Hartogh dish

On 25 October 1616, the 'Eendracht' from Amsterdam, heading for Bantum, arrived here with chief merchant Gilles Mibais van Luik, skipper Dirk Hartogh, merchant Jan Stins and chief steersman Peter Dooke van Bill. This inscription covers the entire width of a pewter dish with a flattened edge. It is a modest reminder of the brief presence of the VOC ship 'Eendracht' on an island off the west coast of Australia. Terra Australis Incognita, the unknown southern land, as Australia was known to Europeans until well into the seventeenth century. Never before had Europeans set foot on the west coast. Dirk Hartogh and his crew were the first.