[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).

[DancesWithCats]

In his book Beyond Capricorn, Peter Trickett argued that a fresh analysis of 16th century charts showed that Portuguese adventurers had secretly discovered and mapped Australia and New Zealand.

So ... why would they keep this a big, fat secret?! Fear of retribution from aborigines who lost out on the souvenir trade?