Dutch sea-captain Dirk Hartog makes the second recorded landfall by a European on Australian soil, at the later-named Dirk Hartog Island off the West Australian coast.
Dirk Hartog was a 17th-century Dutch mariner and explorer. Dirk Hartog's expedition was the second European group to land in Australia and the first to leave behind an artefact to record his visit, the Hartog Plate. His name is sometimes alternatively spelled Dirck Hartog or Dierick Hartochsz. Explorer Ernest Giles referred to him as Theodoric Hartog.
The Western Australian island Dirk Hartog Island is named after Hartog.
Watch: A Chance encounter: Commemorating the 400th anniversary of Dirk Hartog's landing
From the Australian National Maritime Museum channel.
Sources and further reading: Wikipedia — Dirk Hartog (CC BY-SA). Images: Wikimedia Commons.
