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| Gove Departure |
| Posted by |
Graeme Cocks |
| Email address |
|
| Date posted |
09 October 2000 |
| Message |
MEDIA RELEASE 31 July 2000 DUYFKEN DEPARTS GOVE BOUND
FOR THE PENNEFATHER RIVER, QUEENSLAND After three frustrating
days waiting for the wind in the Gulf of Carpentaria to
weaken, the replica ship Duyfken sailed from Gove in the
Northern Territory today - bound for the Pennefather River
near Weipa in Queensland. Duyfken is scheduled to arrive
at the mouth of the Pennefather River on 9 August to be
met by the traditional Aboriginal owners of the river mouth
and Queensland Premier Peter Beattie. Ship’s Master Peter
Manthorpe said he had to wait for a "window of opportunity"
to depart from Gove on the last leg of the voyage to Queensland.
He said that Duyfken was moved to a cyclone anchorage at
Gove as the ship was being buffeted against the wharf in
the harbour. "There was not point in us leaving Gove the
strong south easterly breezes subsided as we have to sail
against the prevailing wind from the western to the eastern
side of the Gulf of Carpentaria," he said. Project Director
Graeme Cocks said that the crew were looking forward to
the arrival in Queensland. "We want this arrival of Duyfken
in Queensland to be different to the arrival 400 years ago
which was an unhappy event both for the Aboriginal people
of the area and the Dutch crew," he said. Daily updates
from the Chevron 2000 Duyfken Expedition are posted on the
Captain’s Log at the Duyfken website, www.duyfken.com. Duyfken
is recreating the first voyage to Australia recorded in
history when Dutch sea captain Willem Janszoon sailed from
the Banda Islands of Indonesia to Cape York Peninsula. The
voyage of discovery also was the first time recorded in
history when Aboriginal people met people from the outside
world and the Australian land mass appeared on a chart.
Duyfken was constructed by the Duyfken 1606 Replica Foundation
in Fremantle at a cost of A$3.7 million. E N D S Media contact:
Graeme Cocks, Project Director (08) 9272 6854, 041 990 |
| An Expedition
into Australian History |
| Posted by |
Graeme Cocks |
| Email address |
|
| Date posted |
09 October 2000 |
| Message |
When the replica ship Duyfken slipped out of Banda Harbour
in the Maluku Province of Indonesia on 1 July 2000 and her
crew set sail for Australia she began the most important
part of an expedition into Australian history. Since April,
Duyfken (the Little Dove) had sailed more than 5000km from
her home port of Fremantle, north along Western Australia's
shipwreck coast. It was a voyage made more difficult by
heavy seas, headwinds and times of dead calm as well as
the primitive conditions on board. Duyfken visited the Abrolhos
Islands where the Dutch East India Company (VOC) ship Batavia
struck a coral reef and a subsequent mutiny resulted in
many deaths. Her crew also visited Cape Inscription in Shark
Bay where Dirck Hartog left his famous plate 10 years after
Duyfken's visit to Cape York on the other side of the continent.
The replica 24 metre 110 tonne Dutch „jacht” left Australian
waters from Broome and sailed into Indonesia across the
Timor Sea, arriving at Kupang in West Timor two weeks later
the new replica vessel‚s first ocean passage. Duyfken then
sailed through the Indonesian archipelago. Duyfken is remarkable
not only because she is the first Dutch „jacht” to sail
from Indonesia to Australia in 400 years, but because the
impetus to build the ship and sail the expedition came not
from governments or corporations but through an enormous
community effort. It was led by Fremantle community leader
Michael G Kailis who unfortunately passed away in June 1999,
only weeks before the ship was due to sail for the first
time. The community foundation constructed the ship at a
cost of $3.7 million to help tell the little known story
of Australia‚s first recorded European visitors and to counter
two of Australia‚s popular historical myths: that Dirk Hartog
was the first European to step ashore in Australia and that
Captain Cook „discovered‰ Australia. The 2000 Duyfken Expedition
sponsored by Chevron Corporation is now bringing the little
known historical truth to people in Australia and all over
the world. Chevron Corporation is building a gas pipeline
from Papua New Guinea to Australia. The first recorded chart
of the Australian coastline was made by Duyfken‚s skipper,
Captain Willem Janszoon, and the first time recorded in
history when Aboriginal Australians met people from the
outside world occurred during Duyfken‚s 1606 voyage of discovery.
Indeed, the indigenous people of Cape York still talk about
the Duyfken landing in their oral history. For the crew
of the original Duyfken, theirs was a voyage beyond the
known world at the time. They thought that a land of gold
known as „Nova Guinea‰ could exist to the south east and
they set out to find it. What they found was the Gulf of
Carpentaria coast of Australia‚s Cape York Peninsula and
the oldest living culture on Earth but no gold. Janszoon
charted 350 kilometres of the Cape coast before sailing
north to Torres Strait and unsuccessfully searching for
a passage through the maze of shoals and islands. He approached
the fringing reefs of Papua New Guinea before turning to
the west and returning to the Banda Islands, his crew depleted
from skirmishes with the people of Cape York and Irian Jaya.
Duyfken‚s voyage marked the European „discovery‰ of the
sixth continent and over the next 150 years, more than two
dozen voyages to Australia charted three-quarters of the
Australian coastline. Cook and Endeavour filled in the last
part of the map 164 years later. Duyfken‚s visit marks the
beginning of Australia‚s recorded history. |
| About the Duyfken
1606 Replica Foundation |
| Posted by |
Graeme Cocks |
| Email address |
|
| Date posted |
09 October 2000 |
| Message |
The Duyfken 1606 Replica Foundation is a charitable organisation
chaired by Perth businessman Mr Rinze Brandsma. Project
Director of the Foundation and the Chevron 2000 Duyfken
Expedition is Graeme Cocks. Captain Peter Manthorpe is the
Ship‚s Master. Hailed by Dutch historians as the most exacting
„Age of Discovery” replica ship yet constructed, Duyfken‚s
hull is European Oak from Latvia, her sails and rig all
natural flax and hemp. She was built and fitted-out in Fremantle
using „plank-first‰ construction fire was employed to bend
the hull planks and inside frames were added afterwards.
The hull was launched on 24 January 1999 and she was able
to sail for the first time on 10 July 1999. Soon afterwards,
work began to prepare the basic ship for the Chevron 2000
Duyfken Expedition. Thousands of people contributed to the
construction of the vessel: experienced shipwrights headed
by Australia‚s most acclaimed master shipwright, Bill Leonard,
joined with volunteer shipwrights. Volunteer guides showed
people over the ship as she was being built, and the Friends
of the Duyfken and the Duyfken 1606 Club represented the
wider community and business supporters. Most importantly,
the Duyfken 1606 Replica Foundation obtained funding for
the project from the Governments of Western Australia, Queensland,
Australia and the Netherlands, the Lotteries Commission
of WA, private donors, the MG Kailis Group of Companies
and a whole raft of other companies and members of the community.
Once the ship was completed, the search began for a crew
with the skills to sail a 400 year old tall ship design.
Since a ship of this type had not been constructed for 350
years, the Duyfken Foundation looked to Australia‚s pool
of tall ship sailors or people who could adapt to life on
such a primitive vessel. The search for suitable crew took
a year. The Ship‚s Master, Peter Manthorpe, is one of Australia‚s
most experienced tall ship masters. His crew has rediscovered
sailing skills not used for 300 years to sail the 24 metre,
110 tonne vessel. They have begun to understand the wisdom
of shipbuilders from the Age of Discovery as the little
ship has overcome every ocean challenge presented to her.
Duyfken is believed to be the only ship operating in the
world using a traditional Dutch whipstaff or „kolderstok”
for steering. Thousands of people and 100 craft farewelled
Duyfken and her crew in Fremantle on 8 April 2000 as they
began their arduous expedition. The Duyfken crew varies
in size but the crew which left Fremantle comprised 18 experienced
square-rig sailors from Western Australia, South Australia
and New South Wales. They came to the expedition for the
chance of a lifetime the first time that a replica of a
Dutch East India Company (VOC) vessel had been taken to
the famed Spice Islands of Indonesia. Joining them were
two historians, a marine biologist, two artists and a film
crew from Sydney-company Firelight Productions filming a
documentary of the expedition. The marine biologist from
Townsville studyied the works of the noted VOC naturalist
Georgius Rumphius. An Indonesian interpreter and a Dutchman
were also part of the crew. A key part of the Chevron 2000
Duyfken Expedition has been to inspire people to learn more
about their history by inviting them to come aboard during
port visits. Duyfken sailed up the Western Australian coast
visiting sites of historic maritime importance, recognising
the feats of the early navigators who sailed along the continent‚s
western coast and sometimes came to grief when they failed
to turn north at the right time after sailing across the
Indian Ocean. They visited the seaside communities stretched
along the coast and big crowds greeted the ship each time
she arrived. At each port the Duyfken Foundation placed
the ship on public exhibition and people of all ages inspected
the vessel. A feature of the exhibition has been a display
of 16th century shipboard life funded by a grant under the
Federal Government‚s travelling cultural exhibitions program
„Visions of Australia”. Displays on the dockside interpret
what people see on board. Volunteer guides from the local
community show visitors aboard. Communities visited by Duyfken
include Geraldton, Denham, Carnarvon, Exmouth, Dampier,
Port Hedland and Broome. |
| Expedition Sails
through Eastern Indonesia |
| Posted by |
Graeme Cocks |
| Email address |
|
| Date posted |
09 October 2000 |
| Message |
The voyage to Indonesia had particular significance because
it was the first people-to-people cultural exchange between
Australia and Indonesia since the East Timor crisis.At Kupang,
and again at Solor and Flores, the crew were greeted by
enthusiastic Indonesians who were surprised by the historical
connections between Australia and Indonesia demonstrated
by the vessel. Indeed, like most Australians, Indonesians
are not aware that the first ship to visit Australia sailed
from the Spice Islands of Indonesia.Duyfken sailed through
the Spice Islands, now known as the Maluku Province. For
thousands of years, this province supplied the world with
nutmeg, mace and cloves. The original Duyfken was involved
with this trade and the expedition re-discovered this part
of the ship‚s rich history. As Duyfken sailed from island
to island she became known as „Kapal VOC‰ (VOC ship) signifying
the connection of the vessel with the Dutch East India Company
(VOC). The crew‚s secondary mission was to build bonds of
friendship with the people of Indonesia and this was accomplished
at many ports. |
| Banda, Maluku,
to Pennefather River, Queensland |
| Posted by |
Graeme Cocks |
| Email address |
|
| Date posted |
09 October 2000 |
| Message |
Duyfken arrived at the famed nutmeg island of Banda south
of Ambon on 21 June, 2000. Banda was the departure point
for the original voyage of discovery to Australia. The arrival
of the ship at the place where the original little scout
ship left on a one of the least understood voyages of world
discovery was a seminal moment for all in the Duyfken Foundation.
Duyfken was involved with one of the most shameful periods
of Dutch colonial history and the crew came to understand
the enormous impact which ships such as Duyfken and the
people they carried wrought on the Spice Islands. After
a two week tour of the Banda Islands, the ship turned north
east towards Ceram Island to find favourable winds and to
re-enact the 1606 voyage, ultimately sailing south east
to the mouth of the Pennefather River, 30 km north of Weipa
on Cape York Peninsula in Queensland‚s Gulf of Carpentaria.
The ship sailed to Irian Jaya and then south to False Cape,
crossing the Arafura Sea for an unscheduled stop at Gove
in north east Arnhem Land. She then crossed the Gulf of
Carpentaria just as Janszoon had done in 1606. The arrival
on 9 August 2000 had particular significance for the people
of the Mapoon, Aurukun and Napranum communities for the
story of Duyfken‚s original visit is still part of their
folklore. They were invited to participate in the arrival
in their own way. Queensland Premier Peter Beattie joined
the traditional owners of the Pennefather River mouth, the
head of Chevron Overseas from San Francisco, Aboriginal
singers, dancers, and more than 200 people from Weipa and
nearby communities to welcome the vessel. Charged with a
strong sense of past injustices both in Indonesia and Australia,
Duyfken‚s crew were intent upon making their own statement
on the beach. Captain Peter Manthorpe came ashore bearing
a message stick from the Noongah community of the Fremantle
area. The message stick asked for permission to land. He
placed a white flag on a pole on the beach and next to it
was placed a spear signifying that this was to be a peaceful
visit. Duyken‚s crew were given permission to land, and
400 years of Australian history came into focus for a moment.
The traditional owners spoke about the importance of recognising
the past, but not dwelling on it, of going forward together
and creating a better future. Ordinary Australians had joined
together to perform an act of reconciliation for the first
moment in Australian history when Aboriginal people and
Europeans met. This time, message sticks and handshakes
were exchanged not musket balls and spears. Peter Manthorpe
and his crew will now follow Captain Willem Janszoon‚s original
chart of the Queensland coast but unlike the voyage of 1606
they will come ashore with the permission of the Aboriginal
people of Cape York. They will sail north through Torres
Strait to Port Moresby and then on to a five month exhibition
tour of Queensland ports thanks to a grant of $500,000 from
the Queensland Government. When Duyfken arrives at the Gold
Coast in Christmas 2000, she will have sailed tens of thousands
of kilometres, tens of thousands of people will have looked
over the vessel, millions worldwide will have seen a documentary
of the expedition and another one of the Duyfken 1606 Replica
Foundation‚s goals will have been achieved to bring the
story of the first European expedition to Australia to the
world‚s attention. But probably more significant will be
that moment at the Pennefather River when Duyfken's crew
asked for permission to come ashore. Thousands of people
from all over the community, from business and government
will be aware that their contribution helped make the dream
of Duyfken, the Little Dove, come true. |
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