Naming
Australia
Incorporated
Naming Australia Incorporated
A celebration of Spanish
contribution to the history
and naming of Australia
Pedro Fernandez De Quirós
Born in Evora, Portugal, circa 1565, Quirós had previously sailed with the galleons plying between the Spanish territories of the Philippine Islands and Mexico, and had acquired a profound knowledge of navigation.
In 1595 he served as pilot on the second voyage of the Spanish sailor, Alvaro de Mendaña de Nehra, from Peru to the Marquesas Islands and the Santa Cruz Islands in the Pacific. After the death of Mendaña and Baretto (October 1595), Quirós led the survivors back to Manila, and subsequently returned to Acapulco in Mexico (arrival 11 December 1596).
Unable to secure a commission for a further Pacific voyage of his own, he visited Rome in 1600, where he obtained the patronage of Pope Clement VIII and the Spanish Ambassador. Having obtained the endorsement of Philip III king of Spain and Portugal, Quirós returned to Peru in 1603 with the intention of finding and settling the mythical Terra Australis.
With three ships, San Pedro y Pablo, San Pedro and Los Tres Reyes, Quirós left Callao on 21 December 1605 with 300 crew and soldiers. Sailing first to the southwest, Quirós reached 120°W 26°S, but the weather deteriorated, forcing a change of course to the northwest. On route he sighted La Encarnacion (Ducie Island), Henderson Island and Marutea (in the Tuamotu Archipelago). He landed on La Conversion de San Pablo (Hao Island) and Isla de Pescado (Caroline Island), which yielded food but no water. Continuing west, he next reached Gente Hermosa (Rakahanga Atoll), and eventually Nuestra Senora del Socorro (Taumaco, near the Santa Cruz Islands), where he heard reports of a large continent to the southwest. Sailing southeast he rounded Tucopia (Tikopia) and, after continuing south until 24 April 1606, left the ships "to the Will of God". God's will then steered them southwest to Santa Maria (Gaua in Vanuatu) and La Austrialia del Espíritu Santo, where the colony of Nova Jerusalem (Vera Cruz) was established (14 May 1606) in the Bay of San Felipe y Santiago (Big Bay). The colony was soon abandoned due to native hostility and disagreements among the crew. De Quirós, in the San Pedro y Pablo, became separated from the other ships in bad weather and was prevented from putting back to shore. Missing the Santa Cruz Islands, he sailed to 38°N and returned via the North Pacific route to California and Acapulco, arriving 23 November 1606.
Criticized for his failure, Quirós wandered Mexico and then returned to Madrid in 1607. He spent the next seven years in poverty, wrote numerous memorials of the voyage (only eight of which have survived), and harassed Philip III for funds to repeat the voyage. The memorial number 8 was translated in several European languages, into English as well, and thanks to it the “discovery of the fourth part of the world” was known in Europe.
Quirós died in Panama circa 1615.
For Oscar Spate, “He was a remarkable personality, and if not a great, then surely a good man: in no satiric sense, a Spiritual Don Quixote”.
For Australian composer Peter Sculthorpe, “he had a dream, he had a real vision of this wonderful country…he was our first hero or antihero, or almost the first Australian”.
Click here to down-load a brochure on Torres & Quiros
Pedro Fernandez De Quirós, Bust in the grounds of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Canberra. Unveiled by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Ambassador of Spain on 12 October 2006 as part of the celebrations for the Naming of Australia.
Naming Australia Incorporated
42 Roebuck Street
Red Hill ACT 2603
Canberra. Australia