1301.0 - Year Book Australia, 1908  
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This article is extracted from Year Book Australia 1908 (pp. 44)
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EARLY KNOWLEDGE OF AUSTRALIA


1. Introduction.— On the occasion of the issue of the first Year Book of the Bureau of Census and Statistics of the Commonwealth of Australia, it seems appropriate that a tolerably complete account should be given of what is known of the early history of the discovery of this island continent. Limits of space will prevent this being done continually, and in future issues this account may appear only in extreme condensation.

2. The Austral Land of the Ancients.—While it is not possible to state at what time during the early history of civilization Australia was first discovered by the western world, that its existence was known in times of remote antiquity is certain. According to old Chaldean views of geography, there was an Austral land to the south of India ; and in a fragment of the works of Theopompus of Chios [B.C. 374-320], preserved by Ælianus [A.D. 205-234], reference is made to the existence of an island of immense extent, beyond the seas which bounded Europe, Asia and Africa. Manilius in his Astronomicon refers in a somewhat curious way to the existence of a southern habitable region. Ptolemy's [A.D. 107-161] map, dating back to about A.D.150, shows a terra incognita to the south of India, but according to Sautarem, there were no maps of the world in the first centuries of our era. It appears therefore that the ancients of the western world were somehow impressed with the idea of a Terra Australia, which was one day to be revealed. Though many rumours may have been idle guesses, some may have sprung from authentic information derived from voyagers in the Indian seas, more especially from the Greek soldiers who accompanied Alexander the Great [B.C. 356-323] to India.

3. Precise Period of Discovery Unknown.—Australia has been longer an unknown land to the Occident than any other region of the same extent, owing no doubt to its position at the antipodes of the civilized world. Its first discovery by Europeans is involved in considerable doubt, partly from the confusion of the names which were applied by early navigators and cartographers, and partly owing to the reticence observed by the Portuguese in the 16th and 17th centuries in regard to their discoveries.

4. Old Manuscript Charts and Globes.—The maps of the world of the first period of the middle ages are scarce, and are not of much importance to the present subject. The most explicit reference which might warrant the supposition of the knowledge to the cartographers of that period of the existence of a Terra Australis is given in a mappamundi in a manuscript of the 8th century; to the south of Africa and Asia, and separated by the Indian Ocean, a fourth part of the world is represented beyond the equator. This then may be said to be the origin of the Terra Australia incognita; at least it is the first representation we have of it on a map.

(i). Marco Polo and de' Conti. Towards the close of the 13th century, the Venetian traveller Marco Polo [1254-1324] penetrated farther eastwards than any other European, and the field of geographical knowledge was widened in consequence. In the various manuscript editions of his travels, which appeared subsequently, the terms Java Major and Java Minor occur frequently. At a later period Nicolo de' Conti [circa 1440] was in the same localities, and in describing them he also uses the same terms. These travellers both considered our modern Java and Australia as one—the south coast of Java being unknown to them—and called it Java Major, distinguishing it from Sumatra, which they called Java Minor. The influence of Marco Polo's writings had an effect upon the cartography of the Australasian regions which lasted for nearly three hundred years. On some of the maps which appeared the Australian continent is called Java Major—this type of map is represented by the Dauphin chart (circa 1530)—while in others the Austral regions are called Terra Australis, and envelop the South Pole, extending in the correct longitude sufficiently far north to lead to the belief that the persons who were responsible for the charting of these maps possessed a definite knowledge of the existence of the Australian continent. A strait between New Guinea and the Terra Australis is another feature of this type of map, which is represented by the charts of Ortelius [circa 1570] and of Mercator [1569-1587]. It should be stated, however, that in some of the maps belonging to each of these types, the Australian regions are so inaccurately represented that one sees at a glance that guesswork, assumption, or hearsay was resorted to.

(ii.) The British Museum Mappamundi. There is a map of much interest in the British Museum, itself bearing no date, but of which a copy in Santarem's collection bears the date 1489. In this map is the first appearance of something less problematical than the Terra Australis incognita; no degrees of longitude or latitude are marked, but to the south of the Aureus Chersonesus (the Malay Peninsula), and in the same latitude as the southern parts of Africa, is shewn a short line of coast running almost directly north and south. This coast line can be no other than the west coast of Australia.

(iii.) Martin Behaim's Globe. The oldest known globe extant was constructed in 1492 from geographical data and legends furnished by Martin Behaim [1436-1506], of Nüremberg. On this globe is found a rough chart of what is unmistakably intended for the western coasts of Australia from the vicinity of Dampier's Archipelago to Cape Leeuwin. The eastern coast lines of some of the islands shewn on this globe in the Australasian regions have a remarkable resemblance to the east coasts of Australia, both in shape and position. Lately there has been found a wooden globe, now in Paris, on which an inscription occurs to the effect that the Terra Australis was discovered in 1499. The assertion lacks confirmation, and possibly refers to discoveries made by Magalhaens [1470-1521] in South America, since some of the contemporary maps of the period appear to shew that the term Terra Australis was applied by some cartographers to Australia as well as to those regions known to us as Terra del Fuego.

(iv.) The Dauphin Map. We now arrive at the most important document which has hitherto come to light connected with the early discovery of Australia—the Dauphin map of the assigned date 1530-1536. It belongs to a type of manuscript, Lusitano-Freuch planispheres, which is represented by several specimens, all of which are copies from a prototype, which has either been destroyed, or has not yet been found. In this type of maps, the dates of which range from 1530 to 1536, the Terra Australis appears in a new form and under a new name, being referred to as Java la Grande. South of the island of Java, and separated from it by a strait, these maps exhibit an extensive continent, stretching southwards, the north coast of which is dotted with numerous designations of dangerous coasts, capes, rivers and mountains.

5. Discoveries by Spanish and Portuguese Mariners. The last decade of the 15th century, and the commencement of the 16th century was a most active period in the work of discovery, and a number of vessels and expeditions were equipped in the ports of Spain and Portugal for the purpose of exploiting the New World.

(i) Their First Voyages to the Orient. Two well-defined and distinct lines of approach were attempted almost simultaneously in the hopes of reaching the Orient. The Portuguese after rounding the Cape of Good Hope in 1497, pushed farther and farther east till they reached the spice islands of the Malay Archipelago; while the Spaniards, relying on the new scientific conclusion that the world was a sphere and not a plane, adopted the idea that the East might be reached by deliberately starting out in an opposite direction, and the visit of Magalhaens [1470-1521] to the Philippine Islands in 1521, brought the Spaniards well past the easternmost stations of the Portuguese, and completed the circle of the globe. In the years following the return of these explorers and navigators, a number of maps appeared; in some of these maps are shown islands in the Australasian regions more or less conforming in parts to the configuration of the Australian coasts, while in others all evidence of the knowledge of the existence of the Terra Australis is suppressed, perhaps either for political purposes, or because it was not deemed advisable to include in the maps of the period, a region which had not been sufficiently surveyed.

(ii.) De Quiros and de Torres. The last and perhaps the most important of the Spanish voyages of discovery was that undertaken by de Quiros in 1605, taking de Torres with him as his admiral, with the object of founding a colony on the island of Santa Cruz. Hearing from the natives that "in the south there were lands very fertile and populous, and running down to a great depth in the said south," de Quiros abandoned his idea of the colonization of Santa Cruz, and sailed southwards, discovering a number of islands, and among them the island now known as Espiritu Santo, one of the New Hebrides group, which de Quiros, under the impression that he had discovered the southern land of which he was in search, named "La Austrialia del Espiritu Santo." De Quiros parted company with his admiral, and sailed for Mexico, leaving de Torres to continue the work of discovery. De Torres put back to the north, and sighted land in about lat. 14° S.; from thence he passed through the straits, which now bear his name, and proceeded to the Philippine Islands to refit. De Quiros and de Torres expedition closes the period of Spanish activity in the work of discovery in Australasian regions, and the Dutch were allowed to remain the sole masters of the situation.

6. The Dutch Period of Activity.—The Dutch opportunity for discovery on the coasts of Australia commenced with the decline of the Portuguese and Spanish naval supremacy. In 1595 the Dutch sent out their first expedition to the East, consisting of four ships which sailed from the Texel, and which returned in August, 1597.

(i.) Cornelius Wytfliet. It was about this time that Cornelius Wytfliet's map of the world was published, and in 1597 an English edition of his work, Descriptionis Ptolemaicæ Augmentum, was published at Louvain. In Wytfliet's map the eastern and western coasts of Australia are roughly indicated, as is also the Gulf of Carpentaria. The following passage, which occurs in the book just referred to, is, perhaps, the first distinct account that we have of Australia:—'' The Terra Australis is the most southern of all lands. It is separated from New Guinea by a narrow strait. Its shores are hitherto but little known, since, after one voyage and another, that route has been deserted and seldom is the country visited, unless when sailors are driven there by storms. The Australis Terra begins at one or two degrees from the equator, and is maintained by some to be so great an extent that, if it were thoroughly explored, it would be regarded as a fifth part of the world."

(ii.) First Authenticated Discovery of Australia. The period of known Dutch discovery commenced with the establishment of the Dutch East India Company in 1602. It was in 1605 that the Duyfken was despatched from Bantam to explore the islands of New Guinea; she sailed along what was thought to be the west coast of that island, but her course, in fact, lay along by the islands of the west side of Torres Straits, to that part of the Terra Australis which lies a little to the south-west of Cape York, and thus, without being aware of it, the commander of the Duyfken made the first authenticated discovery of the Great South Land. The country was found for the most part desert; some of the crew were murdered by the blacks; and, from want of provisions, the expedition was obliged to turn back. The farthest point of land in their map they called Cape Keer Weer, or Turn Again. The Dutch continued their attempts to explore the unknown, sending out, in 1616, the ship Eendracht, commanded by Dirk Hartog, who sailed along the west coast of Australia from lat. 26° 30' S. to lat 23° S. The Pera and the Arnhem, Dutch vessels from Amboina, in 1623 explored the Gulf of Carpentaria, giving to its westward peninsula, on the side opposite to Cape York, the name of Arnhem Land. The name of Carpentaria was also bestowed on the vast gulf in compliment to Peter Carpenter, then Governor of the Dutch East India Company. It is not, perhaps, generally known that in the year 1624 a petition for "the privilege of erecting colonies" in the Terra Australia was presented to King James I. by Sir William Courteen, an enterprising English merchant, but it does not appear that the petition was granted.

(iii.)—Discovery of the South Coast of AustraliaPelsart and Pool. A portion of the south coast of Australia is shown for the first time on some old Dutch charts, which state the date of discovery of these parts to have been in the year 1627, when Pieter Nuyts, in command of the Guide Zeepaert, sailed along the coast from Cape Leeuwin, and sighted the whole shore of the Great Bight. In the following year de Witt, commander of the vessel Vianen, discovered land extending for about 50 miles on the north-west coast of Australia in lat. 21° S. In 1629 the Batavia, commanded by Francis Pelsart, was wrecked on the reef known as Houtman's Abrolhos on the western coast of Australia. The captain, with a few of his crew, explored the coast of the mainland for some days, and eventually succeeded in reaching Java. Pelsart was the first person to carry to Europe an authentic account of the west coast of Australia, which he described in anything but favourable terms. It may here be remarked that his journal contains what is probably the first notice and description of the kangaroo by any white explorer. The next Dutch discoveries were made in 1636, when Gerrit Pool, in command of the yachts Amsterdam and Wesel, visited the Gulf of Carpentaria. They descried the coast of Arnhem Land in lat. 11° S., and sailed along the coast for some 30 miles, when, turning to the north, they visited the unknown islands of the Timor Sea.

(iv.) Abel Janszoon Tasman. An important era of discovery commenced with Tasman's (1602-1659) voyage in the year 1642. The principal object of the expedition was to ascertain the extent of the Great South Continent, and to find out whether a passage to the south of it led into the South Sea. Tasman sailed from Mauritius with two vessels, the Heemskirk and the Zeehden, in October, 1642, and steering south reached lat. 54° S. He then steered E. by N., and thus made the coast of a land which he believed to form part of the Great South Land, and which he named Van Diemen's Land. After a short stay, Tasman continued his voyage, and sailing in a north-easterly direction, he discovered another important land which he named New Zealand. On landing, an unprovoked attack was made by the Maoris, and four sailors were killed. Tasman sailed along the west coast of the North Island as far as North Cape, from which place he directed his course to New Guinea. Tasman made another voyage in 1644, his main object being to ascertain whether New Guinea and Van Diemen's Land were connected with the Great South Land or not. With three vessels under his command he sailed into the Gulf of Carpentaria, but failing to find the straits through which Torres had passed in 1606, he sailed along the northern coasts of Australia, and returned to Java. No discoveries of importance were made during Tasman's second voyage; nevertheless, after 1644, when the first maps on which his track is charted, made their appearance, the outline of Australia assumed for the first time a relatively true position, and a more accurate delineation of form. The period of Dutch discoveries may be said to have ended with Tasman's second voyage; with the decline of the Dutch maritime power, their
interest in Australian discovery disappeared, and practically the only subsequent occasions when their vessels touched Australian coasts appear to have been when they were driven out of their course by contrary winds or currents.

(v.) The last of the Dutch Discoveries. In 1656 the ship Vergulde Draeck was wrecked not far from the place where Pelsart had met with disaster in 1629. About 75 of those on board reached the shore alive, and one of the ship's boats succeeded in reaching Batavia. Though several vessels were subsequently sent out to rescue the castaways no news was ever obtained of them, and the search was abandoned in 1658, when the ship Waeckende Boey returned to Batavia after having unsuccessfully spent some weeks in an endeavour to obtain some news of the castaways. The commander of this vessel gave some account of the west coast of Australia, and of the island now known as Rottnest Island, describing the country as covered with deep grass and sand, and the coast as everywhere dangerous, on account of the reefs of rock. The country was again visited by the Dutch during a search for a missing ship, thought to have been wrecked on the Abrolhos. The expedition, under the command of William de Vlamingh, reached Rottnest Island on the 29th December, 1696, and landed near the mouth of the Swan River, which they ascended for six or seven leagues. They did not encounter any blacks, though they came across several huts, and also found footprints of men, dogs, and emus. The expedition subsequently proceeded northward, but failed to find any traces of the object of their search. In 1705 another Dutch exploring squadron, under the command of Martin Van Delft, sailed from Batavia, and explored and named part of the north-west coast of Australia. This expedition is the last one recorded before the celebrated voyages of Captain James Cook [1728-1779] .

7. Discoveries by the English.—In the meantime the English had made their first appearance on the Australian coast in 1688, when the north-western shores were visited by William Dampier, as supercargo of the Cygnet, a trading vessel whose crew had turned buccaneers. The Cygnet made the land in lat. 16° 50' S., just one hundred years before the first English Governor reached New South Wales, and sailed along the coast as far as Cape Levêque. In describing the country Dampier says:—" New Holland is a very large tract of land. It is not yet determined whether it is an island or a main continent, but I am certain that it joins neither to Asia, Africa, or America. The land is of a dry, sandy soil, destitute of water, unless you make wells, yet producing divers sorts of trees."

(i.) Dampier's Voyage in the " Roebuck." Later, in 1699, Dampier again visited Australia, in command of H.M.S. Roebuck. He landed in Shark's Bay, and he then sailed in a northerly direction for a distance of about 900 miles, as far as Dampier's Archipelago, and thence to Roebuck Bay. On his return to England Dampier published an account of his voyage, in which he gives a description of the trees, flowers, birds, and reptiles he observed, and also of his encounters with the natives.

(ii.) Captain James Cook. The various reports and charts brought back by the explorers and navigators of the 17th century had opened the way for considerable discussion as to the true delineation of the coast lines of Australia; as to whether Tasmania and New Zealand were attached to Australia, or whether they were separated from it, but themselves formed part of a vast Antarctic continent. It was Captain Cook, in his voyages from 1769 to 1777, who communicated the most important discoveries with regard to these questions, and who first opened up the Australian coast to European enterprise and settlement. Cook's first voyage to Australian waters was primarily undertaken for the purpose of observing the transit of Venus from Otaheite, but he was also commissioned to ascertain "whether the unexplored part of the southern hemisphere be only an immense mass of water or contain another continent."

(iii.) The Voyage of the "Endeavour." Cook was placed in command of H.M.S. Endeavour, a barque of 370 tons burthen, and carrying about 85 persons. He was accompanied by Sir Joseph Banks [1743-1820], Dr. Solander the naturalist, Green the astronomer, two draughtsmen, and a staff of servants. After successfully observing the transit of Venus from Otaheite, the Endeavour's head was turned towards New Zealand, and this land was sighted on the 7th October, 1769, in the neighbourhood of Poverty Bay. Cook determined to sail along the coast, and after eventually circumnavigating both the North and South Islands, thus proving that New Zealand was not connected either with the supposed Antarctic continent or with Australia, he took formal possession of the land in the name of the British Crown. The Endeavour remained on the New Zealand coasts until the 31st March, 1770, when her course was set in a westerly direction with the intention of making for Tasmania. Encountering very rough weather and being driven out of his course to the northward, Cook sighted the mainland of Australia at 6 a.m. on the 19th April, 1770, at a place which he called Point Hicks, after his first lieutenant, who first saw it. Another point a little to the eastward he named Bam Head, and then coasting northwards, passing and naming various headlands on the way, Botany Bay (first called Sting Bays Harbour) was discovered on the 28th April, 1770, and as the anchorage appeared to be good, the Endeavour entered the inlet and dropped anchor. On the following day Cook landed, and though he first met with some opposition from the blacks, they were soon dispersed by the firing of two or three muskets. After searching unsuccessfully for fresh water, the explorers embarked in their pinnace and went over to the north side of the harbour, where, by digging holes they were able to procure sufficient fresh water to supply the ship. On the 1st May, 1770, a seaman named Sutherland died on board the Endeavour, and his body was taken ashore to be buried. Sutherland was in all probability the first British subject buried in Australian soil. The Endeavour remained in Sting Bays Harbour until the 6th May, 1770, on which day Port Jackson was passed and named, though Cook forebore to enter the heads. Sailing in a northerly direction numerous capes, inlets, and islands were seen and named, such as Port Stephens, Bustard Bay, the Keppel Islands and 'Morton' Bay. Landing was effected at several places, both for the purpose of making observations and of obtaining fresh water. Cook thus coasted along for nearly 1300 miles, making notes and observations as he proceeded, for the purpose of his chart, until on the 11th June, 1770, the expedition nearly came to a disastrous ending, through the Endeavour striking some rocks when in the vicinity of Trinity Bay. In his log Cook describes the grave dangers and hardships to which they were exposed. By jettisoning all heavy gear that could be spared, they succeeded in passing a sail, into which oakum, wool, and other materials had been sewed, right under the ship's keel, and were then able to warp the ship off the rocks. In spite of strong gales and hazy weather, and in spite of at times "being entangled with shoals on every side," the vessel was steered to the mouth of the Endeavour River, and there careened and thoroughly repaired. These repairs occupied nearly two months, and it was not until the 4th August, 1770, that the Endeavour's course was again set to the north. Still threading his way through numerous islands and reefs until he reached Cape York, Captain Cook lauded on a small island which he named Possession Island, and took formal possession of the land he had discovered from lat. 38° S. to lat. 10J° S. The Endeavour then sailed through Torres Straits, and anchored in the Downs on the 13th June, 1771.

(iv.) Cook's Later Voyages. The communications made by Cook on his return gave rise to renewed speculation as to the existence of a great southern continent, and in 1772 Cook was again appointed to lead an exploring expedition in the ships Resolution and Adventure. These vessels soon became separated, and Cook, after visiting New Zealand, spent some time in cruising in southern latitudes. Satisfied that if a great antarctic continent did exist, it lay so far to the south as to be useless for the purposes of trade or settlement, he abandoned the investigation, and returned to England in 1774. Cook's last voyage was undertaken in 1776, but on that occasion his main object was to discover a north-west passage between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. After an extended voyage, he returned for the winter of 1778 to Hawaii, and met his tragic death in Karakara Bay on the 14th February, 1779.

(v.) Flinders and Surgeon Bass. At Captain Cook's death the whole coast of Australia may be said to have been practically explored. The remaining discovery of great importance to be made was the existence of a passage between Tasmania and Australia. This channel was discovered by Flinders and Bass in 1798. The causes of navigation and of science generally were greatly benefited by the voyages in Australasian waters of the Investigator and the Beagle, but Surgeon Bass' discovery may be said to have completed the coast map of Australia.


Bibliographical References.—The following bibliographical references will aid the study of the early history of the discovery of Australia:—

1. For a very full account of what is known regarding " The Discovery of Australia" by the western world, reference may be made to the classic and exhaustive monograph, bearing that title, by George Collingridge, Esquire, Sydney. Hayes Bros., 1895. The information here given has been largely derived from the source indicated.<Return to article>

2. According to Mr. Hyde Clarke. See "Notes and Queries," Vol. V., p. 356,1888; see also "La magie chez les Chaldéens," p. 151, by Mr. F. Lenormant. <Return to article>

3. See "Early Voyages to Australia," p. ii., by Mr. B. H. Major, 1859. <Return to article>

4. Probably a contemporary of Augustus or of Tiberius Cæsar. <Return to article>

5. Lib. 1, 234. <Return to article>
Ex quo colligitur terrarum forma rotunda;
Hanc circum variæ gentes hominum a tque ferarum.
Aeriæque colunt volucres. Pars ejus ad arctos
Emine, Austrinis pars est habitabilis oris.
Sub pedibusque jacet nostris.

6. "La geografla di Claudio Tolemeo Alexandrino," Venezia, 1574. <Return to article>

7. "Essai sur l'histoire de la Cosmographie et de la Cartographie du Moyen-Age," 1849. <Return to article>

8. Humboldt in his "Histoire de la Géographie du Nouveau Continent," Vol. IV., p. 70, says that the Kings of Portugal forbade, upon pain of death, the exportation of any marine charts. <Return to article>

9. The MS. is in the Royal Library of Turin. A copy is contained in Santarem's and Jomard's collection. <Return to article>

10. For an account of Conti's travels, see "India in the 15th Century," edited by Mr. R. H. Major in 1857, for the Hakluyt Society. <Return to article>

11. Known as the "British Museum Mappamundi." <Return to article>

12. The original globe is preserved in the archives of the Behaim family in Nüremberg. A fac-simile is to be seen in the Paris National Library. <Return to article>

13. For further particulars of this globe, see "The Discovery of North America," by Mr. H. Harrisse, p. 391; see also Jomard's "Monuments de la Géographie," Paris, 1854. <Return to article>

14. Mr. Harrisse ascribes to this globe the date of circa 1535. See "The Discovery of North America,"Harrisse, p. 613, The inscription on the globe reads: "Terra Australia nuper inventa anno 1499, sed nondum plene cognita." <Return to article>

15. E.g. (a) Mappamundi of Orontius Finnaeus (1531), the Australasian parts of which are reproduced in Mr. A. F. Calvert's "The Discovery of Australia," p. 18. (b) Schöner's Weimar Globe of 1533. Described by Mr. Harrisse in "The Discovery of North America." <Return to article>

16. A reduced copy of this map is given in Mr. Harrisse's "Early Voyages to Australia." Introduction, p. xxvii. The Dauphin Map is sometimes called the Harleyan Map, having belonged to Edward Harley, Earl of Oxford. See "Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia," Sydney, 1891-2, Vol. V. <Return to article>

17. E.g. Two maps by Jean Roze, 1542, in the British Museum, and a map by Pierre Descelier, 1550, the Australasian parts of all of which maps are reproduced in Mr. Collingridge's book, referred to above. <Return to article>

18. Mr. H. Harrisse, " The Discovery of North America," pp. 96-7. <Return to article>

19. E.g. (a) The Hunt-Lenox Globe (circa 1506), of which a description is given in Coote's introduction to " Johann Schöner," p. xii., London, 1888. See also "Recollections of New York," by J. Lenox. 1886, pp. 140-3. (b) Ruysch's Mappamundi, 1508. for a description of which see "Johann Schöner," edited by C.H. Coote, p. 21. (c) The. Schönerian Frankfort Gores, 1515, which is reproduced in Jomard's "Monuments de la Géographie." Plates xv. and xvi. <Return to article>

20. See a translation of de Torres' narrative by Alex. Dalrymple, from a Spanish MS. in his possession; first printed in Burney's "Discoveries in the South Sea," Part 2, p. 467. London, 1806. <Return to article>

21. It is not probable that Torres passed through the straits which bear his name by mere chance, as they were marked in Wytfliet's map, dedicated in 1597 to the King of Spain. <Return to article>

22. The instructions issued to Tasman for his second voyage in 1644, by Van Diemen and the members of the Council of the Dutch East India Company, contain a preface in chronological order of the previous discoveries by Dutch explorers in Australasian regions. These instructions are printed in full in Harrisse's "Early Voyages to Australia," and it is from them that most of the present knowledge of early Dutch discoveries is derived. <Return to article>

23. See "The Torch," March, 1888. <Return to article>

24. In the Mar di India Chart, the date given is the 26th January, 1627; in Tasman's Chart, as published in Amsterdam in 1859, the date given is the 26th February, 1627. <Return to article>

25. See instructions to Tasman, ut sup. <Return to article>

26. For a full account of this event see Mr. R. H. Major's "Early Voyages to Australia." <Return to article>

27. The track which Tasman followed in his two voyages is traced in Captain Bowrey's map, reproduced in Major's "Early Voyages to Australia." <Return to article>

28. See translation from a Dutch MS. in the Royal Archives at the Hague, published in Major's "Early Voyages to Australia." <Return to article>

29. "The Journal of a Voyage made to the unexplored South Land in the years 1696-7," printed at Amsterdam, 1701. <Return to article>

30. Dampier sighted land on the 4th January, 1688; Phillip on the 3rd January, 1788. <Return to article>

31. See "Dampier's Voyage round the World." Vol. I., p. 464. <Return to article>

32. In the Record Office at London, there are no less than ten logs of this voyage; three are anonymous, but six are signed by ship's officers, and one, from circumstantial evidence, is no doubt by Green the astronomer. These logs are all printed in the "Historical Records of New South Wales." 1893. Vol. I. <Return to article>

33. Nowhere in either the original papers of Cook, or any of his officers, does the name Botany Bay appear. <Return to article>

34. In this connection it is worthy of notice that the designation of Port Jackson has been misunderstood by many. It was stated that it was so named after a seaman called Jackson on board the Endeavour. This statement was copied for many years, though it does not appear that there was any foundation for it. Sir George Jackson, who afterwards changed his name to Duckett to meet the provisions of a will, was at this time, together with Mr. P. Stephens, joint secretary to the Admiralty, and Cook named Ports Jackson and Stephens after these two officials. <Return to article>

Moreover it has been ascertained that no seaman of the name of Jackson was rated on the Endeavour. See "Historical Records of New South Wales," Vol. I. Notes at pp. 162 and 107, and also pp. 334-5.

35. See Hawksworth's "Cook's Voyages," Vol. III., p. 519, for observations made in Bustard Bay, and again at p. 528 for an account of Cook's landing at Thirsty Sound. The following are the places at which Cook landed, with dates, according to his log :—At Sting Rays Harbour on the 5th May, 1770; in Bustard Bay on the 23rd May; in Thirsty Sound on the 30th May; in the vicinity of the mouth of the Endeavour River during part of June, July, and part of August; on an island off Cape Flattery on the 12th August; and lastly on Possession Island on 22nd August. <Return to article>

Finally, it may be said that the student who desires to acquire more information as to what is known of the early history of discovery in the region of Australia will do well to consult the "critical, documentary and historic investigation concerning the priority of discovery in Australasia by Europeans before the arrival of Lieut. James Cook in the Endeavour, in the year 1770," by George Collingridge, referred to in note 1 above.