Duyfken is an important Australian history as Santa Maria is to Americans. Her skipper, Willem Janszoon, was Australia's Christopher Columbus. Duyfken was the first European vessel to make a recorded landfall on the Australian continent (in early 1606) and her crew were the first Europeans to have set foot on it. The voyage produced the first chart of the Australian coastline. Her voyage marked the first time recorded in history that Aboriginal Australians first met people from outside world. This is a story of a remarkable ship, her life and times; how 400 years later a replica of the original was conceived and constructed in Fremantle; and how she set sail to discover the past
Notes
First published July 1998 by the Duyfken 1606 Replica Foundation, Fremantle, Western Australia