The Part Borne by the Dutch in the Discovery of Australia 1606-1765

Before Captain Cook claimed Australia for Britain, the Dutch had already spent 160 years probing its coastline, charting its shores, and losing ships to its treacherous reefs. This meticulous 1899 study recovers that forgotten chapter, drawing on the State Archives at The Hague to document voyages largely erased from the Anglophone narrative of discovery. Heeres traces the arc from Willem Jansz's 1606 landing at Cape Keerweer through Dirk Hartog's 1616 inscription on a pewter plate to Abel Tasman's later charts of the northern and western coasts. What emerges is not merely a catalog of coordinates, but a careful argument: the Dutch were first, their cartography was accurate, and history chose to forget them. The book sits at the intersection of national mythmaking and archival rigor, challenging readers to consider how nations construct heroes. Essential for anyone interested in the messy, collaborative origins of exploration or the politics of remembering who 'discovered' anything at all.