Dirk Hartog, Dutch sea captain, was one of the first Europeans to see the mainland of Australia. In October 1616, Hartog, captain of the Eendracht, was sailing from the Cape of Good Hope (later to become the site of Cape Town) to Batavia (Jakarta) when he was blown off course and came upon an island off the coast of Western Australia, now called Dirk Hartog Island.

Hartog spent three days examining the coast and nearby islands. He named the area Eendrachtsland after his ship, but this name has not endured. When he left he fixed a pewter plate to a tree. On the plate he had etched a record of his visit to the island. In 1696 the Dutch explorer Willem de Vlamingh landed on the island and found the plate. He replaced it with a new plate, and took Hartog's original home to Amsterdam, where it may now be seen in the Rijksmuseum.

In 2000 the Hartog plate was temporarily brought to Australia as part of an exhibition at the Sydney Maritime Museum. This led to suggestions that the plate, the oldest artifact in Australia's European history, should be acquired for an Australian museum, but the Dutch authorities have made it clear that the plate is not for sale.