west coast at Shark Bay in 1616. Further voyages followed in the north and west, and the famous Dutch navigator, Tasman, sailed round to the south discovering Tasmania in 1642. Thinking this to be a part of the mainland of New Holland, as the continent was now called, he named it Van Diemen's Land in honour of the Dutch governor of the East Indies.

By the mid-seventeenth century most of the north, west and south coasts had been charted. But the Dutch were disappointed with their new discoveries. Cartenz reported in 1623: "This is the most arid and barren region that could be found anywhere on earth".

In a similar way thought the first British captain to see the new continent. This was William Dampier, who visited the north-west in 1688 and 1699 and considered the natives to be "the miserablest people in the world".

No explorers had set eyes on the east coast until Captain Cook, leading a British scientific expedition in the Pacific, reached Cape Everard in the Endeavour on April 20th 1770.