Why did willem janszoon discover australia

The fifteenth of June have arrived Nockhoda Tingall … told me that the Flemmings Pinnasse which went upon discovery for Nova Ginny, was returned to Banda, having found the iland: but in sending their men on shoare to intreate of Trade, there were nine of them killed … so they were constrained to returne, finding no good to be done there. This map is an extremely accurate charting of the west coast of Cape York created by the crew of the Duyfken. The map shows where the crew made landfall along the coast, and where they decided to turn around and return to Banda after some of them were killed in a skirmish with the Wik people.

The exploratory voyage of the Duyfken was considered unsuccessful by the VOC as no peaceful trade relationships were established with local populations and no easily exploitable resources were found. The VOC saw no reason to continue to take an interest in the area. During the early s a number of other VOC ships, like the Eendracht captained by Dirk Hartog, had accidental contact with Australia.

Any assessments made of the potential value of the continent were similar to the report of the Duyfken, and early Dutch exploration and mapping of Australia continued mainly as a way to mitigate the risk posed by Australia as a vast shipping hazard.

After its journey the Duyfken remained in the East Indies running supplies and transporting goods between ports for the VOC. In late , the ship was beached on Ternate Island in the Moluccas to investigate leaks. Deemed to be beyond repair, it was abandoned.

Completed in the ship has not only recreated the voyage of the original Duyfken but also sailed to Texel which used to be a major VOC port in the Netherlands. At the end of his life Janszoon served as governor of Banda — He returned to Batavia in June and soon afterwards, as admiral of a fleet of eight vessels, went on a diplomatic mission to India. He was probably sixty years of age and willing to retire from his strenuous and successful life in the service of his country.

Most believe he died in Samuel de Champlain Facts. Alaska Genealogy Research. Jansz was the first known European to have landed in Australia. Mutch, T. You must be logged in to post a comment. Willem Janszoon became the first European to map Australian coastline during a voyage of discovery on the small Dutch ship, Duyfken, in The map shows the ship landed at Pennefather River, near modern-day Weipa on the west coast of the peninsula before it first headed south to Cape Keerweer.

After a battle with local Aborigines in which people on both sides were killed, he decided to head back up Cape York Peninsula.