Voyages of Grand Discovery - About the Exhibition

European seafarers often left traces of their presence on the distant shores they visited. In October 1616, skipper Dirk Hartog and the crew from the Dutch ship Eendracht (Unity) left a flattened pewter plate nailed to a wooden post at the north end of what became known as Dirk Hartog Island. Hartog’s plate served as proof that he visited Shark Bay on his voyage should he not return home.

The stretch of coast that Hartog discovered was entered in the files of the Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC) as the ‘Land of Endracht’. While the loss of the VOC retourschip Batavia on the dangerous reefs of the Houtman Abrolhos in 1629 made vessels wary of the west coast of Australia, they soon learned that ‘Dirk Hartog’s Roads’ at Shark Bay offered good anchorage.

de Vlamingh Plate

Hartog’s landfall heralded the beginning of a series of explorations by the Dutch, English and French navigators, many of whom called at Shark Bay.

To commemorate their own landings these explorers left a variety of posts, plates, plaques, bottles and written messages for others to find.

Left: De Vlamingh plate
Photo: Patrick Baker, WA Museum

‘The land which we saw…and the land which we were near to at noon Dirck Hartochsz-Roads, for we had before us a large bay or bight between two capes. In the bay we could see no land from the main-topmast, but so far as we could discern the surf ran through the whole bay from one cape to another.

The land shows various white plots near the seaside, and in many places rises very steeply so far as we could see.

The breakers on the coast were very strong, but there were no rocks or shallows near the coast on which we could see the surf break, except at the cape north of Dirk Hartochs Roads…

…we kept sounding every two or three glasses during the whole night until sunrise and found 80 fathoms sandy bottom…’ Journal of Commander Wollebrand Geleynszoon De Jongh of the ship Amsterdam 1635.

The Hartog & De Vlamingh Plates
Despite looking very similar, the pewter plates left at Cape Inscription by Dirk Hartog and Willem de Vlamingh had different meanings at the time they were created. Hartog’s plate was an account of his voyage should he not return home to tell his story. De Vlamingh recognised it as ‘proof of the daring spirit of his ancestors’ and as a mark of honour commemorating this historic place.

Both plates have had dramatic histories and are priceless relics of the earliest explorations of Australia.

25 October 1616 – Dirk Hartog nailed a pewter plate to a post with an engraved account of his voyage and his crew.

4 February 1697 – Willem de Vlamingh replaced the Hartog plate with a new plate. He reproduced Hartog’s account plus engraved details of his own voyage on the Geelvinck. He takes the Hartog plate to Batavia (Jakarta) where it was sent back to Amsterdam in the care of Claes Bichon. It remained in the possession of the United East India Company until 1799. In 1819 it was transferred to the Royal Cabinet of Curiosities in The Hague. This collection became part of the Rijksmuseum in 1883 where the plate is currently on display.

16 July 1801 – Captain Jacques-Felix-Emmanuel Hamelin arrived on the corvette Naturaliste to rendezvous with Baudin’s ship Géographe. A party went ashore to place a flag and a bottle with dispatches for Baudin. They discovered de Vlamingh’s plate fallen into the sand from a half rotten post.

Hartog's Plate

Above: Hartog plate replica: Presented to the Western Australian Museum in 1966 by the Dutch authorities. On display in the Hartog to de Vlamingh gallery, Western Australian Museum – Shipwreck Galleries, Fremantle.

Photo: Patrick Baker, WA Museum

He copied the inscriptions and erected a new post for the plate and nailed a Dutch flag to the post. He also left an engraved lead plaque commemorating the Baudin expedition, which has never been found.

September 1818 – Captain Louis de Freycinet arrived on Uranie determined to recover the plate he had seen with Hamelin. He took the plate with him giving it to the Academie Royale des inscriptions et belle-lettres de l’Institute de France in Paris for safekeeping. It wasn’t until 1940 that is was rediscovered in these collections by Francois Renie, who published an extensive description of the plate after the German occupation.

28 May 1947 – The French Government presents the plate to Australia. The plate returns to Western Australia in 1950 to become part of the Western Australian Museum collection. It is on permanent exhibition at the Western Australian Museum – Shipwreck Galleries in Fremantle.

Cape Inscription Posts
Since 1616 three posts were placed on Dirk Hartog Island by explorers to commemorate their landings.

25 October 1616 – Dirk Hartog erected a post, believed to be made of oak to hold the pewter plate recording his journey.

4 February 1697 – Willem de Vlamingh replaces Hartog’s post. This post is believed to have been made from Rottnest Island ‘pine’, identified in 1822 by Phillip Parker King’s botanist Alan Cunningham.

Above: Drawing of Hamelin’s post (CH 1004) showing the names 'KING’ and ‘ROE’, and the date 1822 marked out in nails.

Illustration: David Hutchison.

16 July 1801 – Captain Jacques-Felix-Emmanuel Hamelin erected a third post, made from a section of ships spar. He attached the de Vlamingh plate and left the remains of de Vlamingh’s post.

24 January 1822 – Phillip Parker King had his name and the date outlined in nails on Hamelin’s post.

1907 – The remains of the de Vlamingh and Hamelin posts were removed during a survey of Cape Inscription and given to the Western Australian Museum. The remains of a shorter third post of unknown origin appears to have been left in situ until 1988.

1908 – The Western Australian Government erected two posts of ‘Raspberry Jam Wood’ with plaques to mark the original site.

1910 – An area around the posts is gazetted as ‘A’ Class Reserve 12715 ‘Protection of Inscription Posts’ to protect the site.

1997 – The 1908 posts removed and replaced with new posts made from Rottnest Island Pine and Baltic pine with replica plates as part of the Willem de Vlamingh Tricentennial celebrations. One of the 1908 posts is presented to the Western Australian Museum by the Wardle family of Dirk Hartog Island.

2006 – The Dirk Hartog Landing Site 1616- Cape Inscription Area was added to the National Heritage List.

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