Australians might speak Dutch if not for strong emotions

Description

How did Australia, the mysterious southern continent that had captured European imaginations since ancient times, slip from the grasp of the Dutch?

Four hundred years ago, the Dutch East India Company – the most powerful business in the world – was trading all across the Indian Ocean and had its Asian headquarters in Java. And yet the most hard-headed businessmen of the age saw little value in pursuing trade and settlement in Australia.