Abel Jansz Tasman’s first voyage to Australia in 1642–43 is well documented with records that include: the decision by the Governor General and Council in Batavia to make the voyage; the instructions for the captain Abel Janz Tasman and the Chief Pilot Franchois Jacobsz Visscher, and the council of the ship Heemskerk and the fluyt Zeehaan; the letter from the Council in Batavia to the Heeren XVII (the directors of the Dutch East India Company) outlining the intention of the voyage; the list of goods loaded on board the ships; the record of their departure; the record of their return and a summary of their discoveries. There are also several other documents relating to the voyage including the so-called ‘Sailor’s Journal’.
‘1642 Heemskerk Zeehaan Tasman’
Follow this link to view the journal of Abel Tasman from the 1642-43 expedition to Australia, accompanied by Heeres (1895) transcription and translation.
One of two known abridged journals of the expedition to the Southland 1642-43, aboard Heemskerk and Zeehaan, is provided as part of the Maritime Journals Archives Project. This journal is known as the 'Seeres' journal or manuscript and is held in the Nationaal Archief (National Archives), the Netherlands. The journal includes day-by-day reporting of the expedition's charting of Tasmania, the west coast of New Zealand, the Tonga and Fiji island groups, and the north coast of New Guinea. It includes maps (such as the coast of Tasmania on page 46), and sketches of the coastline (such as that between Maria and Schouten Islands on page 45) and local populations encountered on the voyage (such as in New Zealand at ‘Murderers Bay’ on page 67). The other known journal, the 'Huijdecoper' journal or manuscript, is held by the State Library of New South Wales (‘Extract Uittet Journael vanden Scrpr Commandr Janssen Tasman, bij hem selffs int ontdecken van’t onbekende Zuidlandt gehouden’, 1642-1643, SAFE 1/72). A translation of that journal is available through their online catalogue.
Strangely, no journals are known from Tasman’s second voyage in 1644 with the ships Limmen, Zeemeeuw and Brak. Consequently, little is known about what happened on the voyage beyond the route taken, which is preserved in the so-called ‘Bonaparte Map’, held by the State Library of New South Wales, and other later maps. Some information related to the preparation of the voyage is present in archival materials, including: the decision by the Governor General and Council in Batavia to make the voyage; their instructions for the voyage; a list of goods loaded on board the ships; and, again, a letter from Council to Heeren XVII outlining the intention of the voyage.
The so-called ‘Bonaparte Tasman Map’, which is the best preserved evidence for Tasman’s 1644 voyage to the Southland.
Credit: State Library of New South Wales, ML 863.
Resources
Nationaal Archief, the Netherlands: Series 1.11.01.01; Inventaris van de collectie aanwinsten van de voormalige Eerste Afdeling van het Algemeen Rijksarchief, 14e eeuw-1933, No. 121 Journaal van Abel Jansz Tasman betreffende diens eerste expeditie naar het Zuidland 1642-1643.
Additional reading
Brunton P (2006) ‘Abel Janszoon Tasman - Australian voyages, missing journals and perplexing charts’, in L Shaw and W Wilkins (eds) Dutch connections: 400 years of Australian-Dutch maritime links, 1606-2006, Australian National Maritime Museum, Sydney.
Heeres JE and Coote CH (2006) Abel Janszoon Tasman’s Journal of his discovery of Van Diemen’s land and New Zealand in 1642 with documents relating to his exploration of Australia in 1644, C Choat and B Forsyth (eds) [Digital version of the 1965 facsimile edition published by N. A. Kovach, Los Angeles], Project Gutenberg Australia. Accessed 27 November 2025.
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.
Sharp A (1968) The voyages of Abel Janszoon Tasman, Clarendon Press, London.