Exploration of Australia

Australia was not an unknown land waiting to be “discovered”. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have lived across the continent for at least 65,000 years, developing detailed knowledge of its landscapes, seasons, waters, plants, animals, and routes. Europeans began recording parts of the Australian coast in the 17th century.

In 1606, the Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon and the crew of the Duyfken mapped parts of the western coast of Cape York Peninsula. Other Dutch sailors later charted sections of the coastline, while Abel Tasman explored Tasmania and parts of the Australian mainland in the 1640s. In 1699, the English navigator William Dampier also examined parts of the western coast.

A major stage came with James Cook’s voyage in 1770. Sailing aboard the Endeavour, Cook charted much of the eastern coastline and claimed the region he called New South Wales for Britain. His expedition also included the botanist Joseph Banks, whose observations and collected specimens contributed to European knowledge of Australian plants.

Exploration continued inland after British settlement began in 1788, with expeditions crossing mountains, deserts, and river systems. These journeys expanded European maps and scientific knowledge, but they also accompanied colonisation, dispossession, disease, and conflict with Indigenous peoples. Today, accounts of Australian exploration increasingly recognise that Indigenous knowledge and long-established connections to Country are an essential part of the continent’s history.