Happy Australia Day friends, and thank you to the Dutch for saving the First Fleet. Today January 26 , 2015 its Australia Day ..I remember the history lesson in 1962 ..when I told my Australian class mates that if it was not for the Dutch there may not have been an Australia Day.the gave me wild looks of consternation. If it was not for the Netherlanders, the First Fleet may not have reached Sydney Cove. From the first day of leaving Portsmouth in England, the fleet did not have enough provisions when it eventually landed at Kaapstad (Cape Town); there was widespread famine on all the ships and there was talk of mutiny and hundreds of people were sick. The Dutch governor was absolutely appalled by the disastrous state of the First Fleet as it limped into port. Again there was animosity between the English and the Dutch. Governor Monsieur Van de Graaf and Arthur Phillip were wheeling and dealing with the purchase of supplies such as fresh vegetables, beef, mutton, bread, and fresh water. Live cattle and, poultry were purchased to be used for breeding once the First Fleet had landed in New Holland. A variety of seeds and grains for planting were also loaded. After four weeks of of taking in provisions and repairing ships, the fleet set off again. The Dutch had been their saviour; without this help, there would have been no First Fleet. But that was only the beginning; several months after Captain Arthur’s invasion fleet had landed in Sydney Cove, crop failure and skirmishes with Aboriginal landowners led to famine and starvation. Annihilation was looming; again a Dutch rescue ship, De Waaksamheyd, under the command of Kapitein Deter Smit, brought 500 tonnes of urgently needed food and medical supplies, saving the settlement from a complete wipeout. Few Aussies had ever heard this story before..they gave me strange looks of consternation
Posted on: Mon, 26 Jan 2015 04:05:04 +0000
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