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Home » Themes » Landscape » Exploration
Willem de VlaminghPrint Page 
The monument commemorates tricentenary of the visit of Willem de Vlamingh to the island in 1697.
In 1696, Willem de Vlamingh commanded a rescue mission to Australia's west coast to find the survivors of a VOC (Dutch East India Company) ship that had gone missing two years earlier. The mission proved fruitless, but along the way de Vlamingh charted parts of the continent's western coast and named Rottnest Island and the Swan River.
Location
| Address: | Cape Inscription Lighthouse, Dirk Hartog Island, 6537 |
|---|---|
| State: | WA |
| Area: | AUS |
| GPS Coordinates: | Lat: -25.481976 Long: 112.972003 Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate. |
Details
| Monument Type: | Monument |
|---|---|
| Monument Theme: | Landscape |
| Sub-Theme: | Exploration |
| Actual Event Start Date: | 02-February1697 |
| Actual Event End Date: | 02-February1697 |
Dedication
| Actual Monument Dedication Date: | Wednesday 12th February, 1997 |
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Willem de Vlamingh explored the coast of Western Australia from December 1696 To February 1697. On 2 February, crew of his ship, the Geelvinck, climbed the cliff near this spot, finding a flattened pewter plate inscribed with a record of Dirk Hartog`s visit in 1616, lying beside a post fixed in a cleft in the rock, Vlamingh replaced Hartog`s plate with one of his own, nailed to a new post and inscribed as follows
1616
The 25 October is here arrived the ship the Eendracht of Amsterdam The Upper Merchant Gilles Meibais of Leige Skipper Dirk Hartog of Amsterdam The 27 ditto made sail for Bantam the Under-Merchant Jan Stins the Upper Steersman Pieter Doekes Van Bilanno 1616 :-
1697 The 4 February is here arrived the ship the Geelvinck for Amsterdam The Commodore and Skipper Willem de Vlamingh of Vlielandt Assistant Joannes Bremer of Copenhagen Upper-Steersman Michel Bloem of the Bishopric Bremen the Hooker the Nyptangth Skipper Gerrit Collaart of Amsterdam Assistant Theodoris Heirnabs of ditto Upper-Steersman Gerrit Geritsen of Bremen the Galliot The Weseltje Commander Cornelis De Vlamingh of Vlielandt Steersman Coert Gerritsen of Bremen and sailed from here with our fleet The [12 ditto] also the southland further to explore and bound for Batavia
Vlamingh`s Plate was removed by Louis De Freycinet In 1818 and taken to Paris. After World War II it was donated to Australia by the French Government.
This memorial was unveiled by the Hon Richard Court MLA, Premier of Western Australia on 12 February 1997, to mark the Tricentenary of Vlamingh`s visit to this place.
