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Who discovered western Australia and when?

Updated: 8/21/2019
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Aborigines had inhabited the mainland of Australia, including the western half, for many thousands of years before Europeans came, while Malay traders had also discovered the west, landing on the far northern coast, collecting trepang (sea slugs) to trade with China, for hundreds of years before Europeans.

The western coast of the continent that was then known by Europeans as Terra Australis Incognita is believed to have first been sighted by Portuguese sailors. However, no records still exist to substantiate this claim.

The first recorded sighting of Australia's western coastline came in 1611, when Dutch mariner Hendrik Brouwer experimented with a different route to the Dutch East Indies. However, actual credit for the discovery of Western Australia is usually given to Dutch sea-captain Dirk Hartog. In 1616, he sailed too far whilst trying out Henderik Brouwer's route from the Cape of Good Hope to Batavia, via the Roaring Forties. Reaching the western coast of Australia, he landed at Cape Inscription in Shark Bay on 25 October 1616. His is the first known record of a European visiting Western Australia's shores.

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