Precis 5

Early Days of Eyre Peninsula 5

DUTCH COMMANDER FIRST TO SIGHT COASTLINE

In 1627, the Gulden Zeepaard (commander Pieter Nuyts and captain Francois Thyssen) made a landfall at Cape Leeuwin. Then probably bearing in mind Coen's instructions, or possibly only in search of adventure and discovery, the officers decided to follow along the unknown southern coast.

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Western Australia claims the major share of the land discovered, but the voyage of the Gulden Zeepaard is definitely of interest to Eyre Peninsula and the Far West Coast. The commander was the first to sight and chart the coast line.

The survey work was remarkable. Subsequent voyagers were profuse in their praise of its accuracy, more especially considering the instruments and data the ship's crew had to work with.

The Frenchman, Rear-Admiral Bruny D'Entrecasteaux. who voyaged along the coast 175 years afterwards, commenting on the paucity of details of Nuyts's expedition, wrote : — ' It is not surprising that Nuyts has given no details of this barren coast, for its aspect is so uniform, that the most fruitful imagination could find nothing to say of it.' . . .

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