God's soverignty in delaying the settlement of Australia - ensuring a Christian heritage
The nations to our north didn't settle here as the Hindu religion prohibited sea voyages and contact with foreigners because of the belief that there was a giant abyss into which ships would sink and certain death awaited them if they ventured more than two kilometers out of the sight of land, and a gigantic bird Geruda, would take them. Similar stories of the dreadful kingdom of women (Chinese), and of the kingdom of the Antichrist or Dedjdal (Muslims), prevented them from venturing further south. (Some intercessors believe these fears represent three principalities over this nation).
The Australian historian, Manning Clark, in his first volume of "A History of Australia" says the early inhabitants of the continent created cultures but not civilizations. The first inhabitants, the Negritos, who migrated from South-East Asia, when Tasmania, Australia and New Guinea were part of Asia, were replaced by the Murrayians, who drove the Negrito into Tasmania to the south or behind Cairns to the north. The Murrayians were replaced by the Carpentarians. Later, he summises, as the ice receded in northern Asia and Antarctica, the levels of the ocean rose, until Tasmania, Australia, Kangaroo Island, New Guinea, Indonesia and the Malay archipelagos were all cut off from each other. Clark goes on to say that the Australian Aborigines were not able to protect themselves from invaders because they had not developed sophisticated weapons and other resources, such as suitable seed-bearing plants and domesticated animals. When the Europeans came, the Aborigines were unable to adapt to the white man's ways which meant that the Aborigines did not make good slaves, resulting in their culture being almost destroyed (See link)
Christopher Columbus made the European discovery of South America over 500 years ago which was to become predominately Catholic. He recorded how he accomplished this extraordinary voyage to the New World in his "Book of Prophecies":
"...It was the Lord who put into my mind — I could feel His hand upon me — the fact that it would be possible to sail from here to the Indies-All who heard of my project rejected it with laughter, ridiculing me... There is no question that the inspiration was from the Holy Spirit, because he comforted me with rays of marvellous illumination from the Holy Scriptures... For the execution of the journey to the Indies I did not make use of intelligence, mathematics, or maps. It is simply the fulfilment of what Isaiah had prophesied... No one should fear to undertake any task in the name of our Saviour, if it is just and if the intention is purely for His Holy service... the fact that the Gospel must still be preached to so many lands in such a short time — this is what convinces me".
The voyage by Columbus ultimately led to the first permanent European settlement in North America at Jamestown. They placed a cross at Cape Henry (now Virginia Beach) on April 29, 1607, claiming America for God as his vehicle for spreading the gospel to every nation. As a result North America became predominately a Protestant Nation.
Ferdinand Magellan made his famous voyage into the Pacific of 1519-21, he sailed west via the Straits of Magellan and Cape Horn.. Like many after him he was driven north by strong winds, so providentially the east coast of Australia remained unmapped for another 250 years. The following account explains why the Philippines (Spice Islands) became predominately Catholic:
On reaching the island of Subuth north of the equator, Magellan instructed his men to build a chapel and an altar out of tree branches "for the festival for the Resurrection of Him who has saved us was at hand".[The Indian chief, who was pleased with the celebration of divine service, invited the Admiral and some of the officers to eat with him. While feasting on a sumptuous meal of fried sago bread, native bird, and tropical fruit, washed down with a liquor made from the palm-tree juice, Magellan noticed a sick man lying on the floor in the corner of the cabin. After inquiring who he was and what was his illness, he was told it was the chief's grandson, who had been suffering from a "violent" fever for the last two years. Magellan told the man "to be of good courage, that if he would devote himself to Christ he would immediately recover his former health and strength". The Indian immediately "adored the Cross, and received baptism", and the next day he was completely healed, got up and took his meals with the rest of the family. As a result of this miracle, the chief and 2200 Indians were baptised, professing faith in the name of Christ.
It is interesting that a Dutch explorer, Willem Jansz, in 1606, Jansz sailed south from New Guinea in the Duyfken "the little dove" discovering Cape York Peninsula and charted 200 miles of the Australian coastline, without realising he had discovered a new continent. The full list of Navigators coming to Australia from 1606 can be found at www.australiaonthemap.org.au/ll.html.
Elizabeth Kotlowski writes in "Southland of the Holy Spirit: A Christian history of Australia"(www.chr.org.au/southlandholyspirit.html) "Discouraged by a shortage of supplies and the death of ten of his men in the Gulf of Carpentaria,Jansz returned to Java without ever sighting the rich eastern coast. Like the dove that Noah let out of the Ark, the Duyfken caught glimpses of the land but did not find a permanent home. Australia's time had not yet come. It is interesting that the dove is a symbol for the Holy Spirit. As the gentle dove hovered over the waters of Noah's day, the Holy Spirit brooded over the southern continent, named "La Australia del Espiritu Santo" (The Southland of the Holy Spirit) by a Spanish explorer, Pedro Fernandez de Quiros." It wasn't a very peaceful encounter with the natives, as there was loss of life with the Aborigines as well.
Several Spaniard voyages set out in the late fifteen hundreds for the South Seas and were now competing against another form of Christianity, the "heresies" of Luther and Calvin. Amongst them was the Portuguese mariner Pedro Fernandez de Quiros. He was a product of the Roman Catholic Counter-reformation and full of idealism and missionary zeal. In 1606, he sailed as far as the New Hebrides naming the main northern island "Australia del Espiritu Santo" with a proclamation of nearly 600 words (As on previous page).
Abel Tasman,the Dutch Protestant, made the longest voyage after Magellan and was the first European to sight Tasmania and New Zealand. A devout Christian, he sailed from Batavia making two voyages to Australia, one in 1642, the other in 1644. Instructions to Skipper Commander Abel Jansz Tasman included explorers - Christopher Columbus and Vascoda Gama -who had preceded him. "What numberless multitudes of blind heathen have by the same been introduced to the blessed light of the Christian religion!" ...and was sent with "the blessing of the Ruler of all things". "May God Almighty", he wrote in his journal,"vouchsafe His blessings on this work".
With the discovery by Captain James Cook of the East Coast of Australia in 1770, the English followimg the Wesleyan revival finally brought the gospel to this land through the Chaplain to the First Fleet, the Rev. Richard Johnson, who brought with him over 4,000 pieces of Christian literature.
Like the Rev. Richard Johnson and his "one Bible" myth, the De Quiros myth that he landed on the East Coast of Australia still persists. The reason for this can be seen on one of the very few pre-Cook maps showing only Australia. Produced in 1753 by Frenchman, Jacques Nicolas Bellin, the imaginary line goes from Tasmania to Espiritu Santo to PNG. The coastal note translates: "I suppose that the land of Dieman can join with the land of the Holy Ghost but this is without proof."
Great Southland of the Holy Spirit Celebrations
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