Dirk Hartog, 1616
Dirk Hartog was the first confirmed European to sight Western Australia, reaching it in his ship, the Eendracht. On 26 October 1616, he landed at Cape Inscription on the very northernmost tip of the island. Before departing, Hartog left behind a flattened pewter dinner plate, nailed to an oak post and placed upright in a fissure on the cliff top.
The plate bears the inscription:
"Ao 1616, den 25sten October, is hier vangecommen het schip de ENDRACHT
van Amsterdam, den Oppercoopmen Gilles Mibais van Luyck; schipper Dirk
Hartog, van Amsterdam, den 27sten, dito t' zeijl gegaen na Bantam, den
Ondercoopman Jan Stoyn, Opperstierman Pieter Dockes, van Bil, Ao 1616."
Translated into English:
On the 25th October, arrived here the ship Eendracht of
Amsterdam; the first merchant, Gilles Mibais, of Luyck; Captain Dirk
Hartog; of Amsterdam; the 27th ditto set sail for Bantam; undermerchant
Jan Stoyn, upper steersman, Pieter Dockes, from Bil, Ao, 1616.
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