Open your eyes

IT WAS JUST HOURS before dawn on 4 June 1629 when Captain Adriaen Jacobszoon of the Dutch East India Company, the VOC, mistook breaking surf for moonlight glinting on the ocean. His ship, the Batavia, was carrying the richest cargo ever to leave the Netherlands, plus more than 300 crew, soldiers and passengers.

Smashing into a coral reef at top speed unleashed carnage and mayhem. But for those who survived the shipwreck, their harrowing ordeal was just beginning. The saga of the Batavia, flagship of the VOC fleet, unfolded at the Houtman Abrolhos Islands (now known locally as the Abrolhos), about 60km west of Geraldton, 400km north of Perth, Western Australia. This archipelago of 192 islands has since become recognised as a place of exceptional historic and natural values, and in July last year became Australia’s newest national park.

The announcement marked the 400-year anniversary of the first European sighting of the islands. In 1619 VOC captain Frederick von Houtman stumbled on and mapped the southern half of present-day WA, before strong winds required him to move further off shore for safety. Almost colliding with these islands, he marked “Abrolhos” on his charts, said to be a contraction of the, meaning “open your eyes”.