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 In the year 1598, Houtman, who projected the Dutch East India Company, gave his name to the Abrolhos, which they still retain; and in 1629 Pelsart suffered shipwreck upon them. In 1616, the Endraght, of Amsterdam, made Sharks Bay and the island since known as Dorée, more properly Doore, and so named after Peter Doore, her pilot. Dirk Hartog gave his name to the island on the Western side of that bay, which still retains it, and an inscription was placed on its Northern point, Cape Discovery, now known as Cape Inscription. In 1619, Edel gave his name to the district round Sharks Bay; and Cape Leeuwin (or Lioness) was so named in 1622, after the vessel from which it was first seen. In 1627, the coast to the East of Cape Leeuwin received the name of Nuyts' land, from a passenger on board the Guide Zeepart, or Good Shepherd, on her voyage to Japan. In 1628, the captain of the Karien, De Witt, gave his name to the land to the North, and the North coast was visited by Tasman more than once after his voyage in 1642. In 1665, the Dutch Government gave the name of New Holland to the whole country, thus marking the priority of claim to its possession.

In 1689, during the reign of William and Mary, Dampier was sent in the Roebuck to examine the North and West Coasts. He entered, and named, Sharks Bay, and he also gave names, his own notably, to Dampier's land and Archipelago, as well as to other islands and places on the North coast.

In 1697 Vlaming, in the Gielvink, discovered and named the Swan River, and took back to Europe that "rara avis" the, till then unknown, black swan. From that time until 1770, when Cook discovered and took possession of Botany Bay, Australia appears to have been generally neglected.