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In 1616 the ship Eendracht, captained by Dirk Hartog, was the second Dutch vessel to make landfall on the continent (the Duyfken was first).
Several years earlier, a Dutch sea-captain, Brouwer, discovered that if he sailed east after passing the Cape of Good Hope off Africa, his ship would be blown by the winds called the "roaring forties". Turning north after 4000 miles would bring him to Batavia.
Before this "discovery" Dutch sailors had followed the coast around taking 16 - 18 months for the trip. This new route took only 6 months.
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Using the southern route proven by Brouwer, Hartog traveled further east than Brouwer and found himself amidst an island group on the coast of west Australia. The largest of these islands is known today as Dirk Hartog's Island. Hartog spent three days examining these islands and when he left, he fixed a pewter plate to a post. On the plate he had etched a record of his visit to the islands. Except for the pewter plate, there is no known written record of his visit. Subsequent maps indicate a coastal region in the vicinity of Dirk Hartog's Island as Eendrachtsland. |
