This is the first episode of a new mini-series on the maritime history of Australia. We begin in the port of Fremantle, Western Australia, at the Western Australian Shipwrecks Museum to learn about the long and fascinating history of the Dutch in Australia. To find out more Dr Sam Willis spoke with Elly Spillekom, who worked as the coordinator of the Duyfken 1606 Replica Foundation, is a volunteer at the Shipwrecks Museum and a curator of the Dutch Australian Foundation. As Sam and Elly explore the museum we hear the story of how and why the Dutch were the first Europeans to sight Australia on board the Duyfken in 1606; how they went on to explore the coast; and why so many of the Dutch ships that followed the Duyfken were wrecked off Western Australia.

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