In James Cook’s claim of the east coast, he specifically mentioned RIVERS.

 I now once more hoisted English Coulers and in the Name of His Majesty King George the Third took posession of the whole Eastern Coast from the above Latitude down to this place by the Name of [blank, later filled in with Wales, changed to New Wales, then changed to New South Wales], together with all the Bays, Harbours Rivers and Islands situate upon the same said coast

https://www.captaincooksociety.com/home/detail/21-august-1770

There is precedence in this era that RIVERS means River catchments. This includes surrounding land that if rained on, will drain into those rivers. Cook is not claiming “up to the high-water mark” as some claim, Cook is claiming a portion of the land. The precedence for a claim on rivers is from north America with the Mississippi and Colombia rivers which were claimed as whole catchments by various European powers. The idea is, if you discover the mouth of a large river system – you can put a settlement at the mouth and claim the catchment, especially when a large, continental-sized landmass is concerned.

Above is a screenshot from Google Earth that I have added some overlays. Everything to the east of the light-blue line is what Cook claimed First Discovery of if you interpret his claim of “rivers” as meaning pacific-flowing catchments.

The Orange Line in this map is also very important. I will keep referring to this line throughout this post as the Orange Line. This is with capital letters because it’s a thing I found, there’s no name for it – so that’s what I’m gunna call it! I picked Orange because of the association with the Netherlands.

This Orange Line extends down to skirt the east coast of Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania). In 1642, the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman planted a flag claiming first discovery on the east coast of Van Diemen’s land. I would say, at the time it was commonly understood that everywhere to the west of the Orange Line was part of the Dutch East Indies. This is evident because no other European colonial power went anywhere near trying to claim New Holland between 1642 and 1770. This is almost 150 years of recognition from the colonial community, that the territory is under Dutch First Discovery.

At the time, the Torres Strait was not commonly known of, neither was the Bass Strait. The island Papua, mainland Australia and Tasmania were; as far as most Europeans knew, part of a single land mass under Dutch claim. Everything west of this Orange Line is under Dutch first discovery claim.

In 1762, the British occupied Manila in the Philippines, which was a Spanish colony. Alexander Darlymple translated documents that were found in naval archives in Manila during the occupation. There, Darlymple “discovered” the Torres Strait by reading accounts of Torres’s passage from La Austrialia del Espiritu Santo (in Vanuatu) through the Torres Strait to Manila. This showed the British that there was a geographical separation between the island of Papua and mainland New Holland/Australia. This is a very significant strategic discovery, which Cook was sent on his first voyage specifically to exploit.

The existence of the Torres Strait weakens the Dutch first discovery claim over mainland New Holland. The reason is this: the Dutch had treaties with the Sultanate of Tidore. The Sultanate of Tidore in turn, had some kind of jurisdiction over part of the island of Papua. So, if Papua and New Holland are part of the same land mass, and the Dutch have a treaty with Papuans – then the Dutch have treaty with the peoples of the single Papua/New Holland/Van Diemen’s Land landmass. But the existence of the Torres Strait means that the Dutch DO NOT have a treaty with any people from the New Holland landmass.

Cook’s Voyage

Cook’s first voyage was to exploit Alexander Dalrymple’s finding in the Manila naval archives. Firstly, it’s commonly known that Dalrymple was the brains behind Cook’s first voyage. Dalrymple revealed the existence of the Torres Strait by publishing a book while Cook was out on the voyage exploiting that knowledge. The book is very revealing as to his overall strategy, what Dalrymple knew, and what he thought was important.

The real secret instructions of Cook’s voyage was not to find terra australis incognita, but to claim any land parts of New Holland that lay east of the Orange Line for the British.

However, this means Cook needs to be able to accurately locate the Orange Line. This presents a technical challenge. Cook needs to locate the Orange Line without actually going down to Van Diemen’s Land. If he goes down to Van Diemen’s Land – his cover story about going to Batavia for repairs is blown.

So Cook located the Orange Line mathematically. Cook used an extract of Tasman’s journal by Dirk Rembrantse. This is clear in his journal entries on 18 April and on 20 April;

By our Longitude we are a degree to the Westward of the East side of Van Diemen’s Land, according to Tasman, the first discoverer’s, Longitude of it, who could not err much in so short a run as from this land to New Zeland; and by our Latitude we could not be above 50 or 55 Leagues to the Northward of the place where he took his departure from.

Cook’s journal, 18 April

However, every one who compares this Journal with that of Tasman’s will be as good a judge as I am; but it is necessary to observe that I do not take the Situation of Vandiemen’s from the Printed Charts, but from the extract of Tasman’s Journal, published by Dirk Rembrantse.

Cook’s journal 20 April

If you look at Rembrantse’s extract, it becomes clear that Cook has measured his estimation of the location of the Orange Line by measuring a longitudinal offset backwards from Murderer’s Bay/Cape Farewell.

Coordinates in Rembrantse’s Extract	Longitude
Murderer’s Bay/Cape Farewell (NZ):	191d 41min
Where Tasman claimed possession (Van Diemen’s Land Princes Flag):	167d 55m
Difference:	23d 46min

Cook’s Journal also says on the 18th:

At Noon our Latitude by observation was 38 degrees 45 minutes South, Longitude from Cape Farewell 23 degrees 43 minutes West

So you can see here – Cook’s goal was to go 23 degrees 46 minutes westward from Cape Farewell/Murderer’s Bay, and on the 18th April he has hit that target.

The problem is – Cook’s estimation of the Orange Line is only as accurate as Tasman’s given coordinates. And Tasman himself – had fudged the coordinates in order to hide some strategically valuable, sheltered harbours on the south coast of Van Diemen’s Land. So Cook ended up placing the Orange Line much further east than it actually is. On the 18th April, Cook thinks he has crossed the Orange Line, and he writes as much in his journal. Cook also – does not make any landing attempts until he is back on the east side of what he believes the Orange Line is (at Bulli).

See the map below – this shows a yellow line. This yellow line is what Cook mistakenly thinks is the eastern limit of Dutch first discovery. This is why Cook does not attempt to go ashore until he gets to Bulli. Bulli lies exactly on the yellow line. Cook is a VERY impressive navigator and hit Bulli SPOT ON. The problem is Tasman’s coordinates were not accurate.

Also note, the green line is the track that Cook took. Note the initial northward deviation up to 37 degrees, 17 minutes South, and correction back further south. This correction southward makes no sense if he is heading for Batavia. The correction is because he has secret instructions to hit the New Holland coast at latitude 38 degrees. This is because once he gets to the Torres Strait, he knows he is to claim possession of the coast down to 38 degrees south. This is also why Point Hicks is misplaced on Cook’s charts.

This is also why BOTANY BAY is important – and not Port Jackson, or any of the other nice bays southward along the NSW coast. For a long time, convicts spoke of and even sang about going to Botany Bay, when they were actually going to Port Jackson. It is because Botany Bay is the first sheltered harbour that is outside of Dutch first discovery zone according to Cook’s 1770 calculations. The entire colony hangs on Cook’s claim of First Discovery of Botany Bay, hence why the name Botany Bay prevailed to mean the colonial settlement which was not even at Botany Bay.

The British/Dutch border

So the Orange Line is, kind of a preliminary border between Dutch New Holland and British New South Wales.

The British sent explorers over the Great Dividing Range in order to get a foothold in land that is outside of the Pacific water catchment, yet still east of the Orange Line. The British could have just set up settlements at various points along the coast that they had claimed – but no. They were prioritising westward expansion, because that potentially gave them first discovery claim over more territory. The map below I will show the area – the no-man’s land that they had their eyes on;

This black area is technically a no-man’s land according to the Doctrines of Discovery. It is east of Tasman’s claim – the Orange Line for the Dutch, and outside of Cook’s claim over rivers. No-man’s land because no European power has formally claimed first discovery of it.

What would also be a priority for the British after making inroads into no-man’s land, is to find the mouth of the Murray Darling River system, and try to claim the whole catchment. Under the Doctrines of Discovery – if you claim and put a settlement at the mouth of a river, you can claim the entire catchment. This is why many explorers – both inland and by sea – were trying to find the mouth. However, since the mouth is clearly flowing off onto land that’s already Dutch territory, finding and claiming the mouth of the river system may just provoke an unwinnable fight with the Dutch for claim over the entire basin.

I think the British may have found the mouth much earlier than they let-on. In 1802, Matthew Flinders encountered the French Baudin expedition in Encounter Bay, which is right at the Murray Darling mouth. That is one heck of a coincidence for both the British and French to be in such a strategic location, at the same time. I’d say both the English and French knew exactly where the river mouth was – but both knew that claiming it for themselves was not the best idea strategically.

Moving beyond the Orange Line

After the Anglo-Dutch treaty of 1824, the British basically got a green light to progressively move west of the Orange Line into Dutch discovered territory in the greater Murray Darling Basin. This progressive move was planned according to a timeline to match the treaty terms. Part of this progression was the establishment of the 19 Counties by Governor Darling in 1826. The 19 Counties westernmost-limit (the western limit of Murray county) lies directly on the Orange Line. Charles Sturt “discovered” (or I suspect – made public a secret discovery) the Murray Darling river mouth in an expedition in 1829-1830. 1830 is a key date of the treaty terms. The British only started allowing squatters to cross outside the 19 Counties limit in 1836 – which is also a key date in the treaty.

Don’t know if it’s a coincidence, but there is also a town in NSW called Orange. Eyeballing the town’s location, it is smack bang in the middle of the strip of no-man’s Land. Now, check this out;

In 1823 Lieutenant Percy Simpson passed through the district on his way to Wellington. He was accompanied by Chief Constable John Blackman who gave his name to Blackman’s Swamp. This became the name of the first settlement.  By the late 1820s the name ‘Orange’ had began to appear on official documents as a replacement for Blackman’s Swamp. The name change was a result of Major Thomas Mitchell who renamed the town after the Prince of Orange. Mitchell had been involved with the Prince in the Peninsular War in Spain.

https://www.aussietowns.com.au/town/orange-nsw

The Prince of Orange was the son of the King of the Netherlands – House Orange-Nassau … looks like a secret hat-tip on the side of the 1824 treaty to me! There may be another sneaky hat-tip to the Netherlands by the use of a red (Belgic?) lion on the Tasmanian state badge and flag.

After the treaty was really finalised in 1836, the British started using various court cases to demonstrate a duty of protection to the natives (and therefore, jurisdiction of British law) within various sectors including in the no-man’s land. For example – the Myall Creek Massacre trial. By the British Crown holding that massacre trial, the Crown faked to the outside world that it has First Discovery rights over the the Murray Darling Basin – because only a Crown with First Discovery would bother protecting the natives like that. But this protection is only implied, it is not explicit. The Crown did not act consistently by catching other massacres, nor did it ever declare discovery over the basin. The Crown – in some ways acted like it had a fiduciary duty, and in other ways not. They left their future claim options open – hedging their bets.

NSW/QLD Border

This half-arsed British claim of First Discovery over the Murray Darling basin may also has something to do with the positioning of part of the NSW/QLD border.

The border’s eastern (Pacific) end begins at a place called “Point Danger” and initially follows a watershed line till it reaches a T-Junction with the Murray Darling watershed. From that point it follows watershed boundaries between some tributaries in the Murray Darling system (Border Rivers), then it hits longitude 149 E and does a strait line along latitude 29 S.

James Cook really did discover and name a nearby point “Point Danger”, but this point is now called Fingal Head. There are some diehard Cook fans trying to get this ‘mistake’ fixed, but I think was not a mistake, but an attempt to fudge and extend Cook’s claim of rivers to include the Murray Darling basin.

It kind of makes sense – if Cook directly discovered and named Point Danger; which is part of a watershed boundary that is contiguous with the Murray Darling watershed boundary – then it’s almost as if he actually discovered the Murray Darling catchment itself. Afterall, a watershed boundary IS a part of a river system. This point of the QLD/NSW border is one of the the closest points that the Murray Darling catchment comes to the Pacific Coast. If they just ignore the Fingal Head “error” – it kinda works, especially if you have a separate colony on either side of the line (Queensland and New South Wales).

But for this to work – Cook needs to have discovered and named the point that lies on the watershed. This is why the “mistake” will not be corrected anytime soon, because colonial claims still depend on it.

The national capital and the Orange line

Canberra is not half-way between Sydney and Melbourne. Note how the A.C.T., and the Canberra-Yass region (which is where capital sites were scouted) is snuggly tucked in a pocket of no-man’s land. Dalgety was also nominated, and lies in the southern-most part of the no-man’s land.

The Orange Line half-way point = 131 degrees East

The Orange line is at about 148 degrees 30 minutes east. If you take Steep Point, the western-most extremity of the Australian mainland (113 degrees east), and find the halfway line between the two, you get 130 degrees 45 minutes east. Rounding that to the nearest whole longitude (as colonisers tend to do), you get 131 Degrees east.

The Port of Darwin is basically the closest port possible that is west of this 131 degree half-way point;

This is deliberate. It’s like putting down a chess piece on a board.

And as for the Uluru Statement from the Heart… the constitutional conference happened at facilities in Yulara, while the ceremony and first reading of the Statement happened at Mutitjulu. These two locations straddle longitude 131 East. I find it kind of interesting that the conference should happen here, of all places, at the half-way line of Dutch discovered New Holland. Yes, Uluru is famous – but why? Because it has been made famous. If you never went “out there”, you would think it was the only landmark in the center. And perhaps it was made famous because of it’s location on this meridian. Funnily enough – there is even a resort there called Longitude 131…why?

Uluru/Ayers Rock is an Australian national possession to be named, strategically claimed, given back but taken on the same day, renamed, rebranded and reinforced through ritual pilgrimage. It’s kind of fitting to name the Uluru Statement after it, because we, as a peoples are going through the same washing machine cycle as Uluru has – with a long spin cycle.

Interesting, related developments today

There are a couple of things happening in our era – that may be a result of the unclear status of British discovery claims of the Murray Darling catchment.

One is the Kartinyeri v Commonwealth court case. The court case was in regards to the construction of a bridge right at the mouth of the Murray Darling.

Other interesting developments are to do with:

• the Union of Sovereign First Nations of the Northern Murray-Darling Basin,
• and the Unilateral Declarations of Independence made by the Murrawarri Republic and other nations.

There are some complex technical details to cover here – but I can’t begin to tackle them until I first set a foundation to explain why the Murray Darling catchment is so important in terms of colonial territorial claims. So now that I have covered that background, hopefully I can now delve into these topics.