. The message on this pewter dish translates as: ‘arrived here on 25 October 1616.’ En route to Asia, the Dutch EastIndia Company captain, Dirck Hartogh, veered off course and so discovered the west coast of Australia. As proof of his presence there, he nailed this flattened dish to a pole; it is the oldest European object ever found on Australian soil. Another Dutch captain brought it back eighty years later.

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Photo credit: © BTEU/RKMLGE / Alamy / Afripics
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