Voyage to the Great South Land: Willem de Vlamingh 1696-1697

 WEST AUSTRALIANA MARITIME

Translation from the Dutch of De ontdekkingsreis van Willem Hesselsz. de Blamingh in der jaren 1696-1697. ‘s-Gravenhage : Nijhoff, 1976.

Includes index. x, 259 pages, [29] pages of plates (1 fold.) : illustrations (some col.), facsimiles, maps, portraits ; 25 cm. #200922/130923

Fine in Very Good dustjacket (jacket with some shelf wear, etc.)

First Edition thus.

Willem Hesselsz de Vlamingh (November 1640 – c. 1698) was a Dutch sea captain who explored the central west coast of New Holland (Australia) in the late 17th century, where he landed in what is now Perth on the Swan River. The mission proved fruitless, but he charted parts of the continent’s western coast.
December they sailed on.

On 29 December 1696, De Vlamingh’s party landed on Rottnest Island. He saw numerous quokkas (a native marsupial), and thinking they were large rats he named it ‘t Eylandt ‘t Rottenest (“Rats’ Nest Island”). He afterwards wrote of it in his journal: “I had great pleasure in admiring this island, which is very attractive, and where it seems to me that nature has denied nothing to make it pleasurable beyond all islands I have ever seen, being very well provided for man’s well-being, with timber, stone, and lime for building him houses, only lacking ploughmen to fill these fine plains. There is plentiful salt, and the coast is full of fish. Birds make themselves heard with pleasant song in these scented groves. So I believe that of the many people who seek to make themselves happy, there are many who would scorn the fortunes of our country for the choice of this one here, which would seem a paradise on earth”.

On 10 January 1697, he ventured up the Swan River. He and his crew are believed to have been the first Europeans to do so. They are also assumed to be the first Europeans to see black swans, and De Vlamingh named the Swan River (Zwaanenrivier in Dutch) after the large number they observed there. The crew split into three parties, hoping to catch an Aborigine, but about five days later they gave up their quest to catch a “South lander”.

On 22 January, they sailed through the Geelvink Channel. The next days they saw ten naked, black people. On 24 January they passed Red Bluff. Near Wittecarra they went looking for fresh water. On 4 February 1697, he landed at Dirk Hartog Island, Western Australia, and replaced the pewter plate left by Dirk Hartog in 1616 with a new one that bore a record of both of the Dutch sea-captains’ visits. The original plate is preserved in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

Vlamingh, Willem de, 1640- | Vlamingh, Willem de, 1640- | Explorers — Netherlands. | Housing – Shelters. | Transport – Water – Shipwrecks and accidents. | Settlement and contacts – Explorers. | Australia — Discovery and exploration. | Western Australia (WA)