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History Pages
Various
Authors
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From the "Makers of Australia"
Series - No 1
The Explorers
(1)
Scripture
:
Hebrews 11:13-16
by
Rev Dr Gordon Moyes
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We
are under attack from secular fundamentalists,
atheistic humanists, and intolerant pluralists,
who hate the idea of Australia's Christian
heritage. They seek as journalists, broadcasters,
politicians and academics to remove every
trace of Christian heritage in our land. Few
Christians know anything of this nation's
rich Christian heritage and the fact that
it was dedicated to the Lord. They do not
know that many of our early explorers, pioneers
and politicians were men and women of God.
It is largely unknown that Captain James Cook,
Captain Charles Sturt, Edward John Eyre, Flynn
of the Inland and many others were committed
Christians.
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Fewer
still are aware that one of the men who co-authored
our nation's constitution was Prime Minister
Alfred Deakin, a man who prayed and was used
of God in the founding of this nation. Many
of this nation's founding fathers were Christians.
However this does not mean that they were
without fault, as many of today's critics
are eager to point out. We do not mean they
were sinless. As the Bible shows, God uses
people, despite their shortcomings and faults.
Many of this nation's early explorers, leaders
and politicians did have shortcomings. They
did mess up, like all men. However, most of
them had a heart towards God and a will to
obey Him. As Iain H Murray writes: "Australian
Christian Life from 1788" Banner 1988 "Christian
history is a history of surprises. From such
unpromising beginnings a heroic form of resolute,
self sacrificing yet 'singing' Christianity
began to make its way. From among soldiers,
convicts, settlers, and Aborigines also, churches
came into existence which powerfully affected
the greater part of the entire population."
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| 1.
THE ORIGINS OF THE NAME "AUSTRALIA." |
From
150 AD when Ptolemy showed a south land on
his maps, the Latin word australis was used
for regions south of the equator. In 1569
the great geographer Gerhardus Mercator used
continens australis to refer to the supposed
land south of Asia. In 1606 Pedro Fernandez
de Quiros discovered Vanuatu, and, believing
that the island on which he landed was part
of the great southern continent, named it
Australia del Espiritu Santo. In his memorial
published in 1610, the name Australia incognita
appeared on the title page and in 1612 the
Dutch cartographer Hessel Gerritsz published
a book containing a Dutch translation of de
Quiros's Memorial which rendered it as "Australia
Incognita;" the earliest printed use of the
word Australia.
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In
literature the words "Australia," began to
be used from 1676, almost a century before
Captain James Cook.
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In
the account (1773) of James Cook's voyage
in HMS Endeavour, reference was made to de
Quiros's discovery, but Cook believed this
land to lie to the north east of his discovery,
which he called "New South Wales". When Arthur
Phillip received his commission as Governor
in 1786 his jurisdiction was confined to the
territory of New South Wales. Anything West
of 135 degrees E. was called New Holland parts
of which had been mapped by the Dutch. It
was believed that an inland sea separated
the eastern and western sides of the continent.
Matthew Flinders, in his Voyage to Terra Australis
(1814), wrote "Had I permitted myself any
innovation upon the original term Terra Australis,
it would have been to convert it into Australia".
In April 1817, Governor Macquarie used the
word "Australia" officially in his correspondence,
thereby giving vice-regal approval.
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The
early colonist and explorer, W.C. Wentworth
in his Statistical Account (1824) advocated
the use of the name "Australia". Many books
of the time indicate the word "Australia"
had been accepted by the colonists. Generally
there was an official reluctance to adopt
the name in England, except by the Admiralty,
the first governmental department to use the
name officially in its publications.
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The
early colonist and explorer, W.C. Wentworth
in his Statistical Account (1824) advocated
the use of the name "Australia". Many books
of the time indicate the word "Australia"
had been accepted by the colonists. Generally
there was an official reluctance to adopt
the name in England, except by the Admiralty,
the first governmental department to use the
name officially in its publications.
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A
Dutch explorer, Willem Janez, is reported
to be the first European to have set foot
on Australian soil. In 1606, Janez sailed
south from New Guinea in the Duyfken "little
dove". I have been on board the replica of
this little dove. While searching for a southern
route, Janez discovered Cape York Peninsula
and charted 200 miles of the Australian coastline,
without realising he had discovered a new
continent. Discouraged by a shortage of supplies
and the death of ten of his men in the Gulf
of Carpentaria, Janez returned to Java without
ever sighting the rich eastern coast. Like
the dove that Noah let out of the Ark, the
Duyfken caught glimpses of the land but did
not find a permanent home. Australia's time
had not yet come. It is interesting that the
dove is a symbol for the Holy Spirit. As the
gentle dove hovered over the waters of Noah's
day, the Holy Spirit brooded over the southern
continent, named "The Great Southland of the
Holy Spirit by Captain Pedro Fernandez de
Quiros in 1606.
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De
Quiros became the first explorer to lay claim
to Australia. He was also a man with a heart
for God. Between the 14th and 15th centuries
the Spaniards began sending expeditions into
the South Pacific.
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Their
purpose was to carry the Bible to these lands
(as well as a quest for riches). This is borne
out in a letter from a Spanish diplomat to
King Phillip 111: "That no time be lost in
discovering that Australia region so far unknown,
so these people may have knowledge of the
Gospel and be brought into Spiritual obedience."
De Quiros gave this continent its name "La
Australia del Espiritu Santo" or literally
"Great Southland of the Holy Spirit". No other
nation has ever been blessed with the name
"Land of the Holy Spirit"!
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One
pre-Captain Cook map shows Australia's fictional
east coast . It was a line from Van Diemen's
Land to New Guinea including Espiritu Santo.
The coastal note translates: "I suppose that
the land of Van Diemen can join with the land
of the Holy Ghost but this is without proof."
An Dutch inscription on what was proposed
as the North Queensland coast says "Land of
the Holy Spirit discovered in 1606 by Fernandez
de Quiros." Fernand De Quiros was a man of
faith and great missionary zeal, being firmly
convinced that the Lord had chosen him to
discover and bring the Gospel to "terra australis".
"From his youth he seems to have been caught
up in the missionary enthusiasm of the age…He
was a gentle spirit, one of God's chosen vessels
bringing the gift of his holy faith. For Quiros,
all men were the adopted children of God…He
began to believe that he had been singled
out by God as the vessel through whom the
inhabitants of 'terra australis would be received
into the church, and that 'terra australis'
would be Australia del Espiritu Santo - a
land dedicated to the Holy Spirit." (Article
on de Quiros in Enciclopedia Italiana (1949)
"The voyages of Pedro de Quiros" vol 1, pp
163-5).
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Sailing
into the waters of the South Pacific and sighting
land de Quiros took possession, calling it
the Great South Land of the Holy Spirit. His
actual proclamation was as follows: "Let the
heavens, the earth, the waters with all their
creatures and all those here present witness
that I, Captain Pedro Fernandez de Quiros,
in the name of Jesus Christ, hoist this emblem
of the Holy Cross on which Jesus Christ's
person was crucified and whereon He gave His
life for the ransom and remedy of the human
race, on this day of Pentecost, 14 May 1606,
I take possession of all this part of the
South as far as the pole in the name of Jesus,
which from now on shall be called the Southern
land of the Holy Spirit and this always and
forever to the end that to all natives, in
all the said lands, the holy, sacred evangel
may be preached zealously and openly."
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After
the proclamation the ships' cannons roared
and soldiers fired their muskets and de Quiros
and his men shouted: "Long live the Faith
of Christ!" Professor Manning Clark writes:
"Then with a majestic sweep he reminded himself
of his subjection to the ordinances of God,
His high and sacred decrees, as well as the
wishes of man. Whatever it was, whether obedience
to the inscrutable decrees of Providence or
the use of divine commands to justify the
promptings of the heart. de Quiros came within
an ace of discovering Australia and not for
want of determination or faith. But God's
will was otherwise disposed, it was left to
other Europeans of another denomination to
found and colonise white Australia." Soon
the English and Dutch took advantage of his
discoveries and launched their own expeditions
in their quest to find the "South land of
the Holy Spirit".
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Many
Australians today have a man-centred or humanistic
national view. This is one of the main differences
between our founding fathers and modern Australia,
and is a major reason why our nation has such
serious problems. Sir Henry Parkes, the Father
of Federation, said: "We are pre-eminently
a Christian people - as our laws, our whole
system of jurisprudence, our Constitution
are based upon and interwoven with our Christian
belief." Sydney Morning Herald 26/8/1885
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It
was a Dutch Protestant, Abel Tasman, "the
man who made the longest voyage since Magellan"
who was the first European to sight Tasmania
and New Zealand. A devout Christian, he sailed
from Batavia on 14 August 1642. Instructions
to Skipper Commander Abel Tasman reminded
him of other famous explorers-Christopher
Columbus and Vasco da Gama-who had preceded
him. "What numberless multitudes of blind
heathen have by the same been introduced to
the blessed light of the Christian religion.
May God Almighty vouchsafe His blessings on
this work". Tasman made a second voyage in
1644, when he charted the coast of Australia
from Cape York Peninsula west to Willems River
in the centre of the west coast. If we look
at a map of explorers prior to Cook, we see
that while all of them headed straight for
the Southland, they all sailed right around
it! There are natural explanations-contrary
winds and currents, but maybe God was waiting
for another day, when an English Christian
protestant, Captain James Cook should claim
the land that became ours. We have a Christian
heritage and we forget it at our peril. As
Karl Marx wrote: "A people without a heritage
are easily persuaded."
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The
Bible reminded God's people to remember their
heritage, and to look to that land God is
bringing us to. We have a heritage that shows
God led Christians, Catholic and Protestant,
to discover this land. We who live in it,
have not only a Christian heritage, but a
Christian destiny. This great Southland of
the Holy Spirit was given to us by God, to
prepare us for an even greater destiny, a
land and a city yet to come. Our early fathers
of the faith understood this promised land
with its beautiful harbour and cities was
not to be our final abode. For people of faith
have a heavenly destiny.
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As
the Book of Hebrews explains after it mentions
the great rollcall of famous believers: "All
these people were still living by faith when
they died. They did not receive the things
promised; they only saw them and welcomed
them from a distance. They admitted that they
were aliens and strangers on earth. People
who say such things show that they are looking
for a country of their own. If they had been
thinking of the country they had left, they
would have had opportunity to return. Instead,
they were longing for a better country--a
heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed
to be called their God, for he has prepared
a city for them." Hebrews 11.
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For
all people of faith, God has prepared for
us a better land, a heaven for believers and
a city of God where we will dwell with Him
through all eternity. Do you have the faith
to believe this? Will you enter your name
on the citizenship list of heaven? We hold
to our Christian heritage in Australia, but
we look forward to our eternal destiny in
Heaven. Join us in the best of both worlds,
a citizen of the Great South Land of the Holy
Spirit, and a citizen of Heaven.
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REFERENCES.
- South
Land Of The Holy Spirit: E R Kotlowski
1994 J. Bell Pty Ltd
- Discovering
Australia's Christian C Stringer; Col
Stringer Ministries Inc 2001
- Australian
Encyclopedia; Australian Geographic Pty
Ltd 1996
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by
Rev Dr Gordon Moyes
Go to the Wesley Mission Sermons home page
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This article was sent by the Wesley Mission
Sydney and is from their Sunday Night Live
mailing.
We
have added this to the Sentinels website
with the Permission of Rev. Gordon Moyes
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The
Explorers
- Hebrews 11:13-16 |
The Women
- Esther 4:1-17 |
The
Convicts
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Acts 16:16-30
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The Missionaries
-
Acts 28:1-10
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The
Governors
-
Acts 25:1-12
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The
Explorers
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Hebrews 10:19-25
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The
Educators
-
Psalm 22:1-6
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The
Pioneers
-
Hebrews 12:1-3 |
Wrestling
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Story
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Deakin 1856-1919 |
| |
Martin
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1452-1493
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Martin
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1494-1510 |
Martin
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1511-1522 |
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1523 - 1546 |
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Senate
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2001
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of PM. John Howards Address to Parliament, 14th October, 2004 - Bali Bombing |
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