RELATING TO: The Voyage of the Duyfken – Willem Janszoon (Master) and Jan Lodewijkszoon van Rosingeyn (Supercargo) , West Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, 1606.
Documentary Sources other than original Journals
Recording Navigator: J Carstenszoon 1623, taken from:
“Summary abstract of the Journal of the … voyage of discovery … with the yachts Pera and Aernem” in J E Heeres 1899
The Part Borne by the Dutch in the Discovery of Australia,
London: Luzac and Co.:
p.42 “In the morning of the 11th [May 1623], ….We set sail on a NNE course along the land; in the afternoon we sailed past a large river (which the men of the Duifken went up in a boat in 1606, and where one of them was killed by arrows [spears] of the blacks’); to this river, which is in 11° 48′ Lat. We have given the name of the rivier de Carpentier in the new chart.”
and three pages further:
p.45 “On the 11th [May] we sailed close inshore past a large river (which in 1606 the men of the yacht Duijffken went up in a boat, on which occasion one of them was killed by the arrows [spears] of the natives), situated in latitude 11° 48’ Lat. …”
———————————————-
Recording Navigator: John Saris 1625, taken from:
“Observations of … Captain Iohn Saris, of occurrents which happened in the East-Indies during his abode at Bantam, from October 1605, till October 1609… ”in Samuel Purchas 1625
Hakluytus Posthumus or Purchas His Pilgrims Contayning a History of the World, in Sea Voyages and Lande-Travells by Englishmen and Others … , London: Henrie Fetherstone, Fifth Part, pp.384-89:
p.385 [15 June 1606]
“the Flemmings [Dutch] pinnace [Duyfken] which went upon discovery for New Ginny, was returned to Banda, having found the island: but in sending their men on shoare to intreate for Trade, there were nine of them killed by the Heathens, which are man-eaters, so they were constrained to return.”
—————————————–
Recorded by: Antonio Van Diemen, Cornelis Van der Lijn, Joan Maetsuijker, Justus Schouten, Salomon Sweers 1644
“Instructions for Skipper Commander Abel Janszoon Tasman … … 29 January 1644.” in J E Heeres 1899
The Part Borne by the Dutch in the Discovery of Australia,
London: Luzac and Co., pp.5-6.:
p.6
“unknown south and west coasts of Nova Guinea … … inhabited by savage, cruel, black barbarians who slew some of our sailors.”
————————————-
Told by:Wallamby/Wolmby family member 1976
In J. Roberts and D. McClean 1976
The Cape York Aluminium Companies and the Native Peoples
Fitzroy: International Development Action, pp.35-6.
pp.35-6
The Europeans sailed along from overseas and put up a building at Cape Keerweer. A crowd of Keerweer people saw their boat sail in and went to talk to them. They said they wanted to put up a city. Well, the Keerweer people said that was all right. They allowed them to sink a well and put up huts.
pp.36
They were at first happy there and worked together.
Then one European took away from my cousin-brother his wife and lived with her
CONFLICT BROKE OUT
Roberts and McClean: “Eventually the Dutch broke and ran”
—————————————
Told by:Gladys Nunkatiapin 1978
In K Gilbert 1978
Living Black: Blacks Talk to Kevin Gilbert
Ringwood: Penguin, p.292.
One day the first six white men came to this country. They crossed the river [Kirke River] and met our people. They took one young woman back across the river. Her husband go and say, “Let her go, give her back.” No one spoke the language; they could only use signs. The husband came back and said to our people, “Help me get my wife back.” So the husband and tribesmen went back across the river and made signs. The white men wouldn’t let her go. The husband pulled the white man into the river and choked him. I think that’s when it all started.
————————————–
Quoted from: Jack Spear Karntin 1986
“Dutchmen at Cape Keerweer”
in L Hercus and P Sutton (eds) 1986
This Is What Happened
Canberra: Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, pp.82-107.
pp.99-103.
First there were previously those … Dutchmen who came to Cape Keerweer there. It’s Thewena actually, the proper name, not Cape Keerweer. It’s Thewena there, that river mouth. Many boats were there that the Dutchmen had built. They built a house. They (the Aboriginals) did not yet understand things, no not our colour. The poor things used to kill each other, used to spear each other with spears. And it was at their country that the (Dutchmen) had arrived.
And then they arrived. If the Dutchmen had behaved properly, (the Aboriginals) would not have killed them. But they detained their wives
he was one of them – well, his (younger brother), he was lending his two wives to (the Dutchmen). All of his cousin brothers (classificatory siblings) came and joined together
p. 100 Well they arrived (at the boat). Food was given to them. “Would you like some food?” They used to just nod, “Yes”, they used to say. For there was no English then, it was in our language, “Ee”. Then “No”, he (Grassbird Man) said to them. “Our … we’ve come for our women”, he said. Then those fellows there, those cousins, said, “The two women are somewhere in there, in the boat, that’s where you’ve beenen keeping them”.
“Yes, yes, they’re here (said the Dutchmen). Then they (the women) came up (on deck). “You two can go!” (said the Dutchmen).
“Hey, would you like (to use) my gun? – to shoot some of the ducks” (he encouraged them to shoot black ducks).
“No he might shoot you, he wants to shoot you!” (they said to the one who received the gun). So they wrenched the gun from his hand and threw it into the sea.
“Where is it?” (asked the Dutchman).
They grabbed him by the neck, and smashed him down. They clubbed his nose, then the back of his neck! They hit another stone dead!
Another was starting to come out from down below, and they hit him next, striking the back of his neck and his nose.
The whole lot of them that were in the boat got finished off. They threw them into the waters.
Next they incinerated the boat. The others who were up on the bank were attacked with stones, those three, with hand stones.
pp 101 So they killed them similarly, the three of them at once. They incinerated the boat.
They swam across to the other side (of the river).
The (Dutchman’s) boss might have been the child of a government man, his son.
And who (was showing me)? … I saw a picture in that book there, they wore armour.
(The Aboriginals thought:) “They’ll soon forget about him (the Dutch boss)” – but they (the Dutchmen) couldn’t ignore the situation, and this was what (the Aboriginals) couldn’t understand. They never thought “This might be a powerful man”, no never!
They were looking around (for Dutchmen) – “Mm!” – speared one over there, got him!
Your father’s father got him.
The other of those two (grandfathers) speared another behind him, since (the Dutchmen) were lined up in a row, in a straight line.
He got one at the head of the line who had a gun, and threw the gun in the water – splash!
The next one coming behind, he’d got speared too by now; they were all in a line behind a tree, one behind the other, that tree there … …
The other (Dutchmen) said among themselves, “Yes, our leader is dead”; “Really?”
The rest of the boats came from way out to sea, from well out to sea off Thewena (Cape Keerweer).
From there they wrongly blamed (the Aboriginals) on the south side (of the river mouth), they shot them with guns as they lay sleeping, bang bang bang bang bang bang bang! But they were innocent! (Alan Wolmby: Really?) Yes!
The others (who had massacred the Dutchmen), they were safe.
The (survivors of the punitive attack) dived into the water, swimming to the east bank, heading for our homeland.
They jumped inside the scrub; bang! (went the guns).
17 SENTENCES giving details of massacre and earlier customs.
Well they killed (the Dutchmen) there – oh how many, perhaps nine or twelve of them maybe – and so the rest of them gave it a new name there, that “Cape Keerweer”.
——————————————
Quoted from: Francis Yunkaporta 1999
“Aboriginal tradition re the Duyfken”
in J Henderson 1999
Sent Forth a Dove: Discovery of the Duyfken,
Nedlands: University of Western Australia Press, pp.129-167.
p.143-4
The Aboriginal people saw the first Dutch ship north of the mouth of the river in 1606. They saw a big mob of logs that were huge, very big with lots of devils on them. The devils looked strange. Their skin looked different and they were white. The Aboriginal people wanted to know why they had come.
The warriors were hiding and watching from the bush. They wanted to see what the strangers were going to do.
The devils came from the logs and rowed up to the beach. More than one boat came ashore. They were standing on the beach and looking around, and holding a stick which took them to a place near the bank of the river. The strangers had shovels and began to dig.pp.144
The warriors saw what was going on and could sit no longer. Some warriors went to the strangers to find out who they were and what they were doing on their land. This was not going to be easy because the language they spoke to each other was not the same.
Again, next morning, the warriors came back and the Dutchmen showed them how to use a pick, a shovel and an iron crow-bar to dig the ground.
The Dutch got the warriors to dig the well for them. The well took many days to dig. During this time the warriors imagined the Dutch people came from the sky. They showed the warriors how to smoke tobacco, how to bake damper and how to boil tea. They also showed them how to shoot ducks.
But the warriors asked each other if all these things were good.
One man said it was no good, that the smoke which came out of their mouth was a spirit from their body or one spirit from the past. The warriors were angry. They saw the Dutch people as “onya”, meaning a nuisance that brought all this evil. The warriors went back to their camp.
The Dutch dug one well and a second and then they were digging another alongside the beach. At the end of each day the Dutch would go back to their ship.
One day the warriors were greatly upset because the Dutch people were misbehaving. This caused much trouble.
The warriors came back with anger to where the Dutch were working. For a while, the warriors stood there with the Dutch. Then the Dutch went back to work at the bottom of the well. The warriors went to the well and jumped in on the men below by surprise and beat them. This was Aboriginal law.
There was much fighting between the Dutch and the warriors. The Dutch shot many Aboriginal people along the river and in the bush land. Also, the warriors speared and killed some Dutchmen and made the Dutch go back to their ship. The warriors and the Aboriginal people saw the Dutch return back to where they came from.
Journal – Jan Carstensz, “Pera”:
Recording Navigator: J Carstensz 1623
“Journal kept by Jan Carstensz on his voyage to New Guinea, 1623”
in J E Heeres 1899
The Part Borne by the Dutch in the Discovery of Australia,
London: Luzac and Co., pp.22-44.
p.42 [Skardon River?/ Batavia River?, 11 May 1623]
the men of the Duifken went up [this river] with a boat in 1606, and where one of them was killed by the arrows [spears] of the blacks
p.42 [Skardon River?/ Batavia River?, 12 May 1623]
we … found … a piece of metal which the wounded man had in his [carrying] net … probably got from the men of the Duyfken
p.43
in our landings between 13° and 11° we have but two times seen black men or savages, who received us with more hostility than those more to the southward; they are also acquainted with muskets, of which they would have seem to have experienced the fatal effect when in 1606 the men of the Duyfken made a landing here
Relating to: Torres Passage Through Torres Strait
Documentary Source other than original Journal
Recording Navigator: Luis Vaez de Torres 1607
“Relation Concerning the Discoveries of Quiros, As His Almirante”
in R H Major 1859
Early Voyages to Terra Australis,
London: Hakluyt Society, pp.31-42.
p.39 [Torres Strait, June? 1606]
Here were very large islands, and there appeared more to the southward [Cape York?]: they were inhabited by black people, very corpulent, very naked: their weapons were lances, arrows and clubs of stone ill-fashioned. We could not get any of their arms
p.39 [Torres Strait Islands and New Guinea]
We caught in this land twenty persons of different nations that we might be able to give a better account to Your Majesty
Relating to: Voyage of the Pera and Arnhem 1623, west coast of Cape York Peninsula
Documentary Source other than original Journal
From: “Letter of the Governor-General and Council to the Managers of the VOC, 3 January 1624.”
in J E Heeres 1899
The Part Borne by the Dutch in the Discovery of Australia,
London: Luzac and Co., pp.21-2.
p.22 skirted the said coast as far as 17° 8‘ Southern Latitude our men landed in sundry places, but found nothing but wild coasts, barren land and extremely cruel, savage and
barbarous natives, who surprised and murdered nine of our men.
————————————–
Note: The entries regarding Papua New Guinea contacts have been added as they can be seen to have conditioned the Mariners in their attitudes towards their subsequent contacts with indigenous peoples.
Journal – Jan Carstensz, “Pera”
Recording Navigator: J Carstensz 1623
“Journal kept by Jan Carstensz on his voyage to New Guinea, 1623”
in J E Heeres 1899
The Part Borne by the Dutch in the Discovery of Australia,
London: Luzac and Co., pp.22-44.
p.24 [south coast of New Guinea, 11 Feb 1623]
slew …no less than nine of our men … wounding the remaining seven [from the Arnhem]
p.28 [south coast of New Guinea, 7 March 1623]
PARAPHRASE — 2 New Guineans in canoe throw spears and shot dead.
p.29 [south coast of New Guinea, 10 March 1623]
in appearance they are more like monsters than human beings … … they seem to be evil natured and malignant
p.30 [south coast of New Guinea, 11 March 1623]
a number of blacks sprang out … and began to let fly their arrows at us.
p.30 [south coast of New Guinea, 11 March 1623]
they look more like monsters than human beings.
pp.32-3 [south coast of New Guinea, 26 March 1623]
PARAPHRASE — 25 New Guineans in 4 canoes – some trading conducted [iron, beads]
p.33 [south coast of New Guinea, 26 March 1623]
PARAPHRASE — New Guineans in canoes tried to tow Dutch ship to shore
p.33 [PNG, 26 March 1623]
unable to catch one or two … with nooses … cunning and suspicious
Cape York Interaction
p.36 [upper west coast Cape York Peninsula, 15 April 1623]
Great volumes of smoke becoming visible on the land the sub-cargo got orders to land with the two pinnaces …
4 LINES
[upon return they reported that] they had in various places seen blacks emerging from the wood, while others lay hid in the coppice; they therefore sent a man ashore with pieces of iron and strings of beads … but … nothing could be effected …
p.36 [near Edward/Mitchell Rivers, 18 April 1623]
[upon landing] a large number of blacks some of them armed and other unarmed, had made up to them, the blacks showed no fear and were so bold as to touch the muskets of our men and try to take the same off their shoulders … … our men diverted their attention by showing them iron and beads … … seized one of the blacks with a string which he wore around his neck, and carried him off to the pinnace … the blacks who remained on the beach set up dreadful howls and made violent gestures, but the others who kept concealed in the woods remained there
p.36 [near Edward/Mitchell Rivers, 18 April 1623]
they seem to be less cunning, bold and evil-natured than the blacks at the western extremity of Nova Guinea
p.36-7 [shore party near Edward/Mitchell Rivers, 19 April 1623]
the men were engaged in cutting wood (pp37) a large number of blacks upwards of 200 came upon them, and tried every means to surprise and overcome them, so that our men were compelled to fire two shots, upon which the blacks fled, one of their number having been hit and having fallen.
p.37 [Norman/Gilbert/Staaten Rivers, 24 April 1623]
proposed by me and ultimately approved by the council, to give 10 pieces of eight to the boatmen for every black they shall get hold onshore, and carry off to the boats
p.37 [Norman/Gilbert/Staaten Rivers, 25 April 1623 – 300 km S of earlier kidnap]
[shore party] had seen 7 or 8 blacks who refused to parley with them
p.38
could hold no parley with the natives
p.37 [Staaten River/Rocky Ck/Salt Arm Ck?, 29 April 1623]
the blacks showed themselves from afar but refused to come and parley
p.39 [3 May 1623]
the inhabitants, too, are the most wretched and poorest creatures that I have ever seen.
p.40 [Holyrood River, 5 May 1623, 70 km north of earlier kidnap]
the blacks attacked us with their weapons … … … [they are] malignant and evil-natured
p.40 [Archer River, 7 May 1623]
100 blacks had collected on the bend with their weapons, and … tried to prevent them [crew of the pinnace] from coming ashore; in order to frighten them a musket was accordingly fired, upon which the blacks fled and retreated into the wood, from which they tried every means in their power to surprise and attack our men
p.40 [Archer River, 8 May 1623]
the blacks emerged with their arms from the wood … by showing them bits of iron and strings of beads … we had come near them, upon which one of them who had lost his weapon, was by the skipper seized round the waist, while at the same time the quartermaster put a noose round his neck, by which he was dragged to the pinnace; the other blacks seeing this, tried to rescue their captured brother by furiously assailing us with their assagays [spears]; in defending ourselves we shot one of them, after which the others took to flight.
p.41 [8 May 1623]
in all places where we have landed we have treated the blacks or savages with especial kindness, offering then pieces of iron, strings of beads and pieces of cloth, hoping by so doing to get their friendship … … in spite of all our kindness and our fair semblance
p.42 [Pennefather River,10 May 1623]
some armed savages showed themselves, upon which we landed again and threw out some pieces of iron to them, which they picked up, refusing, however to come to parley with us
p.42 [Skardon River?/ Batavia River?, 12 May 1623]
found upwards of 200 savages standing on the beach … threatening to throw their arrows at us, and evidently full of suspicion, for, though we threw pieces of iron and other things they refused to come to parley, and used every possible means to wound one of our men and get him in their power; we were accordingly compelled to frighten them by firing one or two shots at them, by which one of the blacks was hit in the breast and carried to the pinnace by our men … … … dying before we reached her [the pinnace]
p.42 [Skardon River?/ Batavia River?, 12 May 1623]
we … found … a piece of metal which the wounded man had in his [carrying] net … probably got from the men of the Duyfken
p.43
in our landings between 13°and 11° we have but two times seen black men or savages, who received us with more hostility than those more to the southward; they are also acquainted with muskets, of which they would have seem to have experienced the fatal effect when in 1606 the men of the Duyfken made a landing here
Tasman’s Voyage of 1643
Documentary Source other than original Journal
From: N Witsen 1705
Noord en Ooste Tartarye,
O. Richter (trans.) Amsterdam: Francois Halma, pp.175-6.
p.175 [Tasman 1643, lower west coast of Cape York Peninsula, Norman River area?]
On a southern latitude of seventeen degrees and 12 minutes, on the Southland or Nova Hollandia, Tasman encountered very wicked and cruel, naked black men who had curly hair; they are armed with arrows, bows, javelins and spears. Once a band of fifty heavily armed men came to the beach, divided themselves into three groups and prepared to attack the Dutch who had landed with twenty-five men, but they were surprised by the firing of guns that they fled … big shells are used here as drinking vessels … canoes are made of bark
Produced by Australia On The Map, Australasian Hydrographic Society
