Melissa Parke (Fremantle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

In September this year, the Duyfken, a faithful replica of the Dutch ship that first brought Europeans to Australian shores in 1606, will return to Western Australia after several years travelling the east coast of Australia and a period on display at the National Maritime Museum in Sydney. The Duyfken's return to Western Australia represents a new chapter in the life of this remarkable ship and I congratulate the WA government on providing funding support that will underwrite the Duyfken's operational future well into the next decade.

The story of the Duyfken and of the Dutch exploration of Australia has had a central part in our maritime history. It includes the bone-chilling true story of the shipwrecked Batavia and the adult Lord of the Flies scenes that unfolded, which is the subject of an excellent book by Peter Fitzsimmons called Batavia. Only a few days ago, it was reported that another Dutch ship from the Age of Discovery, the Aagtekerke, had been discovered off the West Australian coast.

Since being put to sea in 1999, the Duyfken replica has been a symbol of peaceful exploration and of cultural and historical linkages between Australia and other countries. There is no better example of these friendships than the friendship between Australia and the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Dutch immigration contributed significantly to Australia's economy in the 1950s and Dutch migrants have made a very meaningful contribution to Australia's multicultural society. Dutch seamen also fought alongside Australians in the Pacific War, earning the epithet of Fourth Ally. Since that time, Australia and the Netherlands have remained firm allies and friends.

In 2002 the Duyfken travelled to the Netherlands to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the creation of the Dutch-East India Company and in 2006 the ship circumnavigated Australia as part of the 400th anniversary celebrations of European discovery of our vast continent.

At a Dutch-Australian heritage event that I attended only last week at the Fremantle Maritime Museum's shipwreck gallery, Dutch Ambassador Willem Andreae highlighted our nations' shared history and expressed a desire to develop stronger heritage ties between our countries, including through a new website, culturalheritageconnections.org.

In the coming months and years the Duyfken will be called upon to act as an ambassador between the Netherlands and Australia and as a representative of Australia to other nations around the world. 2016 will see the 400th anniversary of Dutch explorer Dirk Hartog's landfall in Western Australia. Dirk Hartog made his extraordinary journey on a ship very much like the Duyfken and the 'little dove' will have a role to play in the anniversary celebrations. There is also a proposal for the Duyfken, with help from the federal government, to be among a fleet of ships participating in the centenary re-enactment of the Anzac fleet's departure from King George Sound, in Albany. The Duyfken will be the only vessel to complete the entire journey to arrive at Gallipoli around April 2015. The journey to Anzac Cove represents the Duyfken 1606 Replica Foundation's most ambitious project to date, with plans to involve young people from each of the nations involved in the Gallipoli campaign so they can sail as one in remembrance of those who, 100 years earlier, embarked on a very different journey. I welcome the return to Western Australia of the Duyfken and I look forward to supporting its important cultural role in the years ahead. (Time expired)

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