400 years Netherlands-Australia: Explorers: Voyages: The Duyfken (1606)

Map of the Indian Ocean showing Eendrachtsland, 17th century.

The Duyfken (1606)

Dutch exploration of the continent of Australia began with the Duyfken. In 1605, Commander Willem Jansz. and Jan Lodewijcksz. van Rosengeyn were ordered to set sail from Bantam in the East Indies to explore ‘the great land of New Guinea and other eastern and southern lands’. There were probably no more than 20 men on board. The ship’s log has been lost, but the route it took and the fate of those on board can be reconstructed from other sources.

The two commanders spotted an ‘opening’ off what is now the Torres Strait, but carried on past the passage that separates Australia from New Guinea, and sailed 200 miles along the north coast of Australia without realising it. Some months earlier, the Spanish navigator Luis Vaez de Torres had found the passage, but his account of this ‘short-cut’ was lost. A century and a half later, the Scot Alexander Dalrymple discovered a copy of the account in Manila, whereupon the passage was named Torres Strait.

Willem Jansz. sailed on southwards, assuming he was following the coast of New Guinea.

He came to a river, which he explored in the ship’s sloop. The first encounter with the inhabitants of Australia was not particularly friendly. The sloop’s crew were attacked, and one was killed by a spear. Since eight other crewmen had been killed during an earlier landing in New Guinea, the Duyfken's crew was now nearly halved.

With so many men lost and water and supplies running short, Jansz. decided to go no further. He named the furthest point they had reached ‘Keerweer’ (turn back). They thought it was an island. In fact, it is a cape – and Cape Keerweer can be found on maps of Australia to this day. The Duyfken returned safely to Banda, in the East Indies.

Jansz. and Van Rosengeyn were the first Europeans to sight the Australian continent. The fact that they did not know exactly where they were does not detract from their achievement. After all, when Columbus first landed in the Americas he thought he had reached India. The voyage offered the VOC no prospects of trade or wealth, but it did arouse the Company’s curiosity, and the ’opening’ Jansz. had spotted was particularly intriguing. But a new expedition had to wait because the VOC needed all the ships it had to compete with rival traders.

Willem Jansz. also reached the west coast of Australia some time later. In a letter to the directors of the VOC, the Heren XVII, he wrote: ‘31 July [1618] found an island and went ashore, saw human footprints’. The word ‘Eendrachtsland’ has been added in the margin of the letter. Jansz. probably had no idea that this island was part of the same continent as the coastline he had explored in 1606.

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	Map of the Indian Ocean showing Eendrachtsland, 17th century. The Duyfken (1606) Dutch exploration of the continent of Australia began with the Duyfken. In 1605, Commander Willem Jansz. and Jan Lodewijcksz. van Rosengeyn were ordered to set sail from Bantam in the East Indies to explore ‘the great land of New Guinea and other eastern and southern lands’. There were probably no more than 20 men on board. The ship’s log has been lost, but the route it took and the fate of those on board can be reconstructed from other sources. The two commanders spotted an ‘opening’ off what is now the Torres Strait, but carried on past the passage that separates Australia from New Guinea, and sailed 200 miles along the north coast of Australia without realising it. Some months earlier, the Spanish navigator Luis Vaez de Torres had found the passage, but his account of this ‘short-cut’ was lost. A century and a half later, the Scot Alexander Dalrymple discovered a copy of the account in Manila, whereupon the passage was named Torres Strait. Willem Jansz. sailed on southwards, assuming he was following the coast of New Guinea. He came to a river, which he explored in the ship’s sloop. The first encounter with the inhabitants of Australia was not particularly friendly. The sloop’s crew were attacked, and one was killed by a spear. Since eight other crewmen had been killed during an earlier landing in New Guinea, the Duyfken's crew was now nearly halved. With so many men lost and water and supplies running short, Jansz. decided to go no further. He named the furthest point they had reached ‘Keerweer’ (turn back). They thought it was an island. In fact, it is a cape – and Cape Keerweer can be found on maps of Australia to this day. The Duyfken returned safely to Banda, in the East Indies. Jansz. and Van Rosengeyn were the first Europeans to sight the Australian continent. The fact that they did not know exactly where they were does not detract from their achievement. After all, when Columbus first landed in the Americas he thought he had reached India. The voyage offered the VOC no prospects of trade or wealth, but it did arouse the Company’s curiosity, and the ’opening’ Jansz. had spotted was particularly intriguing. But a new expedition had to wait because the VOC needed all the ships it had to compete with rival traders. Willem Jansz. also reached the west coast of Australia some time later. In a letter to the directors of the VOC, the Heren XVII, he wrote: ‘31 July [1618] found an island and went ashore, saw human footprints’. The word ‘Eendrachtsland’ has been added in the margin of the letter. Jansz. probably had no idea that this island was part of the same continent as the coastline he had explored in 1606.



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