations. The Seynbrief reduced the sailing time and, thanks to the inherent room for error, virtually assured the accidental discovery of Australia's west coast.

To add to this, controversy arose over the exact length of the mijle, or 'mile', described in the Seynbrief. Dutch navigators had used the German mile, which measured 5358 metres. In 1617, the year in which the Seynbrief was issued, new research extended the mile to 7158 metres. The room for confusion was large.

Dirk Hartog, in the Eendracht, made the first of these unintended landfalls in 1616. Following the route prescribed by the Seynbrief, Hartog turned north too late and instead of reaching the East Indies sighted 'different islands, but uninhabited' off the coast of Western Australia, near Shark Bay. Hartog stepped ashore on 25 October 1616, the first authenticated landing by a European on Australian soil. Before resuming his voyage to Bantam, he left behind a pewter plate bearing the details of his ship and crew.

Within two years, the ship Zeewolf made sightings north of present day Exmouth and, several months later, the VOC ship Mauritius also accidentally reached the Australian coast, this time near North West Cape. Aboard sailing as chief merchant was Willem Janszoon, who named a river, the Willems, after himself.

On 29 July 1619, Frederik de Houtman, commanding the Dordrecht and Amsterdam on a voyage to Batavia, sighted 'a level, broken country with reefs all round it. We saw no high land or mainland, so that this shoal is to be carefully avoided as very dangerous to ships that wish to touch this coast'.

Several days later, he spotted land again.

We are all assured that this land is the land which the ship Eendracht discovered ... and noways doubt that all the land they saw in 220, 230, 250 and which we sighted down to 330S, is one uninterrupted mainland coast ... This South land, as far as we could judge, seems to be a very fair coast, but we found it impossible to land on it, nor have we seen any smoke or signs of inhabitants there, but further investigation is wanted on this point.

The two letters de Houtman wrote containing his thoughts on the new land represent almost the entire record of early Dutch impressions of Australia. Indeed, most information comes from the maps that were produced after the series of unintended discoveries. Hessel Gerritsz' map of 1627 shows the region mapped by the Leeuwin in March 1622, identifying it as a low land with dunes, dotted with trees and bush and liable to flooding.

The accidental discoveries continued. A year later, the captain of the Leyden, Claes Hermansz, described the land south of Shark Bay as similar to 'the west coast of England with many reddish rocks'.

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Hessel Gerritsz (1581–1632)
Caert van't Landt van d'Eendracht uyt de Iournalen ende afteykeningen der Stierluyden t'samengestelt
Chart of Eendracht Land based on the journals and drawings of the ship’s officers.
engraving; 28.5 x 61.0 cm
Amsterdam: Hessel Gerritsz, 1627
State Library of New South Wales

In 1624, the crew aboard the Tortelduyf (Turtledove) sighted a small island and named it for their ship. In 1627, the Gulden Zeepaert (Golden Seahorse) skirted a long section of the south coast, from present-day Cape Leeuwin to the Nuyts Archipelago, off present-day South Australia.

In his map of the late 1620s, Hessel Gerritsz depicts the coastline of west and south Australia from 210S to 350S. Gerritsz drew every discovery and left the unknown land empty. But the result, given the problems of calculating a ship's exact position, proved to be a close representation of the coastline.

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Hendrik Hondius (1597–1651)
Polus Antarcticus
Map of south polar regions.
hand-coloured engraving; 55.5 x 65.2 cm
Amsterdam: Valk & Schenk, 1700
Northern Territory Library

While the VOC only selectively published a record of these sightings, details began to appear in popular maps of the period, including those released by Hessel Gerritsz, the VOC's official cartographer. Soon the discoveries occupied a distinctive place in maps of the southern hemisphere.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some of the VOC ships that sailed off-course and discovered Australia

Eendracht, 1616

After wading ashore on an island near Shark Bay, the captain of the Eendracht, Dirk Hartog, became the first recorded European to set foot on Australian soil.

Zeewolf, Mauritius, 1618

Captain Haevik Claeszoon van Hillegom in the VOC ship Zeewolf sighted the North West Cape, on the west coast of Australia. On another voyage in the same year, Captain Lenaert Jacobszoon in the Mauritius also spotted the same coast.

Dordrecht, Amsterdam, 1619

Captain Frederik de Houtman in the Dordrecht and Jacob d'Edel in the Amsterdam sighted land south of the mouth of the Swan River, before sailing north and discovering the Houtman Abrolhos, or Abrolhos Islands.

Leeuwin, Wapen van Hoorn, 1622

The Leeuwin reached the south-western most tip of Australia, now called Cape Leeuwin. The Wapen van Hoorn was nearly shipwrecked, showing the need for better charts of the coast.

Leyden, 1623

Captain Claes Hermanszoon in the Leyden charted the coastline south of Shark Bay.

Tortelduyf, 1624

The Tortelduyf discovered and named Tortelduyf Island, part of the Houtnan Abrolhos.

Gulden Zeepaert, Galias, Utrecht and Texel, and Wapen van Hoorn, 1627

Captain Francois Thijssen aboard the Gulden Zeepaert charted 1800 kilometres of coastline between Cape Leeuwin and Nuyts Archipelago, off present-day South Australia. The land above the southern coast came to be called Nuytsland, after the ship's chief merchant Pieter Nuyts.

The Governor-General of the East Indies, Jan Pieterszoon Coen, travelling with the Galias, Utrecht and Texel, recommended a map be made of the continent after the fleet almost came to grief on the reefs surrounding the Abrolhos Islands.

The Dutch VOC ship Wapen van Hoorn, commanded by J. van Roosenbergh, mapped some of the west coast near Dirk Hartog Island.

Vianen, 1628

Captain Gerrit Frederikszoon de Wit, aboard the Vianen, sighted the west coast at latitude 21°S. Sailing north, he charted the north-west coast and named the country 'de Wit's Land'.

Batavia, 1629

 

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Melchisedech Thevenot (1620–1692)
Hollandia Nova detecta 1644, Terre Australe decouuerte l'an 1644
engraving; 50.0 x 37.0 cm
Paris: De l’imprimerie de Iaqves Langlois, 1663
State Library of South Australia

The VOC flagship Batavia, under the command of Commander Francois Pelsaert, was wrecked on the Abrolhos Islands, just 60 kilometres off the coast of Geraldton, Western Australia. While Pelsaert sailed in a long boat to Batavia to arrange a rescue, mutiny broke out on the islands. A massacre and disease claimed the lives of almost 120 people.

Grooten Broeck, 1631

The Grooten Broeck skirted the west coast from Cape Leeuwin to Dirk Hartog Island on its way to Batavia.

Amsterdam, 1635

The Amsterdam, commanded by Woolebrand Geleynszoon de Jongh, mapped the west coast of Australia near Shark Bay.

Leeuwerik, 1648

Jan Jansson (1588–1664)
Mar di India
Indian Ocean
engraving; 41.8 x 53.3 cm
Amsterdam: Jan Jansson, 1650
National Library of Australia

http://nla.gov.au/nla.map-t1564

This map shows the route from Africa and the Cape of Good Horn.

Jan Janszoon Zeeuw aboard the Leeuwerik charted part of the west coast of Australia on his voyage to Batavia.

Vergulde Draeck, 1656

The Vergulde Draeck ran aground on a reef about 100 kilometres north of present-day Perth. The ship's boat sailed to Batavia to get help.

Ridderschap van Holland, 1694

The Ridderschap van Holland was shipwrecked on the west coast, probably on the Abrolhos Islands. The VOC dispatched a fleet under Willem Vlamingh to search for survivors. There were none found.

Zuytdorp, 1712

Captained by Marinus Wijsvliet, the Zuytdorp was wrecked on the mainland south of Shark Bay.

Zeewijck, 1727

The Zeewijck was wrecked on the Abrolhos Islands. The survivors built a boat from the wreckage, the Sloepie, and sailed it to Batavia.

View or download a list of all Dutch voyages (228Kb pdf) from Great Southern Land by Michael Pearson (DEH 2005)