The Willem River or Willem's River was named during the voyage of the

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( ; VOC ), commonly known as the Dutch East India Company, was a chartered company, chartered trading company and one of the first joint-stock companies in the world. Established on 20 March 1602 by the States Ge ...

ship in 1618, under the command of

Supercargo A supercargo (from Italian or from Spanish ) is a person employed on board a vessel by the owner of cargo carried on a ship. The duties of a supercargo are defined by admiralty law and include managing the cargo owner's trade, selling the mer ...

Willem Janszoon Willem Janszoon (; ) was a Dutch navigator and colonial governor. He served in the Dutch East Indies in the periods 1603–1611 and 1612–1616, including as governor of Fort Henricus on the island of Solor. During his voyage of 1605–1606 ...

and captained by

Lenaert Jacobszoon Lenaert Jacobszoon was a captain of the Dutch East India Company who, on 31 July 1618 in the vessel ''Mauritius'', sighted North West Cape in the north-west of Western Australia mistakenly believing it to be a large island. He also named the Wille ...

, and is one of the few features named on a

nautical chart A nautical chart or hydrographic chart is a graphic representation of a sea region or water body and adjacent coasts or river bank, banks. Depending on the scale (map), scale of the chart, it may show depths of water (bathymetry) and heights of ...

made in 1627. It seems reasonable that Willem River was almost certainly named after Supercargo Willem Janszoon, the Commander of the ship ''Mauritius''. Janszoon was captain of the

Duyfken ''Duyfken'' (; ), also in the form ''Duifje'' or spelled ''Duifken'' or ''Duijfken'', was a small ship built in the Dutch Republic. She was a fast, lightly armed ship probably intended for shallow water, small valuable cargoes, bringing messages ...

in 1605–1606, when part of the

Gulf of Carpentaria The Gulf of Carpentaria is a sea off the northern coast of Australia. It is enclosed on three sides by northern Australia and bounded on the north by the eastern Arafura Sea, which separates Australia and New Guinea. The northern boundary ...

was mapped, during the earliest documented visit to Australia by a vessel from

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. () is a 1627 chart made by

Hessel Gerritsz Hessel Gerritsz (buried 4 September 1632) was a Dutch engraver, cartographer, and publisher. A notable figure in the Golden Age of Netherlandish cartography, despite strong competition Gerritsz is considered by some "unquestionably the chief ...

and is one of the earliest charts showing the coastline of

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. The Willem River is located to the extreme left (north) end of the coastline on the chart and a closer view is provided below.

Is Willem River the Ashburton River?

It is believed that the Willem River of 1618 is the Ashburton River in

., cited in The chart shows (). The detail of the river's position on the chart backs up the claim that this is the Ashburton River, which, being at , is almost exactly the

latitude In geography, latitude is a geographic coordinate system, geographic coordinate that specifies the north-south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from −90° at t ...

shown on the chart. The chart is oriented with north to the left, showing lines of latitude from

20th parallel south Following are circles of latitude between the 15th parallel south and the 20th parallel south: 16th parallel south The 16th parallel south is a circle of latitude that is 16 degrees south of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses the Atlant ...

to the

35th parallel south Following are circles of latitude between the 30th parallel south and the 35th parallel south: 31st parallel south The 31st parallel south is a circle of latitude that is 31 degrees south of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses the Atla ...

at the base of the map. The lines of latitude appear to be very accurate, matching closely known features through the length of the chart. Other factors to back up that this is the Ashburton River is that it takes almost a 90 degree turn north-east once in the mouth as shown on the chart, and the northern headland of the river mouth in reality is of the same shape as shown on the chart. However, significant changes to the river delta since 1963 alone have been observed. These changes include channel and mouth movements, and erosion and formation of spits. For example, between 1973 and 2008 the eastern spit at Entrance Point migrated eastwards by approximately .

1627 chart accuracy

A note on the chart's accuracy is given by the author Heeres in 1899, from the following excerpt. What Heeres means by the sentence, ''According to the chart this "river" is in about 21° 45' S. Lat., but there are no reliable data concerning this point,'' is that in 1899 they had no reliable information about exactly what was at that latitude.

''Mauritius'' at North West Cape

On 31 July 1618, the ''Mauritius'' reached

North West Cape North West Cape is a peninsula in the north-west of Western Australia. Cape Range National Park, Cape Range runs down the spine of the peninsula and Ningaloo Reef runs along the western edge. It is in the Gascoyne region and includes the town of ...

(west of

Exmouth Gulf Exmouth Gulf is a Bay, gulf in the North West Australia, north-west of Western Australia. It lies between North West Cape and the main coastline of Western Australia. It is considered to be part of the Pilbara Coast and Northwest Shelf, and t ...

), where crew members went ashore and saw footprints; this was the closest that Europeans had yet come to making contact with

indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation. The ...

in Western Australia. Janszoon and Jacobszoon assumed that the cape was an island: the notion later took hold amongst mariners and cartographers, to the extent that it was named " Cloates Island" in 1720 and this misconception lingered until the 19th century. As Willem's River was also named in July it would appear that the ''Mauritius'', which reached Bantam,

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

on 22 August 1618, discovered the river on the same day that they reached North West Cape (that is, 31 July 1618, the last day of July). The 1627 chart was based on a number of voyages, beginning with the 1616 voyage of

Dirk Hartog Dirk Hartog (; baptised 30 October 1580 – buried 11 October 1621) was a 17th-century Dutch sailor and explorer. Dirk Hartog's expedition was the second European group to land in Australia and the first to leave behind an artifact to record hi ...

. On that voyage Hartog named after his ship (). is one of the earliest names given to the

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

n mainland.

References

{{Reflist , 30em Exploration of Western Australia European exploration of Australia Maritime history of the Dutch East India Company