Who Discovered Australia
The Great Unknown Land
In about 200AD a famous Greek astronomer named Claudius Ptolemy believed
that the earth had to be balanced or it would topple over. So he figured
that there had be a land yet unknown to Europeans somewhere below the Indian
Ocean. Over time this yet to be discovered land came to be known as
Terra Australis Incognito
which means the
Unknown Southern Land.
For many centuries people in Europe were certain that
there was a land down under (this map from 1570 shows what they thought)
but nobody knew how to get to it . They kept missing it or not realising
that they had stumbled upon it. For over 200
years hundreds of European navigators set across the seas searching for the Unknown Southern Land..
They expected to find gold and other treasures.
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The Aborigines
The First Australian
Aborigines were the first
people to discover Australia. They may have walked or sailed here from Asia
over 60,000 years age. They arrived at a time when the northern parts of
Australia had a hot humid tropical climate much like that of Asia today.
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The Portuguese
The Adventurers
Portuguese sailors may have sailed along the coastline
of Australia as far back as 1542. Some maps have been found which show parts
of what appears to be the Australian coastline. But there is no definite
proof that they did. |
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The Dutch
The Traders
In 1616 a Dutch trading ship, the Eendracht, on its way
to the Indies (now called Indonesia) bumped into west coast of of Australia.
Captain Dirk Hartog landed at Shark Bay, looked around a bit but didn't
find anything interesting. He nailed a pewter dish to a tree to record his
visit. He did not realize that he had found Australia. His is the first
recorded European landing in Australia.
Dutch sailors continued see the coastline on their
trips and called this land New Holland but didn't bother to visit it.
In 1642 a Dutchman named Abel Tasman sighted an island he called Van Diemen's Land. He did not realise that this island was a part of Australia. He also
went on to explore New Zealand.
This island was later renamed Tasmania in honour of Abel Tasman. |
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The British
The Colonists
In 1770 an expedition from England lead by Captain
James Cook sailed to the south pacific. They were supposed to make astronomical
observations. But Captain Cook also had secret orders from the British Admiralty
to find the southern continent.
They sailed in the Endeavour. It had a crew
of 94 men.
They landed in a bay on the east coast on the 29th
of April 1770. Cook first called this place Stingray Bay, then he changed
it to Botanist Bay and finally called it Botany
Bay because of
all the strange and unusual plants there.
He called this new land New Wales and then changed
it to New South Wales.> He claimed the land for England (even though the land already belonged to
the Aborigines).
Captain Cook was also the first European to visit
the Great Barrier
Reef.
Actually he ran into it and damaged his ship pretty
badly. He had to spend seven weeks repairing his ship. |
DID YOU KNOW
During the Age of
Discovery Europeans sailed the seas "discovering"
new lands that had been unknown to them till then. Columbus sailed to America,
Magellan found the Philippines, and James Cook visited Australia. These
visitors had a nasty habit of claiming these new lands as belonging their
home countries. Columbus claimed America for Spain. Magellan too claimed
the Philippines for Spain James Cook claimed Australia for England and so
on. In doing this the European totally disregarded the local inhabitants
who have lived in these lands for thousands of years. This practice came
to be know as "imperialism" and "colonialism". |
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