Many VOC voyages experienced moments of contact with Australia's coast—with Country. These encounters are complex, layered, and seen differently depending on who is telling the story.
References
Ariese C (2011) Investigation of a possible 18th century Dutch shipwreck on Christmas Island or the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Western Australian Museum, Fremantle, W.A., accessed 11 October 2024.
—— (2012) Databases of the people aboard the VOC ships Batavia (1629) & Zeewijk (1725): An analysis of the potential for finding the Dutch castaways’ human remains in Australia, WA Museum, Fremantle.
Boorsma Mendoza PA (2014) Concerning the locations of the missing Dutch East Indiamen Fortuin (1724) and Aagtekerke (1726), Report for the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands, Leiden University.
Broomhall S (2024) ‘Early Modern Histories of Fire on the Australian Continent’, The English Historical Review, 139(598–599):715–743.
Drake-Brockman H (1963) Voyage to disaster: the life of Francisco Pelsaert: covering his Indian Report to the Dutch East India Company and the wreck of the ship Batavia in 1629 off the coast of Western Australia, together with the full text of his Journals concerning the rescue voyages, the mutiny on the Abrolhos Islands and the subsequent trials of the mutineers, ED Drok (trans), Angus and Robertson, Sydney.
Van Duivenvoorde W, Wesley D, Litster M, Wonu Veys F, Nayati W, Polzer M, McCarthy J and Jansen L (2019) ‘Van Delft before Cook: The earliest record of substantial culture contact between Indigenous Australians and the Dutch East India company prior to 1770’, Australasian Journal of Maritime Archaeology, 43:27–49.
Van Duivenvoorde W (2016) ‘Dirk Hartog was here! His 1616 inscription plate and Dutch ship communications’, in N Peters (ed) A touch of Dutch: Maritime, military, migration, mercantile connections on the western third 1616-2016, Carina Hoang Communications, Subiaco, W.A.
Erskine N (2006) ‘Dutch encounters and the Australasian shore’, in L Shaw and W Wilkins (eds) Dutch connections: 400 years of Australian-Dutch maritime links, 1606-2006, Australian National Maritime Museum, Sydney.
Forsyth J (1957) ‘The visit of the yacht Grootenbroeck to the coast of the south-land in 1631’, Journal and Proceedings of the Western Australian Historical Society, 5(3):17–26.
Foster W (1911) ‘An Early Chart of Tasmania’, The Geographical Journal, 37(5):550–551.
van Gelder R (2013) ‘Brief account of the principal events on the voyage of the frigate the Geelvink to the Southland (Australia), 20 March 1697’, in Harta Karun: Hidden Treasures on Indonesian and Asian-European History from the VOC Archives in Jakarta, Arsip Nasional Republik Indonesia, Jakarta, accessed 2 October 2025.
Gerritsen R (2002) And their ghosts may be heard, Fremantle Arts Centre Press, Fremantle, W.A.
—— (2011) Selected Transcriptions, Translations, and Collation of Information for a Textual Analysis Relating to Material Evidence from the Vergulde Draeck and the 68 Missing Crew and Passengers from that Vessel, Reportedly Found on the Coast of Western Australia in the Period 1656 – 1658, Batavia Online Publishing, Canberra.
—— (2014) ‘The Arrival of the “Immenhorn”: Insights into a Little-Known Voyage to the West Coast of Australia in 1659’, The Great Circle: Journal of the Australian Association for Maritime History, 36(1):39–48.
—— (2016) ‘The remarkable voyage of Abraham Leeman in 1658’, in A touch of Dutch: Maritime, military, migration, mercantile connections on the western third 1616-2016, Carina Hoang Communications, Subiaco, W.A.
Green JN (1977) The loss of the Verenigde oostindische compagnie Jacht Vergulde Draeck, Western Australia 1656: an historical background and excavation report with an appendix on similar loss of the fluit Lastdrager, British Archaeological Reports, Oxford.
—— (1989) The loss of the Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie retourschip Batavia, Western Australia 1629: an excavation report and catalogue of artefacts, British Archaeological Reports, Oxford, England.
de Heer C (1963) ‘My Shield and My Faith’, Westerly, 8(1):33–46.
Heeres JE (1899) Het aandeel der Nederlanders in de ontdekking van Australië, 1606-1765 [The Part Borne by the Dutch in the Discovery of Australia 1606-1765], Brill; Luzac & Co, Leiden; London.
Heeres JE and Coote CH (eds) (1895) Abel Jansz. Tasman’s Journal of his discovery of Van Diemens Land & New Zealand in 1642, with documents relating to his Exploration of Australia in 1644. Frederik Muller & Co, Amsterdam, accessed 8 January 2025.
Henderson G (2007) Unfinished voyages: Western Australian shipwrecks 1622-1850, 2nd ed, University of Western Australia Press, Crawley, W.A.
—— (2017) ‘The “Fortuyn” and other lost dutch shipwrecks’, Early Days: Journal of the Royal Western Australian Historical Society, (101):1–12.
Henderson G, Viduka A, Parkinson J and Moss A (2015) ‘Closing in on the “Fortuyn”: A progress report’, The Journal of the Australasian Institute for Maritime Archaeology, 39:27–43.
Henderson JA (1985) Marooned: the wreck of the Vergulde Draeck and the abandonment and escape from the southland of Abraham Leeman in 1658, St George Books, Perth.
—— (1999) Sent forth a dove: discovery of the Duyfken, University of Western Australia Press, Nedlands, W.A.
Hooker BN (2015) ‘New light on the origin of the Tasman-Bonaparte map’, The Globe, (78):1–8.
Huystee M van (1995) On the yacht Duyfken (1601): The first European ship known to explore the Australian coast, WA Museum, Fremantle, W.A.
Jack RL (1921) Northmost Australia: three centuries of exploration, discovery, and adventure in and around the Cape York Peninsula, Queensland : with a study of the narratives of all explorers by sea and land in the light of modern charting, many original or hitherto unpublished documents, thirty-nine illustrations, and sixteen specially prepared maps, Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent, London.
Leupe PA (1868) De reizen der Nederlanders: naar het Zuidland of Nieuw-Holland in de 17e en 18e eeuw, G. Hulst van Keulen, Amsterdam.
Mack R (2024) First encounters: the early Pacific and European narratives of Abel Tasman’s 1642 voyage, Heritage Press, with assistance from the NetherlanNZ Foundation, Feilding, New Zealand.
Major RH (ed) (2010) Early Voyages to Terra Australis, Now Called Australia: A Collection of Documents, and Extracts from Early Manuscript Maps, Illustrative of the History of Discovery on the Coasts of that Vast Island, from the Beginning of the Sixteenth Century, reprint, Cambridge University Press.
Major RH (Richard H (ed) (1859) Early Voyages to Terra Australis, Now Called Australia: A Collection of Documents, and Extracts from Early Manuscript Maps, Illustrative of the History of Discovery on the Coasts of That Vast Island, from the Beginning of the Sixteenth Century to the time, Hakluyt Society, London.
Nelson EC (1994) ‘Nicolaas Witsen’s letter of 1698 to Martin Lister about a Dutch expedition to the South Land (Western Australia): the original text and a review of its significance for the history of Australian natural history’, Archives of Natural History, 21(2):147–167.
Parthesius R and Centrum voor Internationale Erfgoedactiviteiten (Centre for International Heritage Activities) (2014) Inventory and analyses of archival sources in the Dutch East India Company (VOC) archives in the Netherlands in order to contribute to possible locations and identification of VOC shipwrecks off the Western Australian Coast, Western Australian Museum Foundation; Centrum voor Internationale Erfgoedactiviteiten.
Robert WCH (ed) (1972) The explorations, 1696-1697, of Australia by Willem De Vlamingh. Extracts from the two log-books concerning the voyage to and explorations on the coast of Western Australia and from other documents relating to this voyage. Dutch texts with English translation and notes, Philo Press, Amsterdam.
—— (1973) The Dutch Explorations, 1605-1756, of the north and northwest coast of Australia. Extracts from journals, log-books and other documents relating to these voyages. Original Dutch texts, edited, with English translations, a critical introduction, notes, appendices, a bibliography, and indexes, Philo Press, Amsterdam.
Schilder G (1976) Australia unveiled: the share of the Dutch navigators in the discovery of Australia, O Richter (trans), Theatrum orbis terrarum, Amsterdam.
—— (1984) The Southland explored: the voyage by Willem Hesselsz. de Vlamingh in 1696-1697, with the coastal profiles and a chart Western Australia in full-size colour reproduction, Canaletto, Alphen aan den Rijn.
—— (ed) (1985) Voyage to the great South Land, 1696-1697. Willem de Vlamingh 1696-1697, C De Heer (trans), Royal Australian Historical Society, Sydney.
Sharp A (1968) The voyages of Abel Janszoon Tasman, Clarendon Press, London.
Sheehan C (2010) ‘Voyages to the South Land: Dutch Explorations of the Queensland Coast’, Queensland History Journal, 21(2):72–87.
Siebenhaar W (1918) ‘Dirk Hartogs’ landing in Australia’, Scottish Geographical Magazine, 34(1):20–28.
Sigmond JP and Zuiderbaan LH (1979) Dutch discoveries of Australia: Shipwrecks, treasures and early voyages off the west coast, Adelaide.
Stapel FW (1943) De Oostindische Compagnie en Australië., 2. druk., P.N. van Kampen, Amsterdam.
Tent J (2019) ‘The cartographic migration of Wesel(s) Eijland’, The Globe, (85):13–34.
—— (2021) ‘The 1705 van Delft expedition to northern Australia: a toponymic perspective’, International Journal of Cartography, 7(1):6–37.
Tent J and Slatyer H (2009) ‘Naming Places on the “Southland”: European Place-Naming Practices from 1606 to 1803’, Australian Historical Studies, 40(1):5–31.
‘The 1623 Project’ (2023) Global Encounters and First Nations People, accessed 14 November 2024.
Torst M, Allais DV d’, Robert WCH, Collaert G and Vlamingh WH de (1701) Journaal wegens een voyagie, gedaan op order der Hollandsche Oost-Indische Maatschappy in de jaaren 1696 en 1697 door het hoekerscheepje de Nyptang, het schip de Geelvink, en het galjoot de Wezel, na het onbekende Zuid- land, en wyders na Batavia, By Willem de Coup, Willem Lamsvelt, Philip Verbeek, en Jan Lamsvelt, t’Amsterdam.
Witsen N (1785) Noord en oost Tartaryen: behelzende eene beschryving van verscheidene Tartersche en Nabuurige gewesten in de noorder en oostelykste deelen van Azien en Europa ..., 3rd edn, M. Schalekamp, Amsterdam, accessed 4 July 2025.