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Slideshow:
For
an overview of VOC contact with Australia see "Voyages
and Expeditions"
DID
YOU KNOW?
A
series of FIRSTS in Australian history.
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VOC
The
Vereenigde
Oostindische Compagnie
(United East Indies Company), or VOC, was
formed in the Netherlands in 1602 with the aim of sending ships to East Asia to buy
pepper, cinnamon and other spices and trade them on European markets. Its ships
sailed past, landed or were wrecked on Western Australia's coastline. Read all
about it on this site.
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Society
gets Award
The
National Chairman of the Commemorative Council of Australia on the Map 1606 - 2006
has
recognised the Society for
"Actively supporting the promotion of
knowledge and appreciation of early Australian history."
The Society appreciates this acknowledgement
of its efforts.
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What was a white
tribe doing in Central Australia in 1834?
An English newspaper (Leeds Mercury) reported that explorers in Central
Australia found there a
small colony descended from Dutchmen shipwrecked on Australia’s west coast
early in the eighteenth century. >>More
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Why
was there so much VOC activity along Western Australia's (WA) coast?
In
the very early days of Dutch trade, VOC ships stopped at the Cape of
Good Hope and then followed the Portuguese route across the Indian Ocean
to the East Indies. In 1610, Hendrik Brouwer, a senior official with the
Company, pioneered a new route. After the Cape he sailed south-east to
between 35 and 40 S lattitude and then east for about 3500 nautical
miles before turning north, sailing along the WA coast, towards Sunda
Strait and Java and then Batavia - the centre for Dutch trade with Asia.The
route was officially adopted. It was six months quicker!
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Dutch DNA link to Aboriginals in Western Australia (WA)?
The VOC Historical Society, in collaboration with the Nanda Aboriginal community and geneticists in The Netherlands, is investigating the possible existence of a
genetic link between VOC shipwreck survivors and current members of the community. Should the work prove that such a link exists, it would settle all the
speculation that exists today about what might have happened to the survivors. It would also mean that Europeans settled in Australia long before its Colonial history
began and thereby change Australia's early European history.
See how many VOC shipwreck survivors there were. Click here.
"Gene tests seek Dutch links to WA Aboriginals." Read the newspaper article.
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THIS
MONTH IN VOC HISTORY
JANUARY
1606
Dutch navigator and explorer Willem Janszoon in his small VOC ship Duyfken explored and mapped 300 kms of the western coast of Australia's Cape York Peninsula.
He was the first European navigator to do so. He was truly Australia's Columbus!
>>More
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CAN
YOU HELP?
We
are seeking information about habitats, graves, artifacts and co-habitation with the
indigenous population by the survivors of VOC (Dutch) shipwrecks on Western Australia’s coastline.
Confidentiality is assured.
>>More
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Reproductions of VOC ships
AVAILABLE NOW! Reproductions from originals painted by Adriaan de Jong.
They depict actual happenings in Australian history such as Dirck Hartogh's landing on Dirk Hartog island
and de Vlamingh's expedition in 1696/7. Check it out!
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Website
created January 2002.
Last update December 2008
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(The number was
120,000 at January 1, 2006.)
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Meet
the President