Many Dutch East India company ships were blown off course en route to the Spice Islands . They charted WA waters and named many coastal features such as Rottnest Island and the Swan River.

  THE COMING OF THE DUTCH            ©  Bernard Carney

The turning of the centuries the turning of the tide

The winds of trade that filled the sails

And flew the flags with pride

New Lands for dicovering East Indianmen survive

On the value of the cargo

And the Cheapness of the lives

And the Southern World had rarely changed so much

Still we remember the coming of the Dutch

From the finest Ports of Amsterdam

They sailed in their droves

And many a life was wasted

Chasing cinnamon and cloves

And many a ship was blown to where

No ship had been before

To disturb an ancient dreaming

On this restless sleeping shore

And the Southern World had rarely changed so much

Still we remember the coming of the Dutch

Sailors lost on the breeze they were

Sailors charted the seas they were sailors

Lost on this last of lands

Volkerson and Hartog and De Vlamingh's trips were blessed

They survived their first encounters

With these island of the west

They left their names on capes and bays

For all the world to see

And the turning of the centuries

Made Rottnest history

It was a dry farm for the settler

A prison of the black

A graveyard for a dozen ships

A safeguard from attack

A pleasure for the Governor

With is party and his gun

A resting place for spirits

When the Christmas trees were done

And the Southern World had rarely changed so much

Still we remember the coming of the Dutch

Sailors lost on the breeze they were

Sailors charting the seas they were sailors

Lost on this Last of Lands 

Fortune to the  V.O.C.

With its wealthy clientele

They said Jesus Christ is something

Ah but trade is something else

The Eastern World had rarel changed so much 

The ancient land Jacatra was taken for their own  

The silly one

Australia was not called that four hundred years ago

It was that place they hadn't found

But dearly loved to go

In case it's rivers ran with gold

And spices grew around it

Spain appointed de la Hoz to rule it if they found it

But Spain was rather tied up a looting the West Indies

So a Dutchman Janz first happened here

Though he thought was New Guinea

Willem Janz a single man becoause her had no wife then

First set foot in the Queensland gulf

From his little ship the Duyfken