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Whose Voyage First Reached Australia?

HistoryExploration

Quick Answer

Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon made the first documented European landing in Australia in February 1606 on the western shore of Cape York Peninsula — 164 years before Captain James Cook charted the east coast.

The Full Story

Willem Janszoon, captain of the Dutch East India Company ship Duyfken, sailed from Bantam (Java) in November 1605 and landed on the western coast of Cape York Peninsula in February 1606, making it the first documented European contact with Australia. However, he did not realise he had found a new continent — he believed it was an extension of New Guinea. Other early European visitors include Dirk Hartog (western Australia, 1616), Abel Tasman (who mapped Tasmania and New Zealand in 1642-1644 but never saw mainland Australia east coast), and the Englishman William Dampier (1688, 1699). James Cook charted the fertile eastern coast in 1770 during his first Pacific voyage aboard HMS Endeavour, claiming it for Britain. Cook voyage led directly to British colonisation starting with the First Fleet in 1788. Of course, Aboriginal Australians had been living on the continent for at least 65,000 years before any European arrival.

Key Facts

1.Aboriginal Australians have continuously inhabited the continent for at least 65,000 years — making them the world oldest continuous civilisation.
2.Willem Janszoon landed on Cape York in February 1606, but 10 of his crew were killed in skirmishes with Aboriginal warriors and he left, reporting the land was inhospitable.
3.The Dutch named the continent "New Holland" (Nieuw-Holland) in the 17th century; the name "Australia" (from Latin "australis" meaning southern) was popularised by Matthew Flinders in 1804.

YouTube Angle

Suggested video title for this topic:

"Who Discovered Australia? — The European Voyages Before Cook"