Dutch-Australian History 1600-1800
- 1600 The Netherlands are free from Spanish occupation
after a long war (80 years) with Spain
- The V.O.C. (United East Indie Company) is doing a roaring spice trade with the Indonesian Spice Islands.
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J.P.Coen
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- 1605 Under orders from Jan Pietersz Coen(Governor General of the Dutch East Indies) the 50 ton Duyfken (Little Dove) sailed south along the western coast of Cape York. (Is the town Coen in Queensland named after him?)
- 1616 Dirk Hartogh plants his plaque, a flattened inscribed pewter dinner plate, to show he was on Dirk Hartog Island(above).
- 1629 One of the V.O.C.'s "Indiamen" the Batavia shipwrecked on the
edge of Morning Reef (Houtman Abrolhos) off the Western Australia
coast and two of her survivors were put ashore near Kalberri W.A. as punnishment for mutiny.
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The replica of "the Batavia" (pictured below) was built in Lelystad (Holland) by shipwright Willem Vos. Her keel was laid in 1985 and the ship was completed in 1994. She was transported to Sydney, on a specially designed dockship, to take part in the Olympic 2000 celebrations and to remind Australians of the "pre-Captain Cook" era of Australian history. The Batavia has no engine and the expertise to sail a ship like the Batavia, over such a long distance without an engine even with modern navigational equipment, has long gone. The story of the first and last voyage of the original Batavia is one of mutiny, deceit, tragedy and finally triumph over evil. Australian Aborigines claim to have many sacred sites. These sites are now well protected by all Australians. The Abrolhos Islands should be claimed as a protected site for western civilisation to preserve that part of Australian history.(see literature page for details on books related to the story of "The Batavia").
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- 1642 Abel Janszoon Tasman landed on Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania) near Dunalley. He roughly charted the west coast of Cape York and the Gulf of Carpentaria.
- 1656 The Vergulde Draeck (Gilt Dragon) wrecked during the night of 28 April on a reef lying 5.6km offshore and about 12km SSW of the present location of the township of Ledge Point. Of the 193 crew on board 118 drowned shortly after and 75 landed safely on the mainland. Seven of these survivors managed to reach Batavia on one of the ships boats .The fate of the remaining 68 remains unknown in spite of several attempts by the VOC to rescue them. The Gilt Dragon had a cargo of 8 chests of 78 600 guilders in coins all of which was lost.
- 1688 The ruler of Holland (William of Orange) was in 1688 invited, by seven prominent Englishmen, to come to England. William was a grandson of Charles I and husband of James’s elder daughter Mary. He acceded the English throne, with Mary, in 1689. The reason for this was, that James (Duke of York) was a staunch catholic and had to flee to France as a consequence. This part of Dutch-English history may well be pertinant for Captain James Cook's later (80 years later) navigational skills to find his way to 't Zuydlandt.
- 1696 Three VOC ships (The expedition of Willem De Vlamingh); the frigate Geelvink, the hooker Nyptangh and the galliot 't Weseltje left Holland to search for, amongst others, the Gilt Dragon. They anchored off Rottenest Island. They then sailed across to the mainland and a shore party explored the Swan River between 4 and 12 January 1697. The convoy then proceded north to follow the western Australia coast to Dirk Hartogh island. De Vlamingh replaced Hartogh's pewter inscribed plate with his own, which also made mention of Dirk Hartogh's previous visit. Willem De Vlamingh brought Hartogh's plate to Batavia and it subsequently ended up in "Het Reiks Museum" in Amsterdam. The "De Vlamingh" plate was taken away to France by Louis de Freycinet in 1818. It was handed over to the Australian Government in 1947 and is now on display at the Western Australian Maritime Museum, together with a replica of Dirk Hartogh's plate.
- 1712 The Zuytdorp shipwrecked north of Kalberri. Some crew must have survived as evidence landinwards was found. (Did they cohabitate with local Aborigines? The book "And Their Ghosts may be heard" deals with evidence)
- 1770 Captain James Cook landed on the east coast of "'t Zuydlandt"("The Land of the South" now called Australia).
