AUSTRALIA REDISCOVERED

A question of balance

Geographers speculated about a great southern continent since the time of the ancient Greeks, when it was thought that such a continent must exist to balance the northern land masses.

Australia existed in late medieval European logic and mythology: A great Southland, or Terra Australis, was thought necessary to balance the weight of the northern landmasses of Europe and Asia.

The European exploration of Australia took more than three centuries to complete; thus, what is often considered the oldest continent, geologically, was the last to be discovered and colonized by Europeans.

In 1879 a Chinese stone carving, dating back to the early 1400s, was unearthed in Darwin. This, and a fragment of Chinese porcelain discovered on the shores of the Gulf of Carpentaria in 1948, are the only pieces of solid evidence to support the theory that Chinese were the first to visit Australia. The Ming Admiral Cheng Ho made several southern voyages with a huge fleet of junks («джонка» – судно) between 1405 and 1453. His ships explored the ocean around Timor, and accounts of the voyages could be interpreted to mean that they had reached Australia.

Admiral Cheng Ho

First sighting

The first recorded sighting of the Australian continent by Europeans was by the crew of the Dutch ship Duyfken (Little Dove), under the command of Willem Janszoon.

Willem Janszoon, Australia’s Columbus

In March 1606 they made a landfall near the mouth of the Pennefather River on the eastern coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria.

The Gulf of Carpentaria viewed from orbit

They also made an exploratory voyage up the river in the ship's boat, during which the first landing by a European on Australian soil was made. It was the west coast of Cape York Peninsula in extreme northeastern Australia.

Cape York Peninsula viewed from orbit

This was also the occasion of the first contact between Europeans and Aborigines, an encounter that ended in tragedy when a crewman was speared to death.

Dampier was not impressed

The honour of being the first Englishman to set foot on the Australian mainland goes to William Dampier, a passenger aboard the Cygnet, who went ashore on 5 January 1688 in King Sound, near the present site of Derby, Western Australia.

William Dampier

The country did not impress him. "We saw no Trees that bore Fruit or Berries", he wrote. "We saw no sort of Animal, nor any track of Beast, but once. Here are a few small Land-birds ... and but a few Sea-fowls. Neither is the Sea very plentifully stored with fish."

Despite this unfavourable first impression, Dampier returned in 1699 to explore the coast of Western Australia in command of HMS Roebuck.

Between 1616 and 1636, Dutch navigators explored Australia's west, southwest, and northwest coasts. Explorers then began to believe they had found the mysterious southern continent.

In 1642 and 1643, Abel Janszoon Tasman, a Dutch sea captain, sailed around the continent without sighting it.

Abel Janszoon Tasman

During his voyage, Tasman saw and briefly visited a land mass that he named Van Diemen's Land. He thought this land was part of the continent. Actually, it was an island, which was renamed Tasmania in his honor in 1855.

All the early explorers reported unfavorably on what they had seen of Australia. The land was dry and barren (бесплодный), and the people had no gold or other riches.

James Cook

A British navigator and one of the world's greatest explorers. He commanded three voyages to the Pacific Ocean and sailed around the world twice. Cook became the first European to visit Hawaii and Australia's east coast. His voyages led to the establishment of colonies throughout the Pacific region by several European nations.

James Cook (born on Oct. 27, 1728 in Marton-in-Cleveland, Yorkshire, England, died on Feb. 14, 1779 in Kealakekua Bay, Hawaii)

Cook had great ambition and curiosity. He declared that his goal was "not only to go farther than anyone had done before but as far as possible for man to go."

Cook was born in Marton, England, near York. He became an apprentice (ученик) with a shipping company when he was 18 years old. On his earliest voyages, Cook worked aboard ships that carried coal to English ports.

Cook joined the British Navy in 1755.

First voyage to the Pacific. In 1768, the navy appointed Cook to lead a scientific expedition to Tahiti, a Pacific island. His ship, the Endeavour, sailed from England in August and reached Tahiti in April 1769.

The Endeavour Tahiti

There, the scientists on the expedition watched the planet Venus pass between the earth and the sun. This observation was the main goal of the voyage. However, Cook also had secret orders to seek an unknown continent in the South Pacific. But Cook did not find it.

In October 1769, Cook became the first European to visit New Zealand.

In April 1770, the Endeavour sailed into Botany Bay on the east coast of Australia. James Cook became the first European to sight and explore Australia's fertile east coast. Cook claimed the region for Great Britain and named it New South Wales.

Terra Nullius

Prior to sailing from England in 1768 James Cook received instructions - if he discovered the Great South Continent - to take possession with the consent of the natives. First of all, Cook had to ensure that no other Empire had claimed the land; secondly he had to establish whether the continent was occupied or not and then he had to determine whether any occupants owned the land or not. This latter criterion depended upon whether any occupants had farms, a form of government, towns and interconnecting roads or not. If the land was merely occupied then the land would be considered to be terra nullius i.e., belonging to no one.