There has been some conjecture as to the first visitors to Terra Australis Incognito, it is likely the Portuguese were here first. There is evidence that Jorge Reinel discovered our continent as early as 1519 and other Portuguese seamen had made visits here during the previous century. However, the hard evidence indicates that the Dutch ship "Duyfken" under Capt. Willem Janzoon van Colster first sighted the west coast of Cape York peninsula on 15th June 1606, believing it to be New Guinea. He then charted a considerable length of the north coast not realising that it was indeed the 'Great Southland'. He later in 1623 first sighted the shores of the Northern Territory while sailing in his ship the Arnhem.

The "Duyfken" (Little Dove) a small Dutch yacht was only 30m in length and had a mast height of 21m. It weighed a mere 100 tonnes. This is a replica of the ship built in Fremantle WA.

A short time later the Spaniard Capt. Luis Vaez de Torres sailed down the east coast of New Guinea and through the "Torres Strait" which was named after him. The first landing recorded in WA was by Capt. Dirck Hartog of the ship Eendracht on the 25th Dec. 1616 at Cape Inscription located at the northern end of Dirck Hartog Island near Sharks Bay Western Australia (WA). He commemorated this landing by nailing a pewter plate onto a tree. 

This plate is now in an Amsterdam Museum in Holland. Capt Willem Vlamingh, many years later in 1697, also landed here and found Hartogs plate, which he replaced with one of his own. Abel Tasman was the first European to see Tasmania which then he named "Van Diemens Land". Tasman also landed at Cape Sorell on 24th Nov.1642 from the ships Zeehaen &  Heemskirk.  The first Europeans to permanently settle on Australian soil were Wouter Loos & Jan Pelgrom who were intentionally marooned at Wittecarra Creek a few miles south of Kalbarri, after the Batavia was wrecked on the Houtmon Abrolhos Islands in 1629. Loos & Pelgrom were very young surviving members of the Batavia crew which mutineered after the wrecking. 

In 1623 on the ship 'Leyden' captained by Willem Janzoon, was sailing along the WA coast in Australian waters, when Janzoon's wife gave birth to a son named "Seebaer Van Nieuwelent" (Sea born of New Land). Could he lay claim to have been the first white Australian?

During these early days of exploration by sea, due to long periods at sea and the lack of fresh fruit and vegetables, many people died from diseases such as scurvy. Whenever possible the ships would lay up in ports or islands to take on supplies, but even these supplies soon went off and rotted at sea. The scourge of scurvy was finally defeated with the simply means of eating pickled cabbage (Sauerkraut). It was expected that during the years of 1700-1710, 4.6% of crews were expected to die on these long voyages. On the voyage during 1711-1712 of the 'Zuytdorp' to Batavia, a staggering 39.2% of the crew died before it was shipwrecked off WA. 

 0n 29 Dec 1696, Capt Willem Vlamingh landed at Rottnest Island off the coast of WA before finding and naming the "Swan River". Rottnest was named after the profusion of "Quokka's" a small type of wallaby which he thought were rats. The Swan River was named after the many black swans on the river, which are now the state's emblem. Capt William Dampier landed at Sharks Bay WA on 1st Aug. 1699 from his ship the "Cygnet". Other sightings of what is now Queensland and the east coast were reported during this era. 

  This early painting depicts the raising of the British flag in the proclamation of possession at Sydney Cove, in what is now Sydney NSW. Capt. A. Phillip, arriving 26 Jan 1788 preferred the anchorage in Port Jackson and founded the colony there. He brought with him 750 convicts and stores, the convicts were used as the work force to establish the colony of New South Wales. Many of the gaols in England were emptied of prisoners and many were transported for life after being charged and sentenced for such trivial charges as stealing a handkerchief or half a loaf of bread, such was the urgency to populate the new colony. Many were artisans, shipwrights, farmers etc, all types of trained workers needed to build and service the new settlement. Many went on to earn their 'ticket of leave' and were granted small holdings of their own, but many became victims of a harsh regime or died in the penal settlement at Port Arthur in Tasmania. They were worked very hard for meagre returns and only received sufficient food to keep them barely alive. In 1825 the colony in Hobart Tasmania was established followed by the penal settlement at Port Arthur, the ruins are pictured below.

In 1829 a penal settlement was formed in Fremantle Western Australia (WA). On 2 May 1829, Capt Charles Fremantle took possession of the whole of "New Holland" only excluding the territory of NSW which was the only other area spoken for at that point of time. Not many people realise that prior to that event, the anchorage at King George Sound where Albany is now located, was the preferred site for the first settlement. Later after exploration, Perth was sited and named as the capital of WA.

The first building in Fremantle was the 'Round-House' a prison erected by the convicts to house themselves. It was erected on the sandstone cliff above the beach and could be accessed by a tunnel from the beach. As it implies the building was round, had a well in the centre and provided very cramped conditions for the warders and prisoners. Further penal colonies were established in South Australia (SA) in 1836, Victoria (VIC) in 1851 and in Queensland (QLD) in 1859. The transportation of convicts to Australia was ended in 1840 to NSW, 1849 to QLD, 1852 to Tasmania and finally in 1868 to WA. While many of the convicts were inveterate villains, many were good honest men who were 'Shanghai'ed by the authorities for such trivial misdemeanours mentioned earlier. These men & women doubtless  contributed a great deal to the development of the new country. The subsequent gold rushes between 1851 & 1861 aided the economic founding and constitutional growth, as did the incredible 'Overlanders', the early pioneers who opened up this vast country.