Tuesday, February 7, 2012

'HMS "Endeavour" off the coast of New Holland'

A painting by Samuel Atkins of Captain Cook's ship dated circa 1794.

"New Holland?" you ask. This was the name first applied to Australia in 1644 by Dutch seafarer Abel Tasman. But whereas his Nieuw Zeeland for New Zealand stayed, Nova Hollandia only survived until the 1820s, except in the Netherlands where Nieuw Holland lasted until the end of the 19th century.

After the establishment of a settlement at New South Wales in 1788, which encompassed the eastern part of the continent, the term New Holland was more often used to refer only to that part of the continent that had not yet been annexed to NSW, thus what is now Western Australia.

The abandonment of the name was due to Matthew Flinders, who used the name Australia for the continent, and recommended its official adoption. This was rejected at the time, but in 1824 the name change received official sanction by the UK government although New Holland was still in use as late as 1837 in official correspondence between the London and the colony of NSW, referring to the entire continent.

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