Zeehan, TAS: Once Known as The Silver City

Located in Tasmania's west coast region in a valley surrounded by hills and rainforest, Zeehan was first established as a mining field. 

Situated 115.18 km (71.57 miles) from Devonport and north of Strahan, and Queenstown, explore historic streetscapes, lakes, dunes and lush rainforests.

The town of Zeehan was named after the nearby Mount Zeehan, which had been named by George Bass and Matthew Flinders after Abel Tasman's Fluyt (ship) Zeehaen.

Peerapper and Tommeginne Aboriginal People

Aboriginal people first arrived in Tasmania about 40,000 years ago when the area was part of mainland Australia. 

Mainland Australia, New Guinea and Tasmania were part of the same landmass through much of the Pleistocene era (Sahul).

The end of the Ice Age, about 10,000 years ago, caused rising sea levels. About 6000 BC, Tasmanian Aboriginal people (Palawa) became isolated from the rest of humanity for 8,000 years, until European arrival.

The food sources of Tasmanian Aboriginal people came from hunting, gathering and fishing. Kangaroo and wallaby, possum and wombat, muttonbird and penguins were hunted, mostly by men. While edible wild plants, roots, flora fruits, eggs and sap were collected in season, by women.

There are similarities between prehistoric Australian megafauna and some mythical creatures from the Aboriginal Dreamtime. However, Aboriginal people, along with climate change, caused a "perfect extinction storm"  and rapidly eliminated the megafauna of Tasmania about 41,000 years ago. (Megafauna were large vertebrates up to almost three tonnes) (1.)

A commonly reported practice of Tasmania Aboriginal people was carrying the bones of a recently deceased relative, in a kangaroo skin bag, around the neck. The spirit, however, would return to the sky country.

Aboriginal petroglyph at Trial Harbour, TAS, on granite

Creator spirits often moved between the Earth and sky in Aboriginal Belief systems. But it was in the Dreamtime when creator spirits roamed the Earth, creating the hills, rivers and laws for people to follow. Laws and stories were passed down orally, along with song and dance.

Members of a clan were united by kinship ties and common territory. 

The French expedition, under Nicolas Baudin, in Géographe and Naturaliste, landed in Tasmania in 1802. The French spent time interacting with Aboriginal people and making notes about their language and culture. They also collected flora and fauna and cultural objects.

The French artists Charles-Alexandre Lesueur and Nicholas-Martin Petit documented their meetings with local Tasmanian Aboriginal people.

Aboriginal culture was severely disrupted by the arrival of the British, bringing illnesses to which they had no immunity. 

British arrival was also the meeting of the most different people on Earth. Divergent concepts of land ownership, beliefs and laws created tensions leading to warfare and great losses for Aboriginal people. 

George Augustus Robinson was brought in as a "conciliator" between settlers and Aboriginal people. Assisted by Aboriginal woman, Truganini, an agreement with the greatly feared Big River and Oyster Bay peoples was made. By the end of 1835 most Aboriginal people had been relocated to a new settlement.

Group of Natives of Tasmania (1859) by Robert Hawker Dowling (1827 – 8 July 1886)

1640s

The Dutch explorer Abel Tasman was the first European to sight Van Diemen's Land in 1642. One of the first mountains he saw was on the West Coast of the island, was later named Mount Zeehan. 

Abel Tasman's ships the Zeehaen and the Heemskerck

1798

Georges Bass and Lieut. Matthew Flinders became the first people to circumnavigate Tasmania on a voyage of exploration aboard HMS Norfolk. They named the nearby Mount Zeehan after Abel Tasman's vessel Zeehaen.

The Bass and Flinders Maritime Museum is  home to a full-size working replica of the sloop Norfolk. Located George Town Tasmania. Here

1870s

In 1876, the Government Surveyor led an exploration party southwards from Waratah through dense rain forest. They crossed the Pieman River 30 miles SW of Waratah and found traces of tin and gold near Mt Heemskirk. This led to further explorations in the region.

In 1879, tin was discovered at nearby Mount Heemskirk.

1880s

Silver was discovered at Zeehan in 1882, when trackcutter and prospector Frank Long, discovered the Zeehan-Dundas silver-lead field near the later site of the Zeehan Post Office. He was the son of ex-convicts, born in Launceston, in about 1844. 

Some 80 acres were pegged by Frank Long for the Arthur and Long Plains Prospecting Association, which later became the Mt Zeehan mine. J. Healy pegged the adjoining 80 acres for the Despatch Company.

Supplies and equipment were brought in by pack~horse from Trial Harbour.

First store at Zeehan, TAS, 1880s

Mining grew slowly at Zeehan until 1887 when G. Bell discovered galena (mineral form of lead) nearby. This would become the Silver Queen mine.

A post office opened in 1888.

The Zeehan-Trial Harbour road was completed in 1889.

Population was about 130 in 1889.

1890s

Illustrated Sydney News (NSW : 1881 - 1894), Saturday 26 September 1891

Zeehan, TAS, 1891, Weekly Courier

Mineral prices crashed in the 1890s. The Bank of Van Diemens Land, who invested heavily in silver mining ventures, crashed on August 3 1891. The next day 27 mines closed.

The Stock Exchange, Zeehan, TAS, Illustrated Sydney News (NSW : 1881 - 1894), Saturday 20 June 1891

Messrs. Wilson and Pontifex's Premises, Zeehan, Tasmania. Illustrated Sydney News (NSW : 1881 - 1894), Saturday 20 June 1891

The tunnel of the Central Balstrup Silver Mining Company, Zeehan, TAS, Illustrated Sydney News (NSW : 1881 - 1894), Saturday 18 July 1891

 Mr J Stubbings' premises at Zeehan, TAS, Illustrated Sydney News (NSW : 1881 - 1894), Saturday 18 July 1891

Charles Sedery unloading goods on Zeehan Williamsford Railway, Tasmania - circa 1890s. Charles Sedery marked with X. He was a guard on the North East Dundas railway. Kaye

In 1891 there were 159 companies and syndicates in the area.

In 1892 the Zeehan-Strahan railway opened and the increased accessibility led to many hopeful miners rushing to the area.

Important mines at Zeehan were the Silver Queen. Western and Oceana.

The Emu Bay Railway that linked Zeehan to the North West Coast opened in 1891. The line started in Zeehan's Main Street, about 750 metres from the railway station. The line ascended a steep grade to the summit. When it reached there, the horses were detached and the car under the control of a very powerful brake, moved downwards, with its own momentum to the mine.

Charlie Murphy, a boxer from Zeehan made his debut in 1892.

The Zeehan School of Mines and Metallurgy committee was formed in January 1892. A school with instructors was operating by 1896. In February 1903 the school building was completed.

The Wesleyan Church opened in Main-street in 1897.

The Zeehan and Dundas Herald was published by William Lawrence Calder and Joseph Bowden from 1890 to 1922.

Main Street, Zeehan, TAS, 1891-2

The Mount Dundas – Zeehan Railway (also known as the Maestris Tram) was a railway line running 7 miles (11 km) from Dundas to Zeehan. It operated from 1892 until 1932, but the rails were removed in 1940.

First printing plant arrived at Trial Harbour in September 1893. 

An old photograph of Aubrey Clifford (left), who fought Alf. James a vicious bare-knuckle fight at Zeehan in 1895. .. Harry ('"Darky") Miller (seated), a fine all-round athlete and boxer, and Joe Priest, who promoted the first boxing bouts at Queenstown in 1897.Saturday Evening Express (Launceston, Tas. : 1924 - 1954)

Construction of the smelters at Zeehan in 1898, by the Tasmanian Smelting Company. (closed 1960)

According to a newspaper article of 1898, most people lived in the West End, where the main mines were: The Silver Queen, Western, Montana, Oonah and many others. Along the main road there paling shanties, but also palatial hotels. Close to the railway station stood the hospital. But typhoid was lurking about the town. (1.)

The Mount Dundas – Zeehan Railway was a railway line running 7 miles (11 km) from Dundas to Zeehan on the West Coast of Tasmania. Leader (Melbourne, Vic. : 1862 - 1918, 1935), Saturday 9 April 1898

The Concentrating Works, Machinery, Ore Shed, and No. 1 Main Shop, Zeehan, TAS, Melbourne Punch (Vic. : 1855 - 1900), Thursday 3 August 1899

Cutting on the Colonel North Railway, Zeehan, TAS, Melbourne Punch (Vic. : 1855 - 1900), Thursday 3 August 1899

The Colonel North Main Shaft No, 2, Zeehan, TAS,  Melbourne Punch (Vic. : 1855 - 1900), Thursday 3 August 1899,

An early overview of Zeehan station looking south showing the 3ft 6in Government and Emu Bay lines in the centre with an EBR train arriving and the 2ft gauge North East Dundas yards to the right. TGR photo 4S26. Ted Lidster collection, Trainiac

1900s

In 1900, Zeehan was the third largest town in Tasmania after Hobart and Launceston, with a population of 10,000 people.

Zeehan Station, circa 1900. Ex Tasmanian Main Line Railway carriages, Trainiac

The census of 1901 showed the population of Zeehan was 5014.

There was a strike at the Hercules mine from 1905 to 1907.

 1. EMU HAY RAILWAY BRIDGE OVER PIEMAN RIVER BETWEEN' BURN1E AND ZEEHAN, TAS 2. EMU BAY RAILWAY BRIDGE OVER QUE RIVER. BETWEEN' BURNIE AND ZEEHAN, Punch (Melbourne, Vic. : 1900 - 1918; 1925), Thursday 6 April 1905

Zeehan station staff, Zeehan, TAS, 1906, Trainiac

The marriage of George Alexander Fulton and Alice Elizabeth Gardner at Zeehan, Tasmania in 1906. maypm

ARRIVAL OF LINOTYPES AT ZEEHAN IN OCTOBER, 1907. Zeehan and Dundas Herald (Tas. : 1890 - 1922), Saturday 21 December 1907

LINOTYPES Room, The Herald, ZEEHAN. TAS,  Zeehan and Dundas Herald (Tas. : 1890 - 1922), Saturday 21 December 1907

Zeehan, Tasmania - 1908, Kaye

The main street of Zeehan in its heyday was over three kilometres long with twenty hotels, shops, banks and theatres.

Messrs Dunkley Bros moving 10 ton engine with 20 horses through main street of Zeehan, TAS, to Heemskirk Tin Syndicate's mine at Tasman River. TAHO Weekly Courier 1912

The Zeehan mines were starting to run out of shallow ore and there were insufficient resources for further exploration.

WWI

First volunteers from Zeehan departing on the EBR mixed train to Burnie. O S White photo, 1914. 08. 27. Trainiac

Rosa Elizabeth Kate Quarterman (1872–1940). In 1904, she was appointed matron of the hospital in Zeehan, south west Tasmania. Zeehan was a thriving town of around 6000 people, enjoying a boom from silver mining. Matron Quarterman and her nurses received the Maltese Cross medals for their handling of a typhoid epidemic. War Service: Sailed from Melbourne on the "Kyarra" and arrived in Egypt on 20 January 1915. 1AGH was set up in the Heliopolis Palace Hotel, a four story luxury facility in the Cairo suburb of Abbassia, on 28 November 1914 with 160 other nurses and medical officers (e.g. Mercury [Hobart], 9.1.1907, 15.4.1907).Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954) Read more

 Private PERCY RIGBYE, Only son of Mr. H. H. Rigbye, late of Orlando-street. Eaglehawk, and now of Zeehan (Tasmania). Private Rigbye was at first reported to be missing, then reported as a prisoner of war, and now officially declared to have been killed in Gallipoli between 25th and 28th April, 1915.Bendigonian (Bendigo, Vic. : 1914 - 1918), Thursday 23 November 1916

Studio portrait of Captain (Capt) Claude Henry Stubbings, 52nd Battalion, of Zeehan, Tas.  (c.1916) He enlisted on 21 August 1914 and was appointed colour sergeant of D Company, 12th Battalion, with the service number 407. He embarked for service overseas from Hobart aboard HMAT Geelong on 20 October 1914. He was present at the landing on Gallipoli on 25 April 1915 and was promoted to second lieutenant three days later. On 4 August he was promoted to lieutenant but was evacuated sick to Malta on 21 August, suffering from severe gastro-enteritis. He rejoined his unit on Gallipoli in October. In March 1916 Stubbings transferred to 52nd Battalion before leaving for service in France. He was promoted to captain in May 1916 and was appointed adjutant of the battalion in August of that year. The following month he was given the command of the battalion's A Company. Stubbings was awarded the Military Cross for his actions at the Battle of Messines 28 August 1917. On 10 August 1918 he suffered a serious gunshot wound to the left thigh, which also fractured his femur. After hospitalisation in France and England his condition was sufficiently stable to allow him to be repatriated to Australia on 5 January 1919. On arrival in Melbourne he was transferred to No 11 Australian General Hospital at Caulfield, on 16 March 1919, housed in a private mansion called 'Glen Eira'. Here he endured a further eight operations on his leg, between April 1919 and February 1921 and also contracted osteomyelitis. While still confined to a wheelchair bed he was presented with his Military Cross by the Governor General Munro Ferguson. Stubbings fell in love with his hospital masseuse (physiotherapist), Catherine Campbell Bothroyd, and they married in 1921 after he was finally discharged from the AIF. He took up a soldier settler block at Red Cliffs in Victoria where he produced citrus fruit. During the Second World War Stubbings was involved with wartime manpower administration. He died in 1950. AWM

Some silver-lead ore was being produced at Zeehan but the field had greatly declined.

1920s

During the Depression years, Zeehan almost became a ghost town.

"Life in Zeehan in the early days lacked
polish, but not sincerity. There was
much money, much gambling, and many
sporting and pastime institutions. There
were some five skittle alleys where big
stakes were placed for, and a man
could be accommodated -with a wager
far or against anything."
News (Hobart, Tas. : 1924 - 1925), Saturday 24 October 1925

Advocate (Burnie, Tas. : 1890 - 1954), Thursday 7 February 1929

1930s

Advocate (Burnie, Tas. : 1890 - 1954), Wednesday 1 July 1931

FIRST BAND FORMED ON THE MINING HELD OF ZEEHAN, TAS, IN MUSICAL ARRAY.-Zeehan Band photographed on the opening day ot the Silver King silver - lead mine in 1889. Its first
bandmaster was Bishop Osborne, and its second J. Shegog, and its third (two years later) Mr. A. Caddie. The group includes :Standing (left to right): Bandmaster Shegog, S. Trembath, H.Allen, Stokell Bros. (2), J. Craig, J. Pearn, E. C. James (founderof the band), - Stokell, - Boys, H. Mery, C. Riley,-'-. Kneeling:- (bass drum), Geo. Cooper & J. Hannon (kettledrum) Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), Friday 30 December 1932

Zeehan Tram going past Cecil Hotel towards Zeehan station. It is turning off Main St. and into Wilson St.,  no date, Trainiac

1940s and WWII

THE UP-TO-DATE Diesel car recently imported by thc Emu Bay Railway Co.
was put into service on the Burnie=Zeehan run yesterday. Advocate (Burnie, Tas. : 1890 - 1954), Tuesday 14 May 1940

Advocate (Burnie, Tas. : 1890 - 1954), Saturday 27 October 1945

Advocate (Burnie, Tas. : 1890 - 1954), Tuesday 30 October 1945

"Broken Hill mining interests sent geologists to Zeehan in 1946. After a systematic survey of the fields, the Oceana mine, nestling in a wide valley under Mt. Zeehan about three miles from the town, was selected as the first attempt to bring the Zeehan fields back into production." (2.)

Notable

The famous navigator and naturalist Harold Charles Gatty (1903-1957) was a student at the state primary school at Zeehan, where his father was headmaster. Interestingly, Harold was the grandson of a convicted highwayman transported to Van Diemens Land in 1842.

In January 1932, Harold Gatty became Chief Air Service Navigation Research Engineer with the United States Army Air Corps. When the war in the Pacific broke out in 1941, Harold returned to Australia as Director of Air Transport for the South West Pacific with the rank of Group Captain in the RAAF.

Harold Gatty, Tasmania

Eileen Joyce (1908-1991), a concert pianist, was born on 1 January 1908 at Zeehan. She became famous and performed on screen and in soundtracks. The height of her fame was during WII.

Eileen Joyce (1908-1991), a concert pianist, was born on 1 January 1908 at Zeehan, TAS, Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), Monday 24 May 1948

Matron Cicely O'Brien, of the Zeehan Hospital, and formerly of Tuntnack, who recently was awarded the M.B.E.Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), Wednesday 21 July 1948

1950s

Staff at Zeehan Hospital, TAS, taken just prior to the departure of Dr. Worcester. Back row (I. lo r.) : Mr. M. K. Robertson (secretary), Nurse Payne, Sister Powe. Nurse Wordsworth. Nurse Farley. Mr. A. T. M'Guinness (chairman of the Zeehan Municipal Commission). Middle: Sister Winter, Matron O'Brien, Dr. Worcester, Sister Davie, Sister Hossendcll. Front: Nurse M'Carlhey and Nurse Smith. Nurse Water-worth, the remaining member of the nursing staff, was on holiday. Hospital staff at Zeehan, TAS, Advocate (Burnie, Tas. : 1890 - 1954), Friday 22 September 1950

1950s

1. A view of the Montana mine. 2. The Oceana mine buildings, with Mt. Zeehan in the background.Advocate (Burnie, Tas. : 1890 - 1954), Saturday 15 December 1951

Saturday Evening Express (Launceston, Tas. : 1924 - 1954), Saturday 5 May 1951

The late Charlie Murphy one of Tasmania's best lightweights, big or small, Charlie could keep them busy. On his right, Steve Ford, one time A.M.A. secretary at Zeehan, and trainer Bill O' Toole, a fine mile runner. Saturday Evening Express (Launceston, Tas. : 1924 - 1954), Saturday 5 May 1951

Two Tasmanian MPs. - the Minister for Lands and Works (Mr. Reece) and Mr. D'Alton, M.L.C.
-who competed in the 24-mile wheelbarrow race from Zeehan to Queenstown on Saturday, finished the course four hours behind the winner's time of 5h. Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), Monday 3 August 1953

1960s

The West Coast Pioneers' Memorial Museum opened in 1965.

1980s

A bushfire destroyed 40 homes over several days in Zeehan in February 1981.

Around Zeehan

Gaiety Theatre, Zeehan, TAS, built opened in the 1898, now part of the West Coast Heritage Centre

Mount Zeehan Post Office, TAS. opened on 1 August 1888 and was renamed Zeehan in 1890

Masonic Lodge display at West Coast Heritage Centre at Zeehan, TAS

St Fursaeus' Catholic Church, Zeehan, TAS, The cornerstone of the church was laid in April 1891, and the first Mass was celebrated in November 1891.

Mining remains near Spray tunnel Zeehan, TAS

The Spray Tunnel is a 100 metre long abandoned railway tunnel that was once part of silver mining operations in the Zeehan. Today, walk through the tunnel along a boardwalk and see glow worms and the remains of the Spray Silver Mine, Zeehan, TAS

Zeehan School of Mines and Metallurgy built in 1903, Zeehan, TAS

Shorty’s Museum at Zeehan, TAS

Zeehan, TAS

Zeehan, TAS

Hotel Cecil, Zeehan, TAS, built 1900

West Coast Pioneers' Museum, Zeehan, TAS. Attractions include photo galleries, locomotives, mining machinery and blacksmith shop

Smelter ruins, Zeehan, TAS

The first Anglican chapel was opened in 1891, Zeehan, TAS, replaced by a concrete church in 1909

Things To Do and Place To Go

West Coast Heritage Centre

Shorty’s Museum at Zeehan, 22 Shaw Street, Zeehan, Tasmania 7469

Spray Tunnel Loop, an easy one-hour return walk that passes through the Spray Tunnel, a 100-metre long abandoned train tunnel that leads to what was the Spray Silver Mine.

Folkloric recording: Terry Casey, born and raised in Zeehan, Tas. speaks about the mines in the area; his memories of the conditions experienced by his father and others in the mines; the types of houses in the area and how they were constructed; his time in the Army during WWII; his later trade as a bootmaker in Zeehan; describes life in the isolated Tasmanian town. Here

Timeline of Early European Discovery and Exploration of Australia

Analysis of maternal genetic lineages (mitochondrial DNA) shows that Aboriginal people came into Australia around 50,000 years ago.

European Discovery and Exploration

1606: Willem Janszoon, in the Duyfken, captained the first recorded European landing on the Australian continent. Making landfall near the modern town of Weipa and the Pennefather River, they were attacked by the Aboriginal people. Sailing further down the coast, Aboriginal people killed some of the crew.

Duyfken replica

1616: Dirk Hartog (Dutch sailor ) left a pewter plate at Cape Inscription after arriving on the coast of Western Australia in the Eendracht.

1618: Willem Janszoon (Dutch navigator) sailing on Mauritius landed on North West Cap. Aboriginal footprints were seen.

1618: The Zeewolf under command of Haevick Claeszoon van Hillegom sights North West Cape.

1619: Frederick de Houtman's two ships sailing to Batavia (Indonesia) encountered dangerous coral reefs. Sailed along the Western coast of Australia en route to Batavia. Called present-day Perth,  d'Edelsland.

1622.: The VOC ship Leeuwin explored the southwest coast of WA and is almost shipwrecked at what is now Cape Leeuwin.

1622: The English ship Trial was wrecked off the northwest coast of WA. The reef was named Tryal Rocks after the ship. The first recorded shipwreck in Australian waters.

1623: Jan Carstensz led an expedition, with two ships, the Pera and Arnhem, to the southern coast of New Guinea and further afield. They sailed along the south coast of New Guinea, then went south to Cape York Peninsula and the Gulf of Carpentaria. On 14 April 1623, they passed Cape Keerweer. Described Aboriginal people as "poor and miserable looking people". Fought a skirmish with 200 Aboriginal people at the mouth of a small river near Cape Duyfken. Afterwards, sighted the east coast of Arnhem Land.

1626 to 1627: Gulden Zeepaert, skippered by François Thijssen, sailed along south coast towards Great Australian Bight. The south coast of Australia had been accidentally encountered by François Thijssen and named 't Land van Pieter Nuyts.

1629: The Batavia hit Morning Reef, on the Houtman Abrolhos. Francisco Pelsaert sailed a boat to Batavia (Indonesia) for rescue. Three months later, when he returned, he found that there had been a mutiny and many survivors had been murdered.

1642: Abel Tasman's voyage was the first known European expedition to reach Van Diemen's Land (later Tasmania).

1656: The ship, Vergulde Draeck (Gilt Dragon) was shipwrecked en route to Batavia, 107 km (66 mi) north of the Swan River near Ledge Point.

1658: Three Dutch ships searching for Vergulde Draeck visited the south coast: Waekende Boey under Captain S. Volckertszoon, Elburg under Captain J. Peereboom and Emeloortunder Captain A. Joncke.

The Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines of Australia and named the island continent "New Holland" during the 17th century.

1681: English navigator John Daniel, aboard, New London, charted part of the west coast of Australia, including Rottnest Island and the Wallabi Group of Houtman Abrolhos.

1688 and 1699: Englishman William Dampier, looking for the Tryall in 1688, 66 years after it was wrecked, was the first Englishman to set foot on the Australian mainland. He made notes on the fauna and flora and the Aboriginal peoples. A Voyage to New Holland (1703, 1709). Read here

William Dampier portrait, holding his book

1756: French King Louis XV sent Louis Antoine de Bougainville to look for the Southern land. He visited and surveyed Tahiti, Samoa, the New Hebrides, but due to hostility, avoided the Solomon Islands. He was the first Frenchman to circumnavigate the globe and the first European known to have seen the Great Barrier Reef. Though he did not reach the mainland.

1768: British Lieutenant James Cook was sent from England to the Pacific Ocean to observe the transit of Venus from Tahiti. Sailing in the HMS Endeavour, on 20 April 1770, Cook's expedition was the first European expedition to reach the eastern coastline of Australia.

1771: Two French ships, the Mascarin and the Marquis de Castries set off to find the hypothetical Terra Australis Incognita (unknown Southern Land), with commander, Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne. His ships spent several days in Tasmania. He was the first European to encounter the Aboriginal Tasmanians.

1772–1775: On James Cook's second voyage he was accompanied by Tobias Furneaux on Adventure. Furneaux became separated from Cook on the Resolution. In 1773, Furneaux explored much of the south and east coasts of Van Diemen's Land, and made the earliest British charts.

The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), gaining independence.

The loss of England's penal colonies in America and growing concern over French activity in the Pacific led to the British penal colony of "Botany Bay". 

The First Fleet's 11 ships led by Captain Arthur Phillip left England on 13 May 1787.

The First Fleet arrived at Botany Bay on 20 January 1788.

Colour lithograph of the First Fleet entering Port Jackson on January 26 1788, drawn in 1888. Creator: E. Le Bihan

17th-Century Australian Shipwrecks

Historic shipwrecks are like underwater museums. 

24 May 1622

Australia's oldest known shipwreck is Tryall (or Trial), a British East India Company-owned sailing ship (East Indiaman), which departed Plymouth on her maiden voyage for Bantam on 4 September 1621.

At the time, there was intense rivalry between the Dutch and the English East India Companies and the commander of Tryall, John Brookes, was instructed to sail a faster route, discovered in 1611, by a Dutch captain called Brouwer.

Instead of sailing diagonally across the Indian Ocean from the Cape of Good Hope, Brooks was instructed to sail due east into the Roaring Forties (strong westerly winds). Then turn north for several hundred nautical miles before reaching the Great Southern Land. This could save up to six months' travel.

Brookes made a navigational error and sailed too far east (a common problem at the time). The calculation of longitude was fraught with difficulty and error.

On 25 May 1622, between 10 and 11 p.m, Tryall was wrecked on the Tryal Rocks (Ritchie’s Reef), north of the northern tip of Barrow Island, off Western Australia.

The crew were the first Englishmen to sight or land on Australia.

Assumed to be Australia's oldest known shipwreck, Tryall (or Trial), found in 1985 

Assumed to be the cannon from Australia's oldest known shipwreck, Tryall (or Trial), found in 1985 from the shipwreck

June 1622

The 17th-century Dutch East India Company sailing ship (fluyt ), t Wapen van Hoorn, was built in the Dutch Republic in 1619.

This ship was the second to be shipwrecked, temporarily, in Australian waters, near Shark Bay, Western Australia.

t Wapen van Hoorn was eventually refloated and arrived in Batavia (present-day Jakarta) on 22 July 1622.

25 January 1628

The Dutch East India Company (VOC) ship Vianen sailed from Batavia on 6 January 1628.

The monsoon had set in, however, and so the ship could not take the usual route through the Sunda Strait

Travelling instead, through the Strait of Balamboan, the ship was blown so far south by strong headwinds, that the ship ran aground in the vicinity of Barrow Island (Western Australia),

Vianen, however, was also refloated and arrived at the Cape of Good Hope on 24 May. 

The following year, the ship was shipwrecked in the Sunda Strait and sunk.

4 June 1629

The Dutch East India Company ship, Batavia, sailed on her maiden voyage for Batavia on 29 October 1628.

On 4 June 1629, Batavia was wrecked on the Houtman Abrolhos, a chain of small islands some 70 kilometres off the Western Australian coast.

Commander Pelsaert and about 45 others took a longboat to search for water on the mainland. The water search was unsuccessful and so Pelsaert sailed to the city of Batavia to get help.

Pelsaert returned to the shipwreck in mid-September and found mutiny, murder and horrific cruelty. Jeronimus Cornelisz, the man he had left in charge, had murdered 115 men, women and children. 

Batavia's shipwreck was found in 1963 by fisherman and divers.

A Batavia ship replica was built from 1985 to 1995, using the same materials and methods utilized in the early 17th century.

The reconstruction of the Batavia was the brainchild of master shipbuilder Willem Vos.

The remains of the Batavia Shipwreck, at the Shipwrecks Museum in Fremantle, WA. 

28 April 1656

The Vergulde Draeck (Gilt Dragon) sailed from Texel (Holland) bound for Batavia (Jakarta) in the East Indies, under Pieter Albertsz, with a crew of about 193 men.

The route followed the Roaring Forties east towards the Southland, then north to Batavia.

On 28 April 1656, the ship struck a reef midway between what are now the coastal towns of Seabird and Ledge Point, Western Australia.

Of the 193 people on board, 118 are known to have perished.

Of the survivors, 75 people made it to shore alive.

The Gilt Dragon carried two small boats,  but one boat was lost in the waves. The second boat was sent to Batavia (Indonesia) with 7 sailors.

Sixty-eight Gilt Dragon survivors were left on the coast and never seen again.

A number of rescue attempts were conducted by the Dutch East India Company but no survivors were ever found.

In March 2015, Steve Caffery, of Gilt Dragon Research Group, claimed that copies of two letters carried by the seven survivors to Batavia in 1656, had been found. The letters, dated 5 and 7 May 1656, were said to indicate there were two separate campsites.

The wreck was discovered by five spear-fishermen (John Cowen; Jim, Alan and Graeme Henderson; and Alan Robinson ) in April 1963.

In 1931, a boy named A. Edwards found a skeleton and some old coins on a ledge of rock known as Eagle's Nest close to the Moore River. The coins were dated between the years 1618 and 1648 and were associated with the wreck of the Dutch ship "Vergulde Draeck" (Gilt Dragon). Sunday Times; 8 February 1931

The "Vergulde Draeck or "Gilt Dragon", one of the Dutch East India Trading Company's trading vessels, embarked from the Netherlands on 4 October 1655 bound for the East Indies with eight chests of silver coins on board.

July 1656

The ships Goede Hoop and Witte Valke were sent from Batavia by the Dutch East India Company to rescue survivors of the Vergulde Draeck. 

A search party was sent ashore in Goede Hoop's boat, but the boat was smashed against rocks and sunk. Sadly, 8 sailors drowned and 3 more disappeared ashore.

22 March 1658

More ships were sent by the Dutch East India Company, from Batavia, to search for the Vergulde Draeck.

The ships Waeckende Boey and Emerloort were sent and 14 men were sent ashore in the Waeckende Boey's jawl (sailboat).

A strong wind was blowing with a "terribly high sea’".

The jawl was driven northward and was wrecked on an island. 

Giving the 14 men up as lost, the Waeckende Boey returned to Batavia. The ship was repaired and sailed north but was wrecked again on the coast of Java. The four survivors walked overland to Jepara, for five weeks through the dense jungle.

In 1834 an anonymous article by an English explorer appeared in a Perth newspaper, telling about a "lost white tribe" living in a walled settlement in the interior of Western Australia. No evidence of such a village has ever been found.

In 1834 an English newspaper (Leeds Mercury) reported that a secret English expedition in Central Australia in 1832, found a small colony descended from Dutchmen shipwrecked on Australia’s west coast in the early eighteenth century.

After 5 February 1694

On 11 July 1693, the ship, Ridderschap van Holland, departed Wielingen (Holland) on a voyage to Batavia, arriving at the Cape of Good Hope on 9 January 1694.

In the largest class of the company's ships, she sailed from the Cape with a crew of around 300, and two passengers, including Admiral Sir James Couper.

The ship did not reach her destination and was never found. It is believed that Ridderschap van Holland was actually wrecked in the Pelsaert Group of the Houtman Abrolhos Islands off the coast of Western Australia.

Remains of a shipwreck were found on Pelsaert Island in 1727.

The WA Shipwrecks Museum

List of Australian Prime Ministers

Robert Menzies and Kevin Rudd served two non-consecutive terms in office while Alfred Deakin and Andrew Fisher served three non-consecutive terms.

1.  Sir Edmund Barton: Served: 1 January 1901 -24 September 1903 (resigned), Protectionist Party. 

Sir Edmund Barton(1849–1920), NLAUST

2. Alfred Deakin: Served: 24 September1903 -27 April 1904, Protectionist Party. 

Alfred Deakin (1856–1919), SLQLD

Alfred Deakin was Australia’s second prime minister. He held the position three times.

3. Chris Watson: Served: 27 April 1904 - 18 August 1904, Labor Party.

Chris Watson (1867–1941), NLAUST

4. George Reid: Served: 18 August 1904 -5 July 1905, Free Trade Party.

George Reid (1845–1918), US Library

(2nd) Alfred Deakin: (2nd term): Served: 5 July 1905 13 November 1908.

5. Andrew Fisher: Served: 13 November  -1908 2 June 1909, Labor Party.

Andrew Fisher(1862-1928), NLAUST

(2nd) Alfred Deakin: Served: 2 June1909 29 April 1910, Fusion Liberal Party.

(5th) Andrew Fisher: 29 April 1910 -24 June 1913, Labor.

6. Joseph Cook: Served: 24 June 1913 -17 September1914, Fusion Liberal Party.

Joseph Cook (1860–1947)

(5th) Andrew Fisher: 17 September -1914 27 October 1915, Labor.

7. Billy Hughes: Served: 27 October 1915 to 9 February 1923, Labor, National Labor, Nationalist.

Billy Hughes (1862–1952), NLAUST

8. Stanley Bruce: Served: 9 February 1923 -22 October 1929, Nationalist Party (Coalition).

Stanley Bruce (1883–1967)

9. James Scullin: Served: 22 October  -1929 6 January 1932, Labor Party.

James Scullin (1876–1953), NLAUST

10. Joseph Lyons: Served: 6 January 1932 -7 April 1939, United Australia Party (Coalition post-1934).

Joseph Lyons (1879–1939), NLAUST

11. Sir Earle Page: Served: 7 April 1939 -26 April 1939, Country Party (Coalition).

Sir Earle Page (1880–1961), NLAUST

12. Robert Menzies: Served: 26 April 1939 -29 August 1941, United Australia (Coalition post-1940).

Robert Menzies (1894–1978), NLAUST

13. Arthur Fadden: Served: 29 August 1941 -7 October 1941, Country Party (Coalition).

Arthur Fadden (1894–1973), NLAUST

14. John Curtin: Served: 7 October 1945 -July1945,  Labor Party.

John Curtin (1885–1945), NLAUST

15. Frank Forde: Served: 6 July 1945 -13 July 1945, Labor.

Frank Forde (1890–1983), GOVAUST

16. Ben Chifley: Served: 13 July 1945 -19 December 1949, Labor Party.

Ben Chifley (1885–1951), NLAUST

(12th) Sir Robert Menzies: Served: 19 December 1949 -26 January 1966, Liberal (Coalition).

17. Harold Holt: Served: 26 January 1966 -19 December 1967, Liberal Party (Coalition).

Harold Holt (1908–1967), National Archives of Australia 

18. John McEwen: Served: 19 December 1967 – 10 January 1968, Country (Coalition). 

John McEwen (1900–1980) www.dfat.gov.au

19. John Gorton: Served: 10 January 1968 – 10 March 1971, Liberal Party (Coalition).

John Gorton (1911–2002), NLAUST

20. William McMahon: Served: 10 March 1971 – 5 December 1972, Liberal Party (Coalition).

William McMahon (1908–1988) US-PD

21. Gough Whitlam: Served: 5 December 1972 – 11 November 1975, Labor Party.

Gough Whitlam (1916-1914) Archives of Australia

22. Malcolm Fraser: Served: 11 November 1975 – 11 March 1983, Liberal Party (Coalition).

 Malcom Fraser (1930–2015), Archives of Australia

23. Bob Hawke: Served: 11 March 1983 – 20 December 1991, Labor Party. 

Bob Hawke (1929–2019), C of Aust

24. Paul Keating: Served: 20 December 1991 – 11 March 1996, Labor Party.

Paul Keating (b. 1944), C of Aust

25. John Howard: Served: 11 March 1996 – 3 December 2007, Liberal Party (Coalition).

John Howard (b. 1939) C of Aust

26. Kevin Rudd: Served: 3 December 2007 -24 June 2010, Labor Party.

Kevin Rudd (b. 1957)

27. Julia Gillard: Served: 24 June 2010 – 27 June 2013, Labor Party.

  Julia Gillard (b. 1961) MystifyMe Concert Photography (Troy)

(26) Kevin Rudd: Served: 27  June 2013 18 September 2013, Labor Party.

28.  Tony Abbott: 18 September 2013 – 15 September 2015, Liberal Party (Coalition).

Tony Abbott (b. 1957) MystifyMe Concert Photography (Troy)

29. Malcolm Turnbull: Served: 15 September 2015 – 24 August 2018, Liberal Party (Coalition).

Malcolm Turnbull (b, 1954) C of Aust

30. Scott Morrison: Served: 24 August 2018-30 May 2022, Liberal Party (Coalition).

Scott Morrison (b, 1968) User:Clrdms

31. Anthony Albanese: Served: 23 May 2022 (incumbent).  Australian Labor Party (ALP). 

Anthony Albanese (b, 1963)