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Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders have been living in the Australian continent for thousands of years. In the 1500s, Europeans knew of the existence of New Guinea and the island of Timor, but the first believed to have found the Australian continent was Portuguese explorer Christovao de Mendonca. Mendonca never returned to Portugal, but wreckage believed to have been from his ships was found along the Australian coastline. Other sources suggest the first to sight Australia was actually Gomes de Sequeira, also of Portugal, in 1525. His descriptions of the islands he noted when he was blown off course are believed to be islands off the Northern Territory. There is, however, no real proof of this. Several more Portuguese explorers followed, including Louis de Torres, after whom Torres strait is named. The first to chart any part of the Australian continent was explorer Willem Jansz, in 1616. Willem Jansz/Janszoon was a Dutchman who was seeking new trade routes and trade associates. He became the first recorded European to step foot on Australia's shores on the western shore of Cape York Peninsula, on 26 February 1606. However, he believed the Cape to be part of New Guinea, from whence he crossed the Arafura Sea.

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