Editing History of Australia (section)

==Early European exploration==
{{Main|European maritime exploration of Australia}}
{{See also|Terra incognita|Terra Australis}}

===Dutch discovery and exploration===
[[File:Australia discoveries by Europeans before 1813 en.png|thumb|Exploration by Europeans until 1812:

{{legend|#000000|1606 [[Willem Janszoon]]}}
{{legend|#ff9955|1606 [[Luis Vaez de Torres]]}}
{{legend|#39842c|1616 [[Dirk Hartog]]}}
{{legend|#ffd42a|1619 [[Frederick de Houtman]]}}
{{legend|#835b38|1644 [[Abel Tasman]]}}
{{legend|#516778|1696 [[Willem de Vlamingh]]}}
{{legend|#000080|1699 [[William Dampier]]}}
{{legend|#8000ff|1770 [[James Cook]]}}
{{legend|#0055d4|1797–99 [[George Bass]]}}
{{legend|#ff0000|1801–03 [[Matthew Flinders]]}}]]

[[File:Abel Tasman - Cuyp (cropped) (adjusted).jpg|thumb|left|[[Abel Tasman]], whose expedition of two ships was the first European expedition to discover [[Van Diemen's Land]], now known as [[Tasmania]]]]

The [[Dutch East India Company]] ship, {{lang |nl |[[Duyfken]]}}, captained by [[Willem Janszoon]], made the first documented European landing in Australia in 1606.<ref>J.P. Sigmond and L.H. Zuiderbaan (1979) ''Dutch Discoveries of Australia''. Rigby Ltd, Australia. pp. 19–30 {{ISBN|0-7270-0800-5}}</ref> Later that year, [[Luís Vaz de Torres]] sailed to the north of Australia through [[Torres Strait]], along New Guinea's southern coast.<ref>{{cite book|title=ADBonline.anu.edu.au|publisher=ADBonline.anu.edu.au|chapter=Torres, Luis Vaez de|access-date=14 July 2011|chapter-url=http://adbonline.anu.edu.au/biogs/A020488b.htm}}</ref>

In 1616, [[Dirk Hartog]], sailing off course, en route from the [[Cape of Good Hope]] to [[Batavia, Dutch East Indies|Batavia]], landed on an island off [[Shark Bay]], Western Australia.<ref name="Manning Clark p. 62">Manning Clark; A Short History of Australia; Penguin Books; 2006; p. 6</ref> In 1622–23 the ship [[Leeuwin (1621)|''Leeuwin'']] made the first recorded rounding of the southwest corner of the continent.<ref name="Interesting Historical Notes2">{{cite news|date=9 October 1923|title=Interesting Historical Notes|page=5|newspaper=[[The Mercury (Hobart)|The Mercury]]|via=National Library of Australia|location=Hobart, Tas.|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article23673877|access-date=29 January 2012}}</ref>

In 1627, the south coast of Australia was discovered by [[François Thijssen]] and named after [[Pieter Nuyts]].<ref>{{cite news|date=24 May 1927|title=Nuyts Tercentenary.|page=11|newspaper=[[The Register (Adelaide)|The Register]]|via=National Library of Australia|location=Adelaide|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article54272194|access-date=31 January 2012}}</ref> In 1628, a squadron of Dutch ships explored the northern coast particularly in the [[Gulf of Carpentaria]].<ref name="Interesting Historical Notes2" />

[[Abel Tasman]]'s voyage of 1642 was the first known European expedition to reach [[Van Diemen's Land]] (later Tasmania) and New Zealand, and to sight [[Fiji]]. On his second voyage of 1644, he also contributed significantly to the mapping of the Australian mainland (which he called ''[[New Holland (Australia)|New Holland]]''), making observations on the land and people of the north coast below New Guinea.<ref>* {{Dictionary of Australian Biography|First=Abel|Last=Tasman|shortlink=0-dict-biogT-V.html#tasman1}}
* [[Edward Duyker]] (ed.) The Discovery of Tasmania: Journal Extracts from the Expeditions of Abel Janszoon Tasman and Marc-Joseph Marion Dufresne 1642 & 1772, St David's Park Publishing/Tasmanian Government Printing Office, Hobart, 1992, p. 106, {{ISBN|0-7246-2241-1}}.</ref>

Following Tasman's voyages, the Dutch were able to make almost complete maps of Australia's northern and western coasts and much of its southern and south-eastern Tasmanian coasts''.''<ref>National Library of Australia, Maura O'Connor, Terry Birtles, Martin Woods and John Clark, ''Australia in Maps: Great Maps in Australia's History from the National Library's Collection'', Canberra, National Library of Australia, 2007, p. 32; this map is reproduced in Gunter Schilder, ''Australia Unveiled'', Amsterdam, Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, 1976, p. 402; and in William Eisler and Bernard Smith, ''Terra Australis: The Furthest Shore'', Sydney, International Cultural Corporation of Australis, 1988, pp. 67–84. Image at: [http://www.bildindex.de/obj20516052.html# home]</ref>

===British and French exploration===
[[File:Captainjamescookportrait.jpg|thumb|left|Lieutenant [[James Cook]], the first European to map the eastern coastline of Australia in 1770]]

[[William Dampier]], an English buccaneer and explorer, landed on the north-west coast of New Holland in 1688 and again in 1699, and [[A New Voyage Round the World|published]] influential descriptions of the Aboriginal people.<ref>Konishi, Shino; Nugent, Maria (2013). "Newcomers, c. 1600–1800". ''The Cambridge History of Australia, Volume I''. pp.&nbsp;49–50</ref>

In 1769, Lieutenant [[James Cook]] in command of {{HMS|Endeavour}}, travelled to [[Tahiti]] to observe and record the [[transit of Venus]]. Cook also carried secret Admiralty instructions to locate the supposed [[Terra Australis|Southern Continent]].<ref>Admiralty instructions cited in A.G.L. Shaw (1972) ''The Story of Australia''. p. 32 Faber and Faber, London. {{ISBN|0-571-04775-0}}</ref> Unable to find this continent, Cook decided to survey the east coast of New Holland, the only major part of that continent that had not been charted by Dutch navigators.<ref>J.C. Beaglehole and R.A. Skelton (eds.), ''The Journals of Captain James Cook on His Voyages of Discovery'', Vol. 1, ''The Voyage of the Endeavour, 1768–1771'', Cambridge University Press for the Hakluyt Society, 1955, pp. 288–91; J.C. Beaglehole, ''The Life of Captain James Cook'', London, The Hakluyt Society, 1955, pp. 273–74.</ref>

On 19 April 1770, ''Endeavour'' reached the east coast of New Holland and ten days later anchored at [[Botany Bay]]. Cook charted the coast to its northern extent and formally took possession of the east coast of New Holland on 21/22 August 1770 when on [[Possession Island (Queensland)|Possession Island]] off the west coast of [[Cape York Peninsula]].<ref>Cook, James, Journal of the HMS Endeavour, 1768–1771, National Library of Australia, Manuscripts Collection, MS 1, 22 August 1770</ref>

He noted in his journal that he could;<ref>J.C. Beaglehole and R.A. Skelton (eds.), ''The Journals of Captain James Cook on His Voyages of Discovery'', Vol. 1, ''The Voyage of the Endeavor, 1768–1771'', Cambridge University Press for the Hakluyt Society, 1955, p. 387.</ref><ref>Bill Gammage, "Early Boundaries of New South Wales", ''Historical Studies'', Vol.19, No.77, 1981, pp. 524–31.</ref>
{{blockquote |text=land no more upon this Eastern coast of New Holland, and on the Western side I can make no new discovery the honour of which belongs to the Dutch Navigators {{strikethrough color |linecolor=#da291c |and as such they may lay Claim to it as their property}}{{efn |name="markupNote" |Words crossed out in the original.}} but the Eastern Coast from the Latitude of 38 South down to this place I am confident was never seen or viseted by any European before us and {{strikethrough color |linecolor=#da291c |therefore by the same Rule belongs to great Brittan}}{{efn |name="markupNote"}} [...]. }}

In March 1772 [[Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne]], in command of two French ships, reached Van Diemen's land on his way to Tahiti and the South Seas. His party became the first recorded European to encounter the Indigenous Tasmanians and to kill one of them.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Konishi|first1=Shino|title=The Cambridge History of Australia, Volume I|last2=Nugent|first2=Maria|year=2013|pages=60–61|chapter=Newcomers, c. 1600–1800}}</ref>

In the same year, a French expedition led by [[Louis Aleno de St Aloüarn]], became the first European to formally claim sovereignty over the west coast of Australia, but no attempt was made to follow this with colonisation.<ref>Ducksey C. C. Cowan and John C. Camm, ''Objects & History of the Voyage of Mm. Yves de Kerguelen and François Alesne de Saint Allouarn in the Australian Seas'', Paris, 1934. Walter R. Bloom, "The role of a French ecu in the colonization of Western Australia", ''Journal of the Numismatic Association of Australia'', Vol. 9, July 1998, pp. 34–42.</ref>