Dirk Hartog and crew, at approximately twenty-six…
1616 CE
Dirk Hartog and crew, at approximately twenty-six degrees latitude south on October 25, 1616, come unexpectedly upon "various islands, which were, however, found uninhabited."
He makes landfall at an island off the coast of Shark Bay, Western Australia, which is now called Dirk Hartog Island after him.
His is the second recorded European expedition to land on the Australian continent (having been preceded by Willem Janszoon), but the first to do so on the western coastline.
Hartog spends three days examining the coast and nearby islands.
He names the area Eendrachtsland after his ship, but this name has not endured.
When he leaves, he affixes a pewter plate to a post, now known as the Hartog plate, on which he has etched a record of his visit to the island.
Finding nothing of interest, Hartog continues sailing northwards along this previously undiscovered coastline of Western Australia, making nautical charts up to about twenty-two degrees latitude south.
He then leaves the coast and continues onwards to Batavia, eventually arriving safely in December 1616, some five months after his expected arrival.
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