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CBUISE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGES. 
Captain Cook landed in Botany Bay, which is a 
few miles south of Sydney Harbour, in 1770, and 
took possession of the land on behalf of the British 
Crown.* But Captain Cook was by no means the 
first to find Australia, for some hundred of years 
before this a Portuguese navigator is said to 
have landed. After this the Dutch appear to have 
seen a great deal of not only the coast, but the 
various islands, which were then named Terra Aus- 
tralis. Indeed, they did so much, and were so ener- 
getic in their voyages, that they were quite justified 
in calling the continent New Holland. 
It seems now to us very strange that a people so 
enterprising, and at that time so prone to get and to 
keep territory, should have lost their hold on this 
great Terra Australis. 
It appears that they defeated their own object by 
their own secrecy and selfishness. They published 
no records of their voyages, neither made any 
charts of the newly discovered continent, fearing 
that their discoveries, or these great possessions, 
should become too well known to other explorers. 
Consequently, even amongst themselves the doings 
of their sailors were unknown and unappreciated, 
and no national desire was created for the possession 
of the land. 
It seems a Frenchman was the next who anchored 
oft* Cape Leewin — the south-eastern corner of the 
* Trollope’s e Australia, and New Zealand/ 
