A Portuguese sailor in the service of Spain, Ferdinand Magellan and his crew are the first people known to have circumnavigated (sailed around) the globe. The expedition set sail in 1519 with five ships. Magellan himself was killed in the Philippines in 1521, and just one ship under captain Sebastian del Cano survived the voyage arriving back in Spain in 1522. The second circumnavigation was more than 50 years later by the Englishman, Francis Drake, in 1577-1580.

The Dutch captain, Abel Tasman, between 1642 and 1644, charted Tasmania, New Zealand, New Guinea, and the northwest coast of Australia. He had missed the more temperate part of the continent to the southeast, and saw only rain forest and desert. This probably delayed European settlement of Australia for 150 years.

Chemical warfare! One of the many different plants used by Australia's Aboriginals to catch fish is the austral indigo. These were crushed and put into pools to kill or stun fish so that they could be easily caught. Among other plants used in different parts of Australia were the leaves and bark of several wattles and gum-trees, and the wild indigo. Spears made from a kind of acacia tree also acted as a tranquillizer for hunting bigger animals. The wood itself has a mild poison, and while it is not fast acting, a kangaroo, for example, wounded by such a spear would eventually be slowed down enough by the poison that it could be trapped and killed.

The cumbungi, a kind of bulrush, was among the most important plants for the Aboriginals. A multi-purpose plant, it was the 'staff of life' along the Murray-Darling river system and in south-western Australia. The underground horizontal 'roots' (rhizomes) were eaten: steamed in an earth oven, the outer layer was stripped off, and the starchy fibrous inner part was tied in a simple knot. This was then chewed to remove the starch, which tastes like potato. The remaining fibre was dried, soaked, scraped with mussel shells, and then rolled on the thigh to give very strong string for making large nets which were used to catch ducks and fish. Finer string was made from the leaves. The young shoots which appear in early summer were eaten raw.