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26 February 1606Reputable source · 2 sourcesWell documented

Willem Janszoon's Duyfken makes the first recorded European landing, 1606

A brief, violent Dutch encounter with the Wik people at Cape Keerweer

On the timeline · around 26 February 1606 · European Contact and Cook's ClaimThe First PeoplesEuropean Contact and Cook's ClaimWillem Janszoon's Duyfken makes the first recorded European landing, 160622 ka15,000 BCE10,000 BCE5,000 BCE1 CE

Quick facts

Ship
Duyfken (Dutch East India Company)
Captain
Willem Janszoon
Location
Cape Keerweer, western Cape York Peninsula
Outcome
violent clash with the Wik people; no trade established

What happened

Sailing the small Dutch ship Duyfken from Bantam in Java, captain Willem Janszoon and a crew of twenty made landfall on the western shore of Cape York Peninsula in March 1606, becoming the first Europeans on record to meet Australia's First Nations people. Janszoon charted roughly two hundred miles of coastline before conflict broke out with the Wik people at Cape Keerweer; several of his men were killed in the clash. Finding no trade prospects and having lost men in the fighting, Janszoon turned back north, and Dutch sailors avoided Wik country for many years afterward.

Why it matters

The voyage predates James Cook's charting of the east coast by 164 years and shows the first European contact with Aboriginal Australia was violent from its opening encounter, a pattern that would recur through the colonial period. The Duyfken's own chart of the coast, drawn by its crew, was strikingly accurate for its time even though the Dutch judged the country worthless for trade and abandoned further interest.

How we know

The voyage is documented through Dutch East India Company records and the surviving Duyfken charts; in 2000 a replica of the Duyfken visited the Wik people at Cape York as an act of reconciliation between the two communities' descendants.

Sources

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Willem Janszoon's Duyfken makes the first recorded European landing, 1606 · History of Australia · SourcedStory