Batavia and Cape Inscription

The wreck of Batavia

As part of the Australian Government's Gifts to the Nation, the Western Australian Museum received a grant to investigate land sites associated with the wreck of Batavia.

This subsite explores all of these wrecks and the story behind the Batavia.

Engraving of the massacre that followed the Batavia shipwreck

Engraving of the massacre that followed Batavia shipwreck - from the Jan Janz 1647 edition of Ongeluckige Voyagie
Image copyright WA Museum

Cape Inscription

Dirk Hartog Island is of the greatest historical importance, being the site of the earliest recorded European landfall on the Western Australian coast.

View of a commerative post near the shoreline on an island

Memorial posts to mark de Vlamingh expedition
Image copyright WA Museum