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The first recorded European visitor to the west coast of Australia appeared in 1616. This was Dirk Hartog, a Dutch sea captain. Hartog was on his way
to Batavia in Java, and he arrived by accident.
Hartog was one of many Dutch captains sailing for Batavia around this time. He was going there to pick up a cargo of spices to take home to Holland. These spices (such as ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves and pepper) were used all over Europe to make food taste better. They were grown only in certain islands north of Australia. The Dutch called them the Spice Islands. Today they are called the Moluccas. Hartog traveled further east and found himself amongst an island group on the coast of West Australia. (The largest of these islands is now known as Dirk Hartog Island.) Hartog spent three days examining these islands and when he left, he fixed a pewter plate to a post. On the plate he had etched a record of his visit to the islands. Except for the pewter plate, there is no known written record of his visit. |
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