Here one can see the Dutch ships Heemskerck and Zeehaen battling through the notorious Southern Ocean. Of course, this is but a re-creation, as no photograhs survive of Abel Tasman's little holiday down south in 1642. I think that they got wet and mouldy. Or something.
I occasionally wonder what might have happened if the Dutch got serious about settling Tasmania and crowded the Poms out. Given their tendency to set up plantations for cash crops in Indonesia, maybe they were too lazy to get their hands dirty and make a go of it in a sparsely inhabited land like ours.
Perhaps it's a good thing though, as clogs give me blisters and I’m not the biggest fan of herring. That said though, tulips are lovely and grow rather nicely down here, we get plenty of wind for windmill-related hi-jinks. So maybe we missed out. Maybe the Dutch could have sent out some tall blonde women instead of all those filthy convicts and we could be cruising on bicycles through an immaculate red light district (based on a canal) rocking out to Golden Earring’s Radar Love smoking joints and nibbling on a bit of paardenrookvlees while slurping down some jellied eel on the side. We can eat the oliebollen when we get to the coffee shop.
Or maybe I need to get out and meet some more Dutch people.
Comments
Can you believe Tasman & co. took one look at the west coast & decided there was little of value? Rather hasty, considering the amount of silver, tin & other useful rocks dug up over there...