“The Portuguese were the first to discover the East Coast of Australia”
In Australian history books, it has been thought for hundreds of years that Captain Cook from England was the first to discover the east coast of Australia on 28th April 1770. However latest evidence shows that this historic event is inaccurate. A number of relics and remains have been found which indicate the Portuguese arrival at Australia in the early to mid 1500’s, 200 years before Cook.
These clues include the Mahogany Ship, a Portuguese caravel that was shipwrecked six miles west of Warrnambool; a stone house at Bittangabee Bay; the Dieppe map, a secret map drawn by the Portuguese; a cannon and five keys found in Geelong.
The shipwreck of Mahogany Ship remains Warrnambool’s first shipping disaster.
The Mahogany Ship is believed to be a Portuguese caravel lost in 1522 in Warrnambool under the command of Cristovao de Mendonca. Prince Henry, the ruler of Portugal at that time, had sent Mendonca and his crew to Australia in order to discover unfound land on the other side of the world that he had located on the French Map, the Dieppe Map that the Portuguese had stolen and copied.
Many people believed that the world was a flat saucer but Prince Henry believed that the world was a sphere. Prince Henry wanted to find out if there was in fact such land over the other side of the world as Australia, if it was inhabited and if there was any treasure or valuable things there.
This journey had to be kept a secret because the Portuguese were breaking an agreement that they had made with the Spanish. The agreement stated that the Spanish and Portuguese had half of the world each to explore but they could not explore past their boundaries.
Mendonca and his crew set out from Portugal in the 1500’s to find out about this new territory. Unfortunately the Mahogany ship was shipwrecked at Warrnambool in Victoria, Australia. Twenty-seven people reported that they saw the Mahogany Ship sink...
Nice effort and accurate description of the reasons various writers think the Portuguese mapped east coast Australia in the 1520s.
The reasons why many people think this did NOT happen is not explained though - so you've only given half the argument! A History teacher is therefore going to see this as very one-sided, and therefore not a very sophisticated History essay, despite its good qualities.
Have a look at the Wikipedia on this topic of the theory of Portuguese discovery of Australia" and the "Dieppe Maps".
Be careful about claiming things like "Spanish doodles" as useful evidence. The argument rests on the Dieppe maps (a school of maps produced in France in the 1540s, 1550s and 1560s).