DD AA RR EE TTOO LLEE AA RR NN Explorers EDUCATION MAGAZINE on the Follow the footprints of great explorers into the heart of the National Library of Australia EDGE 2 © National Library of Australia CONTENTS GREATGREAT SOUTHERNSOUTHERN LANDLAND Great Southern Land. 2 Hi, I’m the Library Lizard. Follow me to find fun stuff to do Sailing the High Seas . .4 in this newspaper and in the Captain James Cook National Library. Kay Cottee Terra Australis board game . 7 Landlocked. 8 Burke and Wills High-Flyers . 10 Charles Kingsford Smith Nancy Bird Walton Paul Scully-Power Trials of Endurance . 12 Frank Hurley Augustus Earle Follow the footprints of great explorers . 14 into the heart of the Library’s collections Mapping Time — The Maps Collection Recording Australia’s Journey — The Manuscripts Collection Eye Spy Adventure — The Pictures Collection Music of Discovery — The Music Collection Education Services . 16 This is a French map that Cook took with him on board Resources for teachers the Endeavour. nla.map-t1002 The website Compare it to Cook’s map on page 5. nla.map-rm201 James Cook charted the eastern coast of ‘New Holland’ on his first voyage to the Pacific, and named it ‘New South Wales’. From that time Australia had two names: Acknowledgements the eastern part was called New South Wales and the Thanks are due to the following people for their assistance in western part New Holland. compiling this publication: Lyn Adams, Margaret Astbury, Sylvia Carr, Damian Cole, Stephanie Green, Gunther Glesti, If you discovered an unknown landmass Shirley Gollings, Jenny Hadlow, Susan Hall, Nicholas Henderson, what name would you give it? Robyn Holmes, Andrew Holmes, Fiona Hooton, Karen Johnson, Tim Jones, Louise O’Brien, Graeme Powell, Heidi Pritchard, Glen Timeline Nagle (Manager Education and Outreach, Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex), Judith Robertson, Nicki Mackay-Sim About 110 million years ago About 65 million years ago and Helen Tsogas. Dinosaurs roam the Earth. Australia is joined Dinosaurs die out across the globe. Designed by Kathryn Wright Design with Africa, India, Antarctica, and South America as the great Library Lizard illustrations by Brett Butler southern continent of Gondwana. 3 GREATGREAT SOUTHERNSOUTHERN LANDLAND istorians and archaeologists are still debating when the first Australians reached our shore but it is generally believed to be over 50 000 years ago. Aboriginal people lived and hunted for Hcenturies on the continent now known as Australia, but they were not alone. Indonesians from Macassar regularly sailed to northern Australia to fish for trepang (sea cucumbers). They set up camp and lived with the Indigenous peoples for a few months before returning home when the winds were favourable. It was many centuries before others who lived in the northern hemisphere would hear whispers about a vast and mysterious landmass in the southern hemisphere. Depending on where you were from in Europe, the mysterious landmass might be called: Southland, Hollandia Nova, New Holland or Niew Hollandt, New South Wales, Great Southern Land or Terra Australis. The Ancient Greeks were the first to suppose that a landmass existed in the southern hemisphere, and named it the Unknown South Land. Later map makers used the Latin name Terra Australis Incognita (Unknown South Land). The first Europeans reached the coast in 1606. Looking for gold or trade opportunities, the small Dutch ship the Duyfken, under the command of Willem Jansz, ventured south-east. The Dutch did not find gold, but they did find the northern coast of a huge continent: Australia. Captain Jansz was the first European to map and record Australia, so the Duyfken’s voyage marks the beginning of Australia’s recorded history. This map from 1593 shows East New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and the imaginary coast of Australia including mythical beasts. A number of other Dutch navigators later ‘bumped’ into the northern, nla.map-rm389 western, and southern coasts of what they referred to as the Southland Aboriginal peoples and white explorers shared or Zuid Landt in Dutch. The Dutch navigator Abel Tasman is believed to a fragile relationship filled with tensions and have used the name Hollandia Nova or ‘New Holland’ when recording the misunderstandings. For Aboriginal peoples, Australian coastline. He visited twice: the first time he made the earliest encounters with white explorers led to introductions European discovery of Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania), and the second to unknown animals, objects, clothes—and diseases. time he charted sections of the northern and western coastlines. Sometimes Aboriginal people received blankets, axes or tobacco as gifts in exchange for vital information about the land and its resources. White explorers used western scientific principles to view, measure and map the land. The explorers believed they were opening up country for future generations. Yet the paths they followed were already well worn by the It was Matthew Flinders who Aboriginal peoples whose local knowledge helped finally put all the puzzling pieces them on their way. Many of these paths have since of the map together when he become some of Australia’s major highways. charted sections of the southern coast. Flinders was the first to sail completely around, or Flinders proved that both New South Wales and circumnavigate, Australia. Flinders New Holland were part of one continent. The name in his journals referred to the land ‘Australia’ was finally adopted during Lachlan as Terra Australis, but wrote he Macquarie’s term as Governor of the British colony would have preferred to call it of New South Wales (1810–1821). Flinders’ chart of Australia. ‘Australia’. nla.map-t570 About 55 million years ago About 45 million years ago About 50 000 years ago About 45 000 years ago Gondwana has begun to break up. Australia has broken away Humans begin to colonise Australia. Most of Australia’s megafauna— Australia is still joined with Antarctica. on its own. such as the 200kg kangaroo and giant penguin—are extinct. 4 A ILI SS SSA ILINNGG TT SEEAA (1728-1779) H CAPTAIN JAMES COOK HEE HIIGGHH S National of Library Australia Plotting Uncharted Waters H © n 1768, 94 men with cows and chickens, a goat and two Idogs departed on a sea journey to visit remote lands and people, on an epic voyage of discovery. James Cook and his crew on board the Endeavour were sent to Tahiti to view the passing of the planet Venus but were also given secret instructions to search for the mythical southern continent Terra Australis Incognita (Unknown South Land). Portrait of James Cook. Cook’s nla.pic-an2291508 secret instructions “...You are to proceed to the Southward in order to make Disaster Struck! discovery of the Continent abovementioned until you While charting the coast of north-eastern arrive in the Latitude of 40°, unless you sooner fall in Australia, disaster struck! On 11 June 1770, the with it. But not having discover’d it or any Evident sign Endeavour hit the Great Barrier Reef. of it in that Run you are to proceed in search of it to The crew worked frantically to lighten the ship. the Westward between the Latitude beforementioned Many items, such as carriage guns, iron and stone and the Latitude of 35° until you discover it, or fall ballast casks, oil jars and decayed provisions had to in with the Eastern side of the Land discover’d by be thrown overboard to lighten the ship and allow Tasman and now called New Zeland.” it to float off the reef. Pumps were used to remove (Transcript of secret instructions shown left.) water coming in through the damaged timbers, and still more things were thrown overboard. Though Cook found no southern continent, he proceeded to chart By the evening of the following day, Cook knew both the main islands of New Zealand before continuing west. that their situation was serious and it was at In 1770, the crew sighted land—it was the east coast of Australia. around 10.20pm that they ‘hove her a float and Turning north, Cook began to chart Australia’s east coast. into deep water’. (Journal, 12 June 1770). A heavy sail was drawn under the bottom of the ship to slow the water rushing in, then it took several days to find a safe anchorage in a bay with a river. Cook named this the Endeavour River, after his ship, and the town at that site is now known as Cooktown. William Byrne’s picture, painted in 1773, shows the Endeavour being repaired after it The journal kept by Captain Cook on board his ship was damaged on the Great Barrier Reef. Endeavour, photographed on a desk believed to have been nla.pic-an9184938 used by Cook on the ship. About 20 000 years ago About 10 000 years ago About 8 000 years ago About 5 000 years ago 1606 1616 1619 1623 1627 Aboriginal communities have Australia has nearly reached its current Rising sea levels cut off the land bridge The dingo arrives in Australia. Dutchman Willem Jansz explores Dirck Hartog lands on Frederik de Houtman charts Jan Carstensz sails along the Pieter Nuyts charts been established throughout position on the globe, and the present between Australia and Papua New Guinea, the west coast of Cape York Dirck Hartog Island the south-west coast of Cape York Peninsula and kidnaps the southern coast mainland Australia and climate is established. The land bridge forming the Torres Peninsula. Spaniard Luis Vaez De on the west coast of Western Australia. a local Aboriginal man. from Cape Leeuwin to the Tasmania (part of which is between the mainland and Tasmania is Strait Islands. Torres sails through the Torres Strait. Australia. Nuyts Archipelago.