This animation, created in 2016 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Dutch mariner Dirk Hartog’s landing on the west coast of Australia, illustrates a chance encounter that put the West Coast of Australia on the map.

Watch as Hartog crosses the Indian Ocean to accidentally make landfall in Shark Bay, Western Australia in 1616. It was here that he left behind an inscribed pewter plate, which provides tangible evidence of one of the earliest European encounters with Australia.

Animation produced in collaboration with the University of Technology Sydney with funding from the Netherlands Embassy.