Willem Jansz
Dutch navigator and colonial governor Willem Jansz or Janszoon (c. 1570–1630) was the first European known to have sighted the Australian coast during a voyage aboard the yacht Duyfken in 1606.
His mission to investigate rumours of gold in or near New Guinea passed across Torres Strait without realising the passage was there, and tracked along Cape York Peninsuls's west coast.
When provisions ran short, and nine of the crew died at the hands of 'wild, cruel, black savages', Jansz turned back at Cape Keerweer (Cape Turn-again).
His notion that New Guinea's south coast of New Guinea connected to the land along which he coasted was reproduced on Dutch maps for years to come.
