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Dutch king, queen start 4-day visit to Australia

Xinhua, October 31, 2016 Adjust font size:

The King and Queen of The Netherlands started their official visit to Australia on Monday by commemorating the 400th anniversary of Dutch explorer Dirk Hartog's landing in Western Australia (WA) in the 17th century.

King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima began their Australian leg of their tour in Perth, where they unveiled the historic Hartog plate at the official opening of the Travellers and Traders in the Indian Ocean World exhibition at the WA Maritime Museum on Monday, local media reports.

Four centuries ago on October 25, Hartog landed at what is known as Cape Inscription on the northwestern tip of WA's largest and most western isle, which was named after him.

Hartog expedition was the second European group to land in Australia and the first to leave behind an the Hartog pewter plate, an artifact to record his visit, inscribed with details of his voyage and landfall however another Dutch navigator, Willem de Vlamingh, who discovered the plate 81 years later and replaced it with his own.

Hartog's plate was taken back to the Netherlands but is currently back in WA on loan from Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum.

On Tuesday, the royal couple will head to Ascot racecourse to watch the Melbourne Cup followed by a visit to lay a wreath at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra and attend a state lunch hosted by Governor-General Peter Cosgrove on Wednesday.

The royal couple will also speak to Australian officials involved in the response to the downing of MH17 enroute from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur over Ukraine that occurred two years ago.

Their visit to Australia, running from October 31 to November 4, will also include visits to Sydney and Brisbane before heading to New Zealand from November 7 to November 9.

The royal couple's visits will be accompanied by foreign minister Bert Koenders and will focus on the Netherlands' historical and wide-ranging bilateral ties with Australia and New Zealand.

A broad economic mission will take place at the same time, headed in Australia by Minister for Foreign Trade Lilianne Ploumen and in New Zealand by Minister of Economic Affairs Henk Kamp. Enditem