Well mate, let me begin by telling you how Australia was �misdiscovered� by many a whiteman. The first non-Aborigines may have reached Australia 700 years ago, but a string of mishaps and misunderstanding left the potential of the fabled �Great South Land� continent largely unknown for centuries even though explorers had found it many times. Australia was known by many names such as �New Holland�, �The Great South Land�, �Greater Java�, �Australia del Espiritu Santo�, �Terra Australis Incognita� etc etc. The Greeks, the Hindus and Marco Polo had all speculated upon its location and nature. The Arabs, the Chinese and Malays had probably come and gone, as had the Portuguese. The Dutch came, looked and left disappointed at not finding �uncommonly large profit� as they were looking for spices, mines or people who would barter and trade. The land which the explorers did touch upon did not satisfy the European fantasies of gold, gods and glory What all these early explorers saw was also mainly the West coast of Australia which was predominantly barren earth, and inhabited by aborigines. They missed the fertile East coast. Hard luck, mates! Finally, it fell to a humbly-born genius who navigated a small English boat, called Endeavour, to transmute the fantasies to fact and to put the stamp of Europe upon a continent which trade winds, tide and reefs had so far conspired to hide. His name was Captain James Cook.