Background

In December 1993 the replica of James Cook’s ship of discovery HM Bark Endeavour was launched into Fremantle Fishing Boat Harbour. The ship created huge interest during construction in the shipshed beside the harbour, so the obvious question arose – what’s next?

In maritime history terms Western Australia is a Dutch coast and so it was felt that if another replica was to be built, it should be Dutch. But there needed to be a ship with a great story. A replica of the ship Batavia (our most famous shipwreck) was nearing completion in The Netherlands at the time so that was ruled out. It was also decided the ship must sail well, be manageable and affordable, and consequently be able to undertake significant voyages and have a meaningful life after construction.

Duyfken, the first recorded European ship to make landfall on the Australian mainland was the obvious choice. Although the ship never came to Western Australia, it marked the start of the great Dutch voyages of discovery along our northern and western coasts, over a century and a half before Cook’s Endeavour voyage mapped the east coast.

The construction of Duyken began in 1996 in a specially built shipyard in front of the WA Maritime Museum and the ship was launched in 1999.

Since the launch, Duyfken has proven to be an outstanding success. The ship did great ambassadorial work in Indonesia at the time of the East Timor crisis when Australian-Indonesian relations were at a low ebb. Duyfken was also involved in a successful reconciliation in 2001 with the Wik People at Pennyfather River, the site on the west side of Cape York where the original Duyfken landed in 1606.

In 2002 Duyfken undertook a year-long voyage from Sydney to The Netherlands to help the Dutch commemorate the 400th anniversary of the founding of the VOC (the Dutch East India Company).

In 2006 Duyfken was funded by the Federal Government to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the landfall on the Australian continent in 1606 by visiting all southern states on a voyage from Fremantle to Sydney. Over 90,000 visitors came on board.

Since that time, Duyfken has spent three years in Cairns under an arrangement with the Queensland Government and the City of Cairns.

At the completion of that contract the ship sailed south and spent a

year at the Australian National Maritime Museum at HM Bark Endeavour's berth while Endeavour undertook a circumnavigation of Australia from March 2011 to May 2012.

In February 2012 the Government of Western Australia entered into an agreement with the Duyfken Foundation for the ship to return to WA. The 10-year grant agreement ensured that Duyfken would once again become part of the Western Australian community.

Duyfken left Brisbane in April 2012 having completed a mini-refit and is sailing north about, back to her homeport of Fremantle. Duyfken will arrive in September having been away for over six years.

Currently the plans are to spend the next two years operating off the west coast in the summer and in the Swan River in the winter and during that time the key aim will be education.

Duyfken– a curriculum sea change

Links to the Australian Curriculum

The Duyfken story is particularly relevant to the new Australian Curriculum. As well as obvious links with the history curriculum there are strong links with other learning areas under development such as English, Mathematics and Science.

The story of Duyfken also has strong links to the three cross curriculum priorities identified by ACARA (The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority):

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders histories and cultures
• Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia
• Sustainability

Duyfken also offers exciting and creative opportunities to address the seven general capabilities which encompass the knowledge, skills, behaviours and dispositions that together with curriculum content in each learning area and the cross-curriculum priorities, will assist students to live and work successfully in the twenty-first century.

• Literacy
• Numeracy
• Information and communication technology (ICT) capability
• Critical and Creative Thinking
• Personal and social capability
• Ethical behavior
• Intercultural understanding

Duyfken links to the new Australian History Curriculum

Key Inquiry Questions:

Year One – Present and Past Family Life

• How can we show that the present is different or similar to the past?
• How do we describe the sequence of time?

Year Two – The Past in the Present

• What aspects of the past can you see today?
• What remains of the past are important to the local community? Why?
• How have changes in technology shaped our daily life?

• Who lived here first and how do we know it?
• How has our community changed? What features have been lost and what features have been retained?
• What is the nature of the contribution made by different groups and individuals in the community?
• How and why do people choose to remember significant events of the past?

Year Four – First Contacts

• Why did the great journeys of exploration occur?
• What was life like for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander People’s before the arrival of the Europeans?
• Why did Europeans settle in Australia?
• What was the nature and consequence of contact between Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Peoples and early traders, explorers and settlers?

Year Five – The Australian Colonies

• How did an Australian colony develop over time and why?
• What were the significant events and who were the significant people that shaped Australian colonies?
  (Case Study: a suggestion. Early Dutch exploration, the mapping of the west coast and the Swan River Colony)

Year Six – Australian as a Nation

• What contribution have significant individuals and groups made to the development of Australian Society?
  (Case Study: a suggestion. The Duyfken Replica: the role of replicas and re- enactments in understanding our history)

Year Eight – The Ancient to the Modern World (c.650 AD (CE) – 1750 )

• How did societies change from the end of the ancient period to the beginning of the modern age?
• What key beliefs and values emerged and how did they influence societies?
• What were the causes and effects of contact between societies in this period?
• Which significant people, groups and ideas from this period have influenced the world today?

Duyfken: a window to another world

Recent research in the UK highlights the importance of extending students’ experiences outside the classroom.

When planned and implemented well, learning outside the classroom contributed significantly to raising standards and improving pupils’ personal, social and emotional development.

UK Government report October 2008

Nine out of ten students said they remembered more from a school outing than a classroom lesson.

A survey of 2000 young people aged 11-14. CABE (Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment), 2010 www.engagingplaces.org.uk/network

What can a visit to Duyfken bring back to the classroom?

When you go below decks the 21^st century disappears…

There is something for everyone:

• Experience the primitive conditions on board and how people lived in the olden days. (year 1)
• Understand where Duyfken fits into a timeline of Australian history. (year 1)
• See the replica of Duyfken as an example of the past in the present. (year 2)
• Compare past and present objects. Examine changes in technology and how these changes have shaped people’s lives (for example changes in transport and communication). (year 2)
• Duyfken is an important historical site of cultural and spiritual significance to Australia. (year 3)
• Take the opportunity to go on board a replica of the vessel that made the first European contact with Australia and Aboriginal peoples. (year 4)
• Duyfken is a story of the Dutch spice traders and their maritime explorations which led to the mapping of the western coast of Australia (years 4 & 5)
• Why it was built? The story of the Duyfken replica. (year 6)
• Explore some of the causes and effects of contact between societies in the 1600s. (year 8)
• Discover the changes in ships and maritime technology from the end of the ancient period to the beginning of the modern age. (year 8)

Proposed plans for Duyfken 2014 – 2016

Other plans in the early stages of development include a voyage to Gallipoli as part of the Federal Government’s program of centenary remembrances. From an educational viewpoint, the voyage offers exciting opportunities for teachers and students around Australia to be immersed in a real time adventure with strong links to our past.

By 2015 the new Australian History Curriculum will have become the standard across Australian schools and teachers will be looking out for relevant and engaging content.

The Gallipoli story fits into the new curriculum at various levels including:

• Year 2 The Past in the Present ‘the importance today of an historical site of cultural or spiritual significance…’
• Year 3 Community and Remembrance ‘Days and weeks celebrated or commemorated in Australia…’
• Year 9 The Making of the Modern World ‘The places where Australians fought and the nature of warfare during World War 1 including the Gallipoli Campaign’

If the proposal to be a part of the Gallipoli Centenary is accepted, the ship will leave Albany in November with the rest of the Anzac fleet, which will then shortly disperse. The Duyfken will sail on, but because of dangers from pirates, the ship will be transported through the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean. From there Duyfken will sail to Gallipoli.

At the completion of the Gallipoli celebrations it is planned to sail through the Mediterranean and up to Amsterdam to take part in Sail Amsterdam, which is one of the world’s biggest Tall Ship events and takes place every five years.

The Duyfken Foundation is also currently in negotiation with State Government to be the focal point for the 400th anniversary of the first European contact with Western Australia when Dirk Hartog came ashore from is ship Eendracht at Point Inscription, in November 1616. The Duyfken would be the highlight of those celebrations by re-enacting Eendracht's voyage from Amsterdam, around the Cape, and across the Indian Ocean via the Brouwer Route.

Mike Lefroy

19 June 2012

Some Duyfken Primary Level Education Publications

The story of the little Dutch ship Duyfken that started the European map of Australia in 1606, and the building of the replica in Fremantle. The book is written in three languages, Dutch, Indonesian and English.

The story of Duyfken and the building of a replica of the ship in Fremantle seen through the eyes of a young girl who lives nearby.