While Indigenous Australians have inhabited the continent of Australia for thousands of years and traded with nearby islanders, the first documented landing on Australian soil by a European was in 1606.
In 1603, Portuguese explorer Pedro Fernandes de Queirós, sailing under the banner of the Spanish King and on his second voyage into the Pacific, was looking for the great continent most explorers believed must be somewhere in the southern oceans to ‘balance the world.’
‘Australis del Espiritu Santo’
De Queirós didn’t find the continent but assumed it was there and, being a devout Christian intent on bringing Christianity to the ‘heathens,’ named it ‘Australis del Espiritu Santo’ which has been translated as, ‘The Great Southland of the Holy Spirit.’
Although he was unaware of his actual location, he was in what was the New Hebrides, now Vanuatu.
The Dutch explorer Willem Janszoon is believed to be the first European to actually set foot on Australian soil, he landed on the western side of Cape York Peninsula and he charted about 300 km of coastline.
His ship was the Duyfken.
Later the same year, Spanish explorer Luís Vaz de Torres sailed through, and navigated the Torres Strait islands.
Hartog’s pewter dish
Australia’s oldest European maritime relic is a Dutch pewter dish which was nailed to a timber post in 1616 on remote Dirk Hartog Island in Shark Bay (off Western Australia) by the captain (Dirk Hartog) and crew of the Eendracht to record their visit to the ‘South Land.’
Interestingly, in 1623, Dutch explorer Jan Carstenszoon retraced Duyfken’s 1606 route into the Gulf of Carpentaria in the Peraand Arnhem, and recorded meeting an Aborigine who had a piece of metal he assumed came from Duyfken.
Abel Tasman
In 1642, the Council of the Indies dispatched another explorer and merchant, Abel Janzoon Tasman on a voyage of exploration to little-charted areas east of the Cape of Good Hope, west of Staten Land (near Cape Horn, South America) and south of the Solomon Islands.
The main object of the exploration was to obtain knowledge of “all the totally unknown Provinces of Beach.”
This was a purported yet non-existent landmass said to have plentiful gold, which had appeared on European maps since the 15th century, as a result of an error in some editions of Marco Polo's works.
The expedition was to use two small ships, Heemskerck and Zeehaen.
Tasman sailed to Mauritius, stayed for four weeks then caught the ‘Roaring Forties’ to sail east as fast as possible. Four weeks later snow and hail influenced the ship's council to alter course to a more north-easterly direction, expecting to arrive one day at the Solomon Islands.
Three weeks later, November 24, 1642, Tasman reached and sighted the west coast of Tasmania, north of Macquarie Harbour. He named his discovery Van Diemen's Land, after Antonio van Diemen, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies.
Unsuccessful landings
His ships skirted around the south coast of Tasmania and he tried then to land in Adventure Bay, southern Bruny Island, but was blown out to sea by a storm – which is how Storm Bay at the mouth of the Derwent River was named.
Two days later, he landed two boats in Blackman’s Bay on the Forrestier Peninsular where they gathered some edible greens for rations.
The next day, an attempt was made to land in North Bay. However, because the sea was too rough, the carpenter swam through the surf and planted the Dutch flag. Tasman then claimed formal possession of the land, on December 3, 1642.
Bass Straight
He sailed for two more days north along the coast but when entering what he thought was a bay, his ships were hit by the ‘Roaring Forties’ which pushed him east in what was a terrible trip until, eight days later, he reached the north-west of the South Island of New Zealand.
Tasman then returned to Batavia via the Cook Islands, Fiji and several other islands.
Tasman’s second trip starting in January 1644 with three ships, was supposed to take him through Torres Strait to the eastern side of New Holland however he sailed too far south and struck the western side of Cape York.
He continued south then west and around the Top End. He mapped the north coast of Australia as far south as the middle of Western Australia and returned to Batavia in August.
1770
For over a century, until the era of James Cook, Tasmania and New Zealand were not visited by Europeans – mainland Australia was visited, but only by accident.
The east coast of New Holland was claimed by British Captain James Cook in 1770 who renamed the land New South Wales. In due course, this led to the First Fleet landing at Botany Bay in 1888 and the establishment of a settlement at what is now Sydney.
So what has become of this ‘Great Southland of the Holy Spirit,’ now a country of six states and two territories, home of almost 25 million people who have come from all parts of the world, and home of the famous ANZAC Spirit.
No other country has been blessed with the name De Queirós bestowed on Australia, a name to rejoice with and a name to be proud of.
Today I see many followers of Jesus, many people blessed by the Holy Spirit but I also see a country in need a real reformation, a country and a people which needs to turn again to Jesus and to allow the Holy Spirit to bless us all.