18 th century Chinese coin found on Elcho Island

[bob10]

There have been rumours about Spanish swords, found in the North. Ancient Chinese coins don't surprise me at all. Bob


18th century Chinese coin found in Arnhem Land - Australian Geographic

[bob10]

Old news, perhaps, but the Kilwa coins are another piece in the puzzle, Bob


Australia's ancient African coins - Australian Geographic


An interesting map, [ or should I say chart]. Bob


Wessel Islands, Arnhem Land - Australian Geographic

[DiscoMick]

Chinese trading ships had routes south through what is now Malaysia and Indonesia and even around to India and beyond.
Some claim the Chinese got to Australia long before Europeans. This guy is probably the best known making such claims:
http://www.gavinmenzies.net/
Its an interesting subject.

[JDNSW]

A chinese coin does not mean the Chinese were there - the Macassans certainly were there in that time frame, and the Chinese equally certainly traded with Macassar.(Sulawesi)

John

[bob10]

I'll be interested to hear of any shipwrecks found, & what type. Europeans have been recorded as coming to this area as early as 1605, [Torres, Portugese] , in 1606 Jansoon , Dutch, I think, on Duyfken , explored West Cape York [ the first recorded conflict between Europeans & Aboriginals was here, 9 sailors & a number of Wik people killed in a fight over women. The incident is still in the Wik oral history] The earliest recorded Englishman was Dampier, to my recollection, 1688.


Menzies is an advocate of the great Chinese fleet of 1421, during the rule of Emporer Zhu Di. In his book, he talks of evidence an entire Chinese fleet was wrecked on New Zealands South Island . The voyage of the great fleet took two years, and it is said the Chinese circumnavigated the Globe a century before Magellan, reached America seventy years before Columbus, & Australia 350 years before Cook. Traditional historians disagree with him, of course. I have his book, 1421, and true or not, it is a damn good yarn. China had begun looking inward by the time the fleet returned, as its self imposed isolation from the World began, and the fleet was left to rot. Interesting speech from the Chinese Premier in 2003;


Chinese Premier Hu Jintao’s speech to Austrailian Parliament 24 October 2003:
“Back in the 1420’s, the Expeditionary Fleets of China’s Ming Dynasty reached Australian shores. For centuries, the Chinese sailed across vast seas and settled down in what they called “Southern Land”, or todays Australia. They brought Chinese culture to this land and lived harmoniously with the local people, contributing their proud share to Australians economy, society and its thriving pluralistic culture.”


More on Menzies claims;
10 Annex 10 – Evidence of Chinese Fleets visit to Australia

[bob10]

Another claim that ruffled European feathers, Bob






1434 | The Lost Empire of Atlantis | 1421 | 1434 | Chinese Exploration | Gavin Menzies

[vnx205]

Menzies may be an OK writer, but he is a rubbish historian. His claims have been thoroughly debunked. As one site puts it:
The general public does not know and cannot be expected to know that Menzies works are utter rubbish. They look like history books: Menzies follows Graham Hancock’s trick of stuffing the book with footnotes, which most of his readers will never pursue, thinking that he is quoting genuinely relevant evidence.
Chinese circumnavigation in 1421? | Bad Archaeology
Another site says:
The reasoning of 1421 is inexorably circular, its evidence spurious, its research derisory, its borrowings unacknowledged, its citations slipshod, and its assertions preposterous ... Examination of the book's central claims reveals they are uniformly without substance.
More evidence of the fact that his book is nonsense is here:
The myth of Menzies' "1421 " exposed

This article shows that his claims are clearly impossible.
[ame]http://www.michaelsheiser.com/PaleoBabble/1421.pdf[/ame]

Menzies' book clearly belongs in the fiction section of the library.

[JDNSW]

I think the thing that really rubbed my nose into the standard of Menzies' research was the statement that the Hawkesbury River provided easy access to the Central West goldfields. Anyone with a smattering of NSW geography or history would see immediately that this was rubbish. And you do not have to look very deeply to find other similar bits in the book.

John

[bob10]

Haven't heard any feed back , Bob

[oops, my mistake, posted earlier]


Australia's ancient African coins - Australian Geographic

[stallie]

I wonder how many wrecks and other bits are under water, off the north and north west coast hitherto undiscovered by recreational divers due to the turbidity, remoteness, and big lizards….