AUSTRALIA

Hokitika Guardian, 28 August 1929, Page 7

AUSTRALIA

ORIGIN OF NAME.

SOME ANCIENT HISTORY. The name of Australia originated in Spain .between 1607 and 1611 as an alternative form ‘to Austrialia, the name given by de Quires to the New Hebrides, discovered by him in 1606 (writes Dr A. Lodewyck in the Melbourne Argus). Outside .Spain the name Australia was first used deliberately and consistently to designate the southern continent of Terra Australis in connection with the voyage in 1615 and 1616 of Jacob Le Mai re and Sell oil-ton , during which the Strait of Le Ala ire was discovered. This expedition was organised by a chartered company called “The Australian Company.” The founder of this company, the soul of the undertaking, was Jacob Le Mairc’a father, Isaac Le Maire.

This wealthy merchant deserves to be remembered in Australia. He was one of the most remarkable men who lived in the Netherlands at the heroic period of the war of independence against Spain. Hailing from Touruni, in Belgium, he was a Walloon by birth, but he appears to have lived for some time in Antwerp, where probably he was educated, which accounts for the fluency with which he expressed himself in Dutch as well as in French. His,wife was a native of Antwerp. The fall of that city into the hands of the Spaniards in 1585 doubtless induced him, with many others from the southern Netherlands, which then reverted to Spain, to settle- in Amsterdam with his young wife, who bore him 22 children, all iborn in that city. He thus became one of the thousands otf Protestant refugees who at that time flocked to Holland from the south, and to whom their adopted country owes so much. We knew little of Le Maire’s doings during his ’first 10 or 12 years in Amsterdam. He must have carried on a successful business, for when he -entered the public scene in the middle of the bustle' that precedes and accompanies the founding of the Dutch East India Company during the last few years of the sixteenth and the beginning of the seventeenth century he probably was the wealthiest man in Amsterdam. Still no room was found for him on the board of directors of the company, because these positions were reserved to those of the patrician stock of the city. Enterprising, active, aad efficient they were, these Dutch patricians, but rather exclusive, sielf-willed and self-satisfied.

A COLONIAL CRISIS. Tho policy of the Dutch East India Company was to eliminate all competition and to repress free initiative outside its own. On the other hand, there were those who were averse from monopolistic restrictions, and who favoured free initiative in trade, which was held to be the traditional policy of the ! 1 Netherlands. Among them were the Prince of Orange, the great statesman Oldenbarnevelt, and many eminent men in the States-General. They fostered freedom in colonial enterprise, and as a result several new companies were formed. The leading spirit in the principal one, the Magellanic Company, was Le Maire. The resist was keen competition, first of all in India, where the price of spices rose considerably, then, also in Holland, where prices were pressed down until trade became unprofitable. Insolvencies and bankruptcies followed, there was confusion on all sid-es, and the whole colonial enterprise was threatened with ruin. After endless squabbling, Oklcnbnrnevelt’s advice was adopted; all -the companies trading in the East wfere amalgamated. A monopoly was granted to the reorganised East India Company, hut room had now to he made for Le Maire on the new board of directors. But not for very long. Discord and quarrels continued, and in 1605 Le Alai re resigned. Lawsuits followed, the company suing Le Maire and Le Alaire suing the company. A private settlement was effected without reconciling the parties.

The great grievance of Le Alaire against the company was the narrowness of its outlook. The horizon of the directors, was limited to Bantam and the neighbouring islands of the Indian Archipelago, South and East Africa, and the islands on the route to Java, Madagascar, Alauritius, etc,, were completely neglected Japan was forgotten All the enterprise was concentrated on spices,, and again; spices, not to mention _ a few consignments of poor silk. Le Alaire relentlessly continued his fight against the monopoly of the East India Company. He even negotiated with the French Ambassador at The Hague, whom he visited in disguise, so as not to lie recognised ! bv the public, pointing out to him that as a native of Tournai he was bran with a fleur-de-lis in his heart, and trying to win the ambassador over for his plans. He then went to France and renewed the negotiations with King Henry IV in person, but the Dutch Ambassador was negotiating against him with Sully. Sully avid two other French Cabinet Alinistcrs had already received from the States-General a gift bedstead each, costing 1600 florins apiece, “in furtherance of the cause against tho proposed expedition.” However, some time later, in A [ay, 1610, everything seems to have been ready for an expedition ulidor French auspices;Abut before it was undertaken the dagger of the assassin robbed France of her best king, and

Le Alaire of his most powerful pro tector.

THE CHARTER.

Le Alaire left France and retired to his quiet country seat at Egrnond, but not to enjoy life in rustic surroundings. He had read all about Quiros’s discoveries in the Austral Seas. * Already in 1609, he had discussed the possibility of the formation of a new company ! with O’.denbarnevelt. But tjie East India Company succeeded in thwarting his plans for years. At last, in March, 1614, a charter was granted by the StatesGeneral to his “Australian Company,” and he received from Prince Mauirits, of Orange, an open letter giving the leader of the expedition, Jacob Le Alaire, “permission and authority to visit the Empires and Kingdoms of Tartary, China, Japan, East India, Terra Australia, islands and lands situated in the .South Seas, and also to make everywhere treaty or treaties of peace and friendship and to traffic and trade with the inhabitants.” The Australian Company was a trading company, and material gain was its object. But its founder had greater vision than any othei merchant in Holland in those days. In a remonstance to Oldenbarnevelt in 1609, criticising the policy of the East India Company, which refused to publish a statement of its accounts as provided for in the charter, Le Alaire says: “The freedom which these provinces have always enjoyed by a special grace of God, and for the maintenance of which they have not hesitated to accept an arduous and long war against the greatest potentate of Christendom, and to- stake and risk everything, their wealth, and their life blood, does not permit that under some cloak or other one should keep from free people the money that belongs to them longer than they wish. For this would he a kind of tyranny, which these lands cannot endure above all things.” Le Alaire’s ship, after having discovered that Le Alaire Strait, and Cape Horn, and many islands in the Pacific, was confiscated by the Gov-ernor-General of the East India- Company in Java on arrival there, and young Le Alaire died on the return voyage to Holland. During the litigation which followed, old Le Alaire, still fighting for years an all-powerful monopoly, had public opinion on his side, as well as the support of the States of Holland and the StatesGengral. On July 11, 1617, he appeared in person in the midst of the assembly of the “Illustrious High and Mighty Noble Lords,” to give an account of the expedition. ' Notwithstanding the vehement protests of tne East India Company the rights of Le Afaire and his partners to the discoveries were publicly recognised, and all his further claims were referred to the Supreme Court, which ultimately gave him complete satisfaction. ” Old Le Afaire was now a broken man; but it is worth recalling that lie was the first to use the name of Australia consistently and publicly and that he used it in a great and ndMe cause, that of fair play and equal opportunity for all.