[PeteB570]

I got a problem with coins.

They can show a no earlier time - because of when they were minted.

But that later date? If I drop a 1958 dime in my back yard it doesn't mean the house was built then.

[Tijeras_Slim]

It was buried a few inches below the ground in the middle of snake-infested Eighteen Mile Swamp on North Stradbroke Island, Queensland.

Digging deeper, he found the compass of Ameila Aerhart's Lockheed.

[ClearCase_guy]

I was thinking of slipping an old Roman coin into that snake-infested swamp -- that would shake 'em up, wouldn't it?

Seriously, it's long been known that Europeans saw Australia long before Cook sailed into Botany Bay. Not much new here. There were no settlements. The fact is that the Spanish and the Portuguese knew about Australia and didn't do anything with it. The British turned it into a wonderful country (though the beginning was a bit rocky, as is often the case).

[norton]

"If I drop a 1958 dime in my back yard it doesn't mean the house was built then."

No, but it might make for a successful Masters' Thesis sometime later in the century.