Two notable expeditions to Australia by the Dutch were on the ships, 'the Duyfken' and 'the Batavia'.

Following are fictional versions of what might have been recorded in the ships' logs.

 

12th January 1606 I, Captain Willem Janszoon, of the Duyfken, have been instructed to set sail from Batavia (Indonesia), to explore Nova Guinea and other eastern and southern lands. Our ship is small but sturdy and fast. There are twenty crew members on board. The weather is fine and everyone is in good spirits.

16th January 1606 The weather has been fair. We have continued to follow the coastline around Nova Guinea. We are looking for a safe place to anchor and send a boat ashore to replenish our water supplies so we have been sailing as close to shore as we can. In one bay we sighted a huge bird that seemed to be unable to fly. It had a helmet-like crest on its head and a blue neck. Its long powerful black legs and fearsome-looking clawed toes convinced us not to try to go ashore to take a closer look.

22nd January 1606 Landed at a sheltered bay and sent men ashore to refill our water barrels. Alas! They were suddenly attacked by natives and had to run quickly to the row boats. The fighting was quite fierce and we lost eight of our men. We have decided to continue on our mission in spite of having little more than half our crew left.

4th February 1606 We have been sailing for some days through what seems to be a passage through islands to the south of Nova Guinea. Some of the Spanish and Portuguese sailors I have spoken to in Batavia (Indonesia) have talked about their voyages from Nova Guinea but they do not seem to have ventured very far. We have sighted land on the horizon and decided to sail towards it.

8th February 1606 Continuing to head south. The coastline is on our port side and we have already sailed for almost 200 miles, so if this is an island it must be a large one. All the men are hoping to discover the Unknown South Land. Surely someone must find it. There truly should be a great land mass in the south to balance the continents of the north, but how strange and treacherous might it be. The shoreline we are now following does not look treacherous.

17th February 1606 Sighted another strange, flightless bird. This was smaller than the other, and had no crest. It was brown in colour and so well camouflaged that it was difficult to see amongst its surroundings. The bird made a strange, throbbing drum-like sound.

4th March 1606 Getting low on supplies and water. We must land somewhere soon to replenish.

7th March 1606 Sighted a river leading inland and decided to explore it in our ship's sloop. But alas for us! Once again, we were attacked by natives, although these seemed unlike any Nova Guineans I have ever seen. One more of our men fell to a native's spear and we were forced to turn back. I am making charts of this coastline, because it does not appear on any of our maps, and will call this place 'Keerweer', which means 'turn back'. It seems to have been some kind of island. My crew members think that it was still part of Nova Guinea but I am not sure. The people and that bird did not resemble the ones we saw in Nova Guinea and the whole place seems strangely different. I wish that we had more time to explore because I think that perhaps we might have found that Great South Land. Signed Captain Willem Janszoon

Being short of water and supplies, Captain Janszoon decided to return to Banda.

 

Note: The Duyfken had sailed 200 miles down the western coast of Cape York without realising it. The place where they landed was actually a cape and Cape Keerweer can be found on maps of Australia to this day.