The DARWIN200 Global Voyage is a two-year long voyage that followed the route of Charles Darwin’s voyage on the HMS Beagle around the world. The voyage took place between 2023 and 2025, during which time 32 countries were visited, including the Galapagos Islands, Tahiti, Australia, and South Africa. The voyage Read more
Booya was built in Waterhuizen, the Netherlands in 1917 by Gebroeders van Diepen, under her original name, De Lauwers. She was a three-masted auxiliary schooner with a steel hull and a 130 bhp engine. In 1920, she became known as the Argosy Lemal after she was purchased and registered by Read more
For some three centuries confusion existed among Europeans over the location and name of the Indian Ocean island now referred to as Christmas Island. Maps appeared charting the island with no name, with one of three names, with two names simultaneously, or as two or three adjacent islands. It was Read more
During the 17th and 18th centuries the Dutch were quite active in exploring the western and northern coastlines of the Great Southland. Of one of these expeditions, conducted by Maerten van Delft in 1705, intelligence is limited and it is infrequently mentioned in the canon of Australia’s exploration. The only Read more
In 1859 the Dutch historian, L.C.D. van Dijk published a book on the voyages of discovery made by Jan Carstenszoon in 1623 and Jean Etienne Gonzal in 1756 to the Gulf of Carpentaria. The book contains a commentary of the two voyages as well as a copy of Carstenszoon’s journal. Read more
The history of charting Australia’s coastline is well documented from most perspectives,but not from a toponymic standpoint. Between 1606 and 1803, some nine hundredEuropean placenames were bestowed along the Australian coast. Authors Jan Tent and Helen Slatyer report here on an investigation and analysis of the place-naming practices of the Read more
Some of the first Europeans to venture into the southern Pacific Ocean were the Dutch during the 17th and early 18th centuries. The linguistic legacy of these expeditions can be found in a small number of Dutch words adopted into Polynesian languages as well as toponyms bestowed by them. The Read more
The year 2006 marked the quatercentenary of the first known European charting of any part of the Australian coastline, when the Dutch mariner Willem Janszoon explored 300 kms of the north-west coast of Cape York Peninsula. He bestowed seven placenames, two of which, Moent and Dubbelde Ree have ambiguous meanings Read more
The Polynesian islands share in common the fact that the first European language they came into contact with was the English brought first by Captain Cook, spread by whalers and traders and later consolidated by missionaries. The purpose of the paper below is twofold. First, the authors will present evidence Read more
On some early maps of Australia the name Dinnings Land or Terres de Dinning appears near the Swan River. Who or what was Dinning? This article explores this question, and argues it is a case of mistaken interpretation or erroneous transcription. “The crucial word in the description is duyning. What Read more