DID YOU KNOW ?

A list of firsts in early Australian maritime history.

Willem Janszoon, Captain of the VOC ship Duyfken, and his crew landed at the Pennefather River on the western side of Cape York Peninsula becoming the first recorded European to set foot on Australian soil. He was Australia's Columbus!

1606

Willem Janszoon, as above, was the first European to chart any part of the coastline of Australia when he mapped the western part of Cape York Peninsula. 

Luis Vaez de Torres from Spain was the first European to successfully navigate a ship through the straight, now named after him, separating New Guinea and Cape York Peninsula.

Dirck Hartogh, Captain of the VOC ship Eendracht, became the first European to set foot on Western Australia when he landed on an island, now named after him, at the entrance to Shark Bay.

The first printing performed in Australia was an inscription on a pewter plate left behind on Dirk Hartog Island by its founder Dirck Hartogh.

John Brooke, was the Captain of the English ship Tryall which became Australia's first recorded shipwreck when it ran onto reefs north west of Montebello Islands. The survivors managed to sail their longboats to Batavia.

On board the VOC ship Leyden, which was charting Western Australia's coastline, Willemtgen Janszoon gave birth to a son. This was the first recorded birth of a European in Australia.

Jeronimus Corneliszoon led the first mutiny in Australia after the VOC ship Batavia was wrecked on the Houtman Abrolhos.

Wiebe Hayes, survivor of the Batavia mutiny, built the first building in Australia when he and his fellow soldiers built a stone fort on the Abrolhos Islands.

Commander Francisco Pelsaert set up the first court in Australia when he conducted the trial of the Batavia mutineers on the Abrolhos Isalnds.

The first executions carried out in Australia was the hanging of the Batavia mutineers on the Abrolhos.

Wouter Loos and Jan Pelgrom, two mutineers from the Batavia, were marooned on the west coast, near the mouth of the Murchison River, as punishment for their role in the mutiny. They were Australia's first European settlers.  

1696

The first water colour drawings of Australia were made by Victor Victorszoon who was on board the Geelvinck during Willem de Vlamingh's voyage to the Southland. Victor drew 7 coastal views of parts of the Western Australian coast these being the earliest series of coastal views of the Australian Continent.

1727

The first boat built in Australia was by the 88 survivors of the VOC ship Zeewijck which had wrecked on the Abrolhos. They managed to built a boat from the wreckage, calling it Sloepje, and after being marooned for 9 months, sailed it to Batavia.