History of Australia: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 16:49, 13 September 2003

Revision as of 07:38, 14 September 2003

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A [[Portuguese]] expedition commanded by [[Luis Vaez de Torres]] and piloted by [[Pedro Fernandez de Quiros]] set out for Australia in [[1605]]. De Quiros was a Counter-Reformation Catholic. When he landed on the [[New Hebrides]], he christened the island group "Austrialia del Espiritu Santo," translated as "South Land of the Holy Spirit." In another ship, De Torres sailed through the [[Torres Strait]], but he probably didn't sight the Australian coast as he later claimed. This voyage occurred a couple of weeks after the discoveries made by the ''Duyfken''.

In [[1616]], [[Dirk Hartog]] landed on what is now called [[Dirk Hartog Island]], inoff [[Sharkthe Bay]],coast of [[Western Australia]], and left behind an inscription on a [[pewter]] plate. (This plate may now be seen in the [[Rijksmuseum]] in [[Amsterdam]].) The Dutch named the western half of the continent [[New Holland]], but made no attempt to colonise it.

In [[1642]], [[Abel Tasman]] sailed on a famous voyage from Batavia (now [[Jakarta]]), to [[Papua New Guinea]], [[Fiji]], [[New Zealand]] and, on [[November 24]], sighted [[Tasmania]]. He named it [[Van Diemen's Land]], after [[Anthony van Diemen]], the [[Dutch East India Company]]'s Governor General at Batavia, who had commissioned his voyage. Tasman claimed Van Diemen's Land for the Netherlands.