Australia was first documented by Europeans in 1606 when Dutch explorer Willem Janszoon landed on the Cape York Peninsula (Far North Queensland) and mapped part of the coastline.
Prior to this, Europeans had speculated about a southern landmass called Terra Australia Incognita. Other Dutch explorers later mapped more of Australia's northern, western, and southern coasts.
In 1770, British explorer James Cook made the first recorded landing on the east coast of Australia. However, Indigenous Australians had already lived there for tens of thousands of years before these European arrivals.