Duyfken

Duyfken (Little Dove), a dutch vessel was launched in 1595. She was quite small – around 60 tons, lightly armed ship mainly for the transportation of valuable goods / provisions and transmission of messages.

In 1596, during their first expedition to Java, the crew combatted Portuguese ships where it put an end to the control of the Portuguese and Spanish inthe spice commerce to Europe. In 1605, the Dutch East India Company sent the Duyfken, under the command of Willem Janszoon (pictured), to investigate for trade prospects in the “south and east lands”.

In early 1606, Janszoon came across the Australian continent and he was acclaimed to be the first proven recording of European landing on Australian territory