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William Dampier was an english seaman who lived from 1652 to 1715. He was the first Englishman to land in Australia. It was because of bad luck and some bad decisions that he is not remembered as the man who claimed the country of England.
In 1688, the “Cygnet”, the ship he was sailing on, stopped at the north-west coastnear today’s town of dampier. While the ship was being repaired, he found time to explore the country close to it. As he did this he made notes on the way of life of the kooris, the first asutralians. In the book he wrote about his travels and Asutralia , he said the country was very dry and did not have many trees , grass and other plants. He also said the people were very primitive.
Although what Dampier saw was not very helpful for England, he wanted to return and find out more about the country. After taking a lot of time , talking to the english government , they gave him a ship. In 1699 he sailed from Engalnd . he hoped to land on the east coast and find something important for England. He had problems such as heavy storms which blew him off his course he wanted to sail and his ship was in bad condition. This meant he could only sail along parts of the west and north coasts of Australia. On his second trip Dampier also did not find anything good for trade or good land for farming. Because of his reports the British were not interested in asutralia. It was neraly a hundred years before they were.
In 1768 Captain James Cook sailed to Tahiti to watch the planet venus crossing the sun. he was then to sail further west-south-west to explore the South Pacific Ocean. He found and made maps of New Zealand and the east coast of Asutralia. In general, he made a realistic report about Australia . The country was fertile and a lot of food could be produced in contrast to the land Dampier had seen. Cook’s reports of the Koori people were very different from those of other Europeans. He wrote about their great knowledge and understanding of the natural enviroment and how this was linked to their way of life.
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