Navigating through the Society's web site. Site map.

This website covers many aspects of the history of the VOC in Australia. Use the dropdown menus (above) to locate relevant webpages or, alternatively, use the Information Overview page. This provides a structured view of all the pages on this website with more detailed descriptions of their content. Click here.

What is the VOC?

The Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie (United East Indies Company), or VOC, was formed in the Netherlands in 1602 with the aim of sending ships to East Asia to buy pepper, cinnamon and other spices and trade them on European markets. Its ships sailed past, landed or were wrecked on Western Australia's coastline. Read all about it on this site.

Why was there so much VOC activity along Western Australia's (WA) coast?

In the very early days of Dutch trade, VOC ships stopped at the Cape of Good Hope and then followed the Portuguese route across the Indian Ocean to the East Indies. In 1610, Hendrik Brouwer, a senior official with the Company, pioneered a new route. After the Cape he sailed south-east to between 35 and 40 S lattitude and then east for about 3500 nautical miles before turning north, sailing along the WA coast, towards Sunda Strait and Java and then Batavia - the centre for Dutch trade with Asia.The route was officially adopted. It was six months quicker!

The general consensus amongst historians and allied academics is that these survivors would not have lasted for any considerable period of time. Reasons often quoted are hostile natives and the lack of survival skills amongst these Europeans considering the harsh and unknown environment in which they found themselves. How wrong can you get!   >>More

Dutch DNA link to Aboriginals in Western Australia (WA)?

The VOC Historical Society, in collaboration with coastal Aboriginal communities and geneticists in The Netherlands, is investigating the possible existence of a genetic link between VOC shipwreck survivors and current members of the community. Should the work prove that such a link exists, it would settle all the speculation that exists today about what might have happened to the survivors. It would also mean that Europeans settled in Australia long before its Colonial history began and thereby change Australia's early European history.
See how many VOC shipwreck survivors there were. >>Click here.
"Gene tests seek Dutch links to WA Aboriginals." >>Read the newspaper article.

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We are seeking information about habitats, graves, artifacts and co-habitation with the indigenous population by the survivors of VOC (Dutch) shipwrecks on Western Australia’s coastline. Confidentiality is assured. >>More