In 1611, Janzoon returned to the Netherlands, believing that the south coast of New Guinea was joined to the land along which he had sailed, and Dutch maps reproduced that error for many years. In 1607, Admiral Cornelis Matelieff de Jonge sent Janzoon to Ambon and Banda. He called the land he had discovered 'Nieu Zeland', after the Dutch province of Zeeland, but the name was not adopted, and was later used by Dutch cartographers for New Zealand. Janszoon proceeded to chart some 320 km (200 mi) of the coastline, which he thought was a southerly extension of New Guinea.įinding the land swampy and the people inhospitable (ten of his men were killed on various shore expeditions), Janszoon decided to return at a place he named Cape Keerweer ('Turnabout'), south of Albatross Bay, and arrived back at Bantam in June 1606. This is the first recorded European landfall on the Australian continent. On 26 February 1606, Janzoon made landfall at the Pennefather River on the western shore of Cape York in Queensland, near what is now the town of Weipa. The Duyfken was actually in Torres Strait in February 1606, a few months before Spanish explorer Luís Vaz de Torres sailed through it. After that, Janszoon crossed the eastern end of the Arafura Sea into the Gulf of Carpentaria, without being aware of the existence of Torres Strait. On 18 November 1605, the Duyfken sailed from Bantam to the coast of western New Guinea. When the other ships left Java, Janszoon was sent to search for other outlets of trade, particularly in 'the great land of New Guinea and other East and Southlands'.ġ9th-century artist impression of the ship Duyfken in the Gulf of Carpentaria Janszoon sailed from the Netherlands for the East Indies for the third time on 18 December 1603, as captain of the Duyfken (or Duijfken, meaning 'Little Dove'), one of twelve ships of the great fleet of Steven van der Hagen.

Around 1600 he became the father of Jan Willemsz before setting sail again on, for the East Indies as master of the Lam, one of three ships in the fleet of Joris van Spilbergen. van Neck, dispatched by the Dutch to the Dutch East Indies. Janszoon is first recorded as entering into the service of the Oude compagnie, one of the predecessors of the Dutch East India Company (VOC), in 1598 as a mate aboard the Hollandia, part of the second fleet under Jacob Cornelisz. 1540), but nothing more is known of his early life nor of his parents. (WITH A PREFACE.Willem Janszoon (Willem Jansz) was born around 1570 as the son of Jan ( c. Reprinted from the Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society, Vol. Trustee, Public Library and Mitchell Library, N.S.W. Mutch, T.D., (1942) “ The First Discovery of Australia – With an account of the Voyage of the “Duyfken” and the Career of Captain Willem Jansz” Formerly Minister for Education, N.S.W. Jansz was the first known European to have landed in Australia. Seeing that the land had no potential for trade, and the natives unwelcoming, he decided to return to Bantam (in Indonesia) in June 1606 at Cape Keerweer, which means turn about. “ Flemmings Pinnasse which went upon discovery for Nova Ginny, was returned to Banda, having found the Island: but in sending their men on shore to intreate of Trade, there were nine of them killed by the Heathens, which are man-eaters: so they were constrained to return, finding no good to be done there.” This statement was from THE DIARY OF CAPTAIN SARIS (Mutch, 1942) as: The land was swampy and he reported that there was ‘no good was to be done’. His crew battled with the Aborigines and a number of them died. Willem Janszoon’s voyage mapped over Australia and New Guinea (Mutch, 1942)

Willem janszoon