400 Years the Netherlands
and Australia
Photoalbum from;
Adelaide Australia
Most of the photo's in this album are made by Adam Trevorrow
Two most imported man in the historical exploration from Australia and the foundation from the town Adelaide, place of residence from the descendants of the Dutch family of Tagage/Embregts and Zeegers/Van Lier.
Matthew Flinders
Captain Matthew Flinders RN (16 March 1774 – 19 July 1814) was one of the most accomplished navigators and cartographers of his age. In a career that spanned just over twenty years, he sailed with Captain William Bligh, circumnavigated Australia and encouraged the use of that name for the continent, survived shipwreck and disaster only to be imprisoned as a spy, identified and corrected the effect of iron components and equipment on board wooden ships upon compass readings, and wrote the seminal work on Australian exploration A Voyage To Terra Australis. Matthew Flinders Born in Donington, Lincolnshire, in England, the young Matthew Flinders had his hunger for exploration and knowledge whetted by the tale of Robinson Crusoe, and at the age of fifteen he joined the Royal Navy, serving under Captain Bligh on HMS Providence, transporting breadfruit from Tahiti to Jamaica. Later, Flinders sailed to Australia on HMS Reliance, establishing himself as a fine navigator and cartographer, and in 1796 explored the coastline around Sydney in a tiny open boat called Tom Thumb. In 1798 he circumnavigated Tasmania, proving it to be an island. The passage between the Australian mainland and Tasmania became known as Bass Strait after the ship's doctor and close friend of his, George Bass, and a large island was named Flinders Island. On 17 April 1801 Flinders married Ann Chappell, but was soon forced to leave his new wife when the British Government sent him back to Australia. He set out that July, in command of Investigator, to produce a detailed survey of the coastline of Australia, the southern coast of which was still unknown. Between December 1801 and June 1803, Flinders circumnavigated Australia, charting parts of the coastline including the Great Australian Bight and the Gulf of Carpentaria.
Flinders was the first European explorer to visit the You Yangs ranges near Geelong. On May 1, 1802, he and three of his men climbed to the highest point and named it "Station Peak". This was later changed to Flinders Peak in his honour.On 12 April 1812 they had a daughter who became Mrs. William Petrie; in 1853 the N.S.W. government of Australia bequeathed a belated pension to her (deceased) mother of £100 per year, to go to surviving issue of the union. This she, Mrs. Ann (née Flinders) Petrie, accepted on behalf of her young son, named William Matthew Flinders Petrie, the archaeologist and Egyptologist. Exploration of the Australian coastline The British Admiralty sent him to explore the Great Australian Bight, among other places, in 1801. He set out from England in July that year, in command of the Investigator. He reached Cape Leeuwin on 6 December and worked his way eastwards, reaching Fowlers Bay on 28 January, 1802. Matthew Flinders' voyages On 8 April 1802, while sailing east, Flinders met up with the French explorer Nicolas Baudin, who was sailing west aboard Le Géographe. Both men had been sent by their governments on separate expeditions to map the unknown southern coastline of Australia. Both men of science, Flinders and Baudin met and exchanged details of their discoveries, and sailed together to Sydney to resupply. Flinders would later name the site of their meeting Encounter Bay. The meeting at Encounter Bay by the two expeditions marked the point at which the entire coastline of continental Australia became mapped.
By June 1803, the hull of the Investigator had deteriorated to such a degree that Flinders was forced to abandon his survey of the northern coastline of Australia. He returned to Sydney by the west coast, thus completing his circumnavigation of Australia. Flinders set sail for England aboard The Porpoise to secure another vessel from the British Government with which to complete his survey, but was shipwrecked on the Great Barrier Reef. Remarkably, Flinders navigated the ship's cutter across open sea back to Sydney, a distance of some 700 miles, and arranged for the rescue of the marooned crew on Wreck Reef. Flinders next attempted to return to England aboard the Cumberland, but the poor condition of the schooner forced it to put in at Mauritius for repairs on 17 December. Unbeknownst to Flinders, England was now at war with France again, and the French governor, General De Caen, had Flinders detained in close confinement as a prisoner of war. Flinders wrote Banks who subsequently arranged French government recognition of Flinders' status and approval of his release. Despite this, De Caen refused to release Flinders, who remained a prisoner. His imprisonment was, in reality, due to misunderstandings and personal antipathy on both sides and lasted for almost seven years. Flinders finally returned to England in October 1810, in poor health as a result of his imprisonment, where he immediately began work on preparing A Voyage to Terra Australis for publication. On 18 July 1814, the book was published. The next day, Matthew Flinders died, aged only 40 years.
Information from; Wikipedea The Free Encyclopedia
William Light
Colonel William Light, was the first Surveyor-General of South Australia.
He arrived in South Australia in 1836, with the task of deciding upon the site for Adelaide. His survey of Adelaide began on 11 January, 1837, at the north-western corner of Adelaide, at the junction of North and West Terraces. The Newmarket Hotel is directly across the exact location on North Terrace
The work was completed on 10 March 1837. The naming of streets and squares took place on 23 May, 1837. A granite obelisk marking the commencement of the survey is located on the northern side of the intersection.
Colonel Light was born at Kuala Kedah, Malaya on 27 April, 1786.
Colonel Light died, when aged 53, from tuberculosis on 6 th October, 1839, and on the 10 th of October, he was buried in Light Square, Adelaide. There is now a memorial over his grave in the form of a marble column.
A fine statue of Colonel Light was moved from Victoria Square to Montefiore Hill, North Adelaide, in 1938, and this area is known as Light's Vision.
Montefiore Hill provides an excellent vantage point to look over the City of Adelaide. Near its apex, in a small park, is a Statue of Colonel William Light, who designed Adelaide as a square mile of north, south, east-west streets including a central park and surrounded by parklands.
His design is recognised as one of the most practical and beautiful in the world and the spot from where you can view this panorama and observe his statue with outstretched arm is known as Light's Vision.
Light had actually been nominated as the first and founding Governor of the new colony of South Australia by Sir Charles Napier, who had refused the position himself. It went however, to John Hindmarsh, and Light was appointed Surveyor General.
Light's father, Francis, founded a settlement of the massive trading company, the 'East India Company' at Georgetown on the island of Penang. Light inherited his fortune, but was swindled out of it. He had married the rich and beautiful Mary Bennett in 1824 but she had left him taking her fortune with her.
A Napoleonic War Veteran, he had survived many battles of the Peninsula Wars unscathed. Dashing, daring, and a good linguist, he was adequately suited to the new post which paid a measly £400 ($800.00) a year.
Light's Instructions for the founding of the city from the Commissioners were:........ A commodious harbour, safe and accessible at all seasons of the year. A considerable tract of fertile land immediately adjoining. An adundant supply of fresh water. Facilities for internal communication. Facilities for communications with other ports. Distance from the limits of the colony. The neighbourhood of extensive sheepwalks. A supply of buildings materials such as timber, stone or brick, earth and lime. Facilities for drainage. Coal
Despite protestations from Hindmarsh and others about the location, Light set about his arduous task and laid out what is considered to be one of the best planned cities in the world.
Disillusioned with conflict and lack of support Light resigned in 1838, his job completed. In his letter of resignation to Lord Wakefield he said.
" There never was so large a colony entrusted to one man to found ".
Adelaide citizens today enjoy the results of this mans planning and vision and a visit to this memorial park is mild homage. He died penniless and dejected of tuberculosis in Adelaide in October 1839 aged 54.
Light is buried in Light Square, Adelaide and a small monument honours his achievements.
Information from 'Adelaide - From Colony to Jubilee' by Derek Whitelock.
By Savvas Publishing. ISNB 0 7022 140
Adelaide South Australia
Established 1836
First house March 1837
729 km from Melbourne
1408 km from Sydney
2700 km from Perth
1846 7.000 inhabitants
1881 37.892 inhabitants
1901 162.094 inhabitants
1909 184.393 inhabitants
1929 325.000 inhabitants
1943 360.000 inhabitants
1968 514.000 inhabitants
1975 650.000 inhabitants
2006 1.150.000 inhabitants
Since 1945: 150.000 Dutchman emigrated to Australia.
