Beyond Capricorn, the book

"These days it's well accepted there was considerable European contact with our continent prior to Captain Cook's visit in 1770, primarily from Dutch and British ships. There was the Duyfken's voyage near Cape York in 1606, Dirk Hartog and his pewter plate in 1616, the Batavia in 1629, as well as William Dampier's encounter with the west coast in the 1680s. The list goes on.

But what about the idea of the Portuguese mapping the east, west and south coasts of Australia as early as the 1500s? That's the thrust of the new book Beyond Capricorn - how Portuguese adventurers secretly discovered and mapped Australia and New Zealand 250 years before Captain Cook."

In: ABC Radio National

"In Beyond Capricorn, Peter Trickett challenges the commonly held view that the European discovery of Australia and New Zealand was made first by the Dutch, followed later by Britain’s Captain James Cook. Trickett argues the remarkable claim that in the year 1522 – a century before the Dutch and 250 years before Captain Cook - the Portuguese sailed past Fraser Island and into Botany Bay, around Wilson’s Promontory, and as far as Kangaroo Island before returning to their base in Malacca via the North Island of New Zealand.

Drawing from primary and secondary historical sources, archaeological evidence and stories handed down through Aboriginal oral tradition, Peter Trickett tells a story of espionage, revenge and secret voyages made by the Portuguese to corner the fabulously rich spice trade in the east and find the islands of gold alluded to by Marco Polo. Secret voyages that resulted in the discovery of Australia and New Zealand almost 500 years ago.

Beyond Capricorn is a compelling account of how for a brief moment in the 1520s Australia and New Zealand came close to becoming Portuguese outposts in the southern seas."

In: Australian Online Bookshop

Another fantastic adventure of our Portuguese Navigators ancestors...