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The Pera and Arnhem were two ships from the Dutch East India Company (Dutch: Vereenigde Oost-Indische Companie or VOC) that explored the north Australian coast in 1623. Arnhem Land is named after the Arnhem while the ship itself was named after the Dutch city Arnhem.
The yacht Pera, captained by Jan Carstenszoon, and the smaller vessel Arnhem, captained by Willem Joosten van Colster (or Coolsteerdt) [1] [2] sailed from Ambon Island (Amboyna) on 21 January 1623 with instructions to undertake treaty negotiations with the "natives of Quey, Aroe and Tenimber", [3] and to further explore "Nova Guinea", particularly the part of Australia sighted and charted by Willem Janszoon during his voyage in the Duyfken in 1606.
After travelling along the south coast of New Guinea, they then made for Cape York Peninsula and the Gulf of Carpentaria. On 14 April 1623, they sailed past Cape Keerweer, the most southerly point reached by the Duyfken . Landing in search of fresh water for his stores, Carstenszoon first encountered a party of the Wik peoples. Persistent attempts by the Dutch to kidnap Wik men provoked aggressive responses and probably led to a skirmish with 200 Wik warriors at the mouth of small river he named as the Carpentier River, [4] near Cape Duyfken.
Carstenszoon reached the Staaten River before heading north again. From here the Pera and Carstenszoon returned to Ambon, while the Arnhem crossed the Gulf of Carpentaria, sighting the east coast of Arnhem Land.
The voyage by the Pera and Arnhem was the tenth contact with Australia, as catalogued in the Landings List [5] compiled by the Australia on the Map Division of the Australasian Hydrographic Society. A more detailed charting of the Gulf of Carpentaria and Arnhem Land was undertaken by Abel Tasman in 1644.
The maritime European exploration of Australia consisted of several waves of European seafarers who sailed the edges of the Australian continent. Dutch navigators were the first Europeans known to have explored and mapped the Australian coastline. The first documented encounter was that of Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon, in 1606. Dutch seafarers also visited the west and north coasts of the continent, as did French explorers.
Duyfken, also in the form Duifje or spelled Duifken or Duijfken, was a small ship built in the Dutch Republic. She was a fast, lightly armed ship probably intended for shallow water, small valuable cargoes, bringing messages, sending provisions, or privateering. The tonnage of Duyfken has been given as 25-30 lasten.
Cape York Peninsula is a peninsula located in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is the largest wilderness in northern Australia. The land is mostly flat and about half of the area is used for grazing cattle. The relatively undisturbed eucalyptus-wooded savannahs, tropical rainforests and other types of habitat are now recognised and preserved for their global environmental significance. Although much of the peninsula remains pristine, with a diverse repertoire of endemic flora and fauna, some of its wildlife may be threatened by industry and overgrazing as well as introduced species and weeds.
Willem Janszoon, sometimes abbreviated to Willem Jansz., was a Dutch navigator and colonial governor. Janszoon served in the Dutch East Indies in the periods 1603–1611 and 1612–1616, including as governor of Fort Henricus on the island of Solor. During his voyage of 1605–1606, he became the first European known to have seen and landed on the coast of Australia.
The Gulf of Carpentaria is a sea off the northern coast of Australia. It is enclosed on three sides by northern Australia and bounded on the north by the eastern Arafura Sea, which separates Australia and New Guinea. The northern boundary is generally defined as a line from Slade Point, Queensland in the northeast, to Cape Arnhem on the Gove Peninsula, Northern Territory in the west.
Jan Carstenszoon or more commonly Jan Carstensz was a 17th-century Dutch explorer. In 1623, Carstenszoon was commissioned by the Dutch East India Company to lead an expedition to the southern coast of New Guinea and beyond, to follow up the reports of land sighted further south in the 1606 voyages of Willem Janszoon in the Duyfken.
Kolepom Island or Pulau Yos Sudarso is an island separated only by the narrow Muli Strait from the main island of New Guinea. It is part of the Merauke Regency, in the Indonesian province of South Papua. The island is leaf-shaped, about 165 km (103 mi) long with an area of 11,740 km2 (4,530 sq mi). It was known as Frederik Hendrik Island until 1963. Local and alternative names of the island include Dolok and Kimaam. This is the 11th largest island in Indonesia.
Weipa is a coastal mining town in the local government area of Weipa Town in Queensland. It is one of the largest towns on the Cape York Peninsula. It exists because of the enormous bauxite deposits along the coast. The Port of Weipa is mainly involved in exports of bauxite. There are also shipments of live cattle from the port.
The Eendracht was an early 17th century Dutch wooden-hulled 700 tonne East Indiaman, launched in 1615 in the service of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). Its Dutch name means "concord", "unity" or "union", and was a common name given to Dutch ships of the period, from the motto of the Republic: Concordia res parvae crescunt . The ship was captained by Dirk Hartog when he made the second recorded landfall by a European on Australian soil, in 1616.
The Wessel Islands is a group of uninhabited islands in the Northern Territory of Australia. They extend in a more or less straight line from Buckingham Bay and the Napier Peninsula of Arnhem Land, and Elcho Island, to the northeast. Marchinbar Island is the largest of the group. Other islands include Elcho Island, Rimbija Island, Guluwuru, Raragala, Stevens Island, Burgunngura, Djeergaree, Yargara, Drysdale Island, Jirrgari Island, Graham Island, Alger Island, Abbott Island, and Howard Island.
Pieter de Carpentier was a Dutch administrator of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) who served as Governor-General there from 1623 to 1627. The Gulf of Carpentaria in northern Australia is named after him.
Willem Janszoon captained the first recorded European landing on the Australian continent in 1606, sailing from Bantam, Java, in the Duyfken. As an employee of the Dutch East India Company, Janszoon had been instructed to explore the coast of New Guinea in search of economic opportunities. He had originally arrived in the Dutch East Indies from the Netherlands in 1598, and became an officer of the VOC on its establishment in 1602.
The Second Dutch Expedition to the East Indies was an expedition that took place from 1598 to 1600, one of the Dutch forays into the East Indies spice trade that led to the establishment of the Dutch East India Company. It was led by Jacob Cornelius van Neck.
Australia on the Map is the history and heritage division of the Australasian Hydrographic Society. It seeks to enhance Australians’ knowledge, understanding and appreciation of the nation's early history, beginning in 1606 with the voyages of Willem Janszoon in the Duyfken and Luis Váez de Torres in Los Tres Reyes and San Pedro, and continuing to the present.
The Gulden Zeepaert was a ship belonging to the Dutch East India Company. It sailed along the south coast of Australia from Cape Leeuwin in Western Australia to the Nuyts Archipelago in South Australia early in 1627.
The Mauritius was an early 17th century Dutch wooden-hulled sailing ship, documented as being in service to the Dutch East India Company between 1618 and 1622.
The Willem River or Willem's River was named during the voyage of the Dutch East India Company ship Mauritius in 1618, under the command of Supercargo Willem Janszoon and captained by Lenaert Jacobszoon, and is one of the few features named on a nautical chart made in 1627.
Duyfken Point is a point in the locality of Mission River, Shire of Cook, Queensland, Australia.