HOME > Online Exhibitions
Voyages
1622

Leeuwin (captain not known)

In 1622, the Leeuwin became the fifth Dutch vessel to chance upon Australia’s western edge–this time the continent’s south-western tip.

Poor navigation appears to have led to the ship becoming the first to discover Australia’s south-west tip, and to the length of the Leeuwin’s voyage. The voyage from Texel, in the Netherlands, to Batavia had taken more than a year, when other vessels had completed the same voyage in four months.

Although the ship’s log has been lost, VOC (Dutch East India Company) letters revealed that the Leeuwin was the first vessel to sail the continent’s most southerly latitudes.

The discovery is shown in Gerritsz’s map, along with the inscription ‘Landt van de Leeuwin, beseylt A 0 1622, in Maart’ (‘the land of the Leeuwin, sailed to in March 1622’). From the map’s descriptions of the local shoals, reefs and islets, it would appear the ship had sailed along the coastline between Hamelin Bay and Point D’Entrecasteaux, near present-day Cape Leeuwin.