A dinner plate, nailed to a post, on a cliff

In 1616, Dutch explorer Dirk Hartog reached the northwestern tip of what is now Australia, the first European to reach the continent. To mark his landfall, he placed a pewter plate with an inscription on a wooden post high on a cliff. The place is now called Inscription Point. In 1697, another Dutch explorer found the plate, and replaced it with one of his own, bringing the original back to the Netherlands. Now, the original Hartog dish is being loaned to a museum in Perth, Australia.

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Hartog dish: oldest European object left in Australia returns after 400 years

By Patrick Kenneally

The Guardian

August 30, 2016