William Dampier (1651–1715) got to New Holland twice, both times on the west and north-west coasts — never into Port Jackson. In 1688 he was aboard the buccaneer Cygnet, spending roughly three months near King Sound. His book A New Voyage Round the World (1697) made him the Admiralty’s South Seas expert.
In January 1699 he sailed as captain of HMS Roebuck, anchored at the inlet he named Shark Bay on 6 August 1699, coasted north-east looking for water, and left the coast near Roebuck Bay on 5 September for Timor. The ship was too rotten to push on to the unknown east coast — the honour Cook later took. Roebuck foundered at Ascension on the way home. Dampier’s journals are sharp on winds, currents, plants and people; his verdict on the west coast was blunt and unkind. Read him as an early English witness to Australia, not as a Founding Father of Sydney.
