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DARGANFYDDIAD Y WLAD.Darfu i ddarganfyddiad yr America gan Columbus yn y flwyddyn 1492 dueddi rhai i feddwl am y tebygolrwydd o fodolaeth cyfandir yn gorwedd yn y Dehau anadnabyddus pell, ac wedi i Vasco de Gama ddarganfod Penrhyn y Gobaith Da, a thrwy hyny agor ffordd i’r Môr Indiaidd, penderfynodd rhai o genedloedd Ewrop anfon allan anturiaethwyr i archwilio moroedd y dê. |
DISCOVERY OF THE COUNTRY.The discovery of America by Columbus in the year 1492 inclined some to contemplate the possible existence of a continent in the distant unknown South, and after Vasco da Gama discovered the Cape of Good Hope, thus opening a way to the Indian Ocean, several of the nations of Europe decided to dispatch venturers to explore the southern seas. |
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Nid oes sicrwydd hollol pwy ddarganfyddodd Awstralia gyntaf, ond y mae yn amlwg mai y rhan orllewinol o’r ynys (neu gyfandir) a welwyd gan Ewropiaid gyntaf, gan hyny ymddengys fod Awstralia Orllewinol yn adnabyddus i bobl gwynion flynyddau o flaen rhanau dwyreiniol o ororau y wlad. Y mae Portugal, Spaen, Ffrainc, a Holland yn hawlio yr anrhydedd o fod yn ddarganfyddwyr cyntaf y wlad, ond ymddengys mai gan y blaenaf sef Portugal mae yr hawl gryfaf. Tra yr oedd y mordwywr Portugeaidd enwog Menezes yn archwilio y moroedd Indiaidd, dywedir iddo ddyfod ar draws Awstralia Orllewinol yn y flwyddyn 1527, ac mai yr ynysoedd peryglus a adnabyddir ar yr arfordir hyd heddyw wrth yr enw Abrolhos—yr hyn a arwydda yn mhlith pobl Portugal, “cadwch eich llygaid yn agored” yn ein adgoffa i’r amgylchiad. |
It is not entirely certain who discovered Australia first, but it is clear that the western part of the island (or continent) was the first to be sighted by Europeans, as it appears that Western Australia was known to white people years before the eastern shores of the country. Portugal, Spain, France, and Holland claim the honour of being the first discoverers of the country, but it appears that the first of these, Portugal, has the strongest claim. When the famous Portuguese mariner Menezes was exploring the Indian seas, it is said that he came across Western Australia in the year 1527, and that the hazardous islands on the coast known today as the Abrolhos—which among the people of Portugal means, “keep your eyes open”— remind us of the occasion. |
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Mae yn amlwg oddiwrth Marco Polo, teithiwr enwog a ymwelodd â China mor foreu a’r flwyddyn 1270, fod Awstralia yn adnabyddus i’r Chineaid, os nad i’r Malays hefyd, rai canoedd o flynyddoedd cyn i ysbryd anturiaethus Ewrop gael ei ddeffroi o hir-gwsg y canol oesoedd, ac y mae yn dra thebygol fod bodolaeth “gwlad fawr y Dê” yn wybyddus i’r Groegiaid a’r Rhufeiniaid gynt dros ddwy fil o flynyddoedd yn ol. |
We learn from Marco Polo, a famous traveller who visited China as early as 1270, that Australia was known to the Chinese, if not to the Malays as well, hundreds of years before the adventurous spirit of Europe was woken from the long sleep of the middle ages, and it is very likely that the existence of the “great south land” was known by the ancient Greeks and Romans over two thousand years ago. |
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Er mai y Portugese oedd yr Ewropiaid cyntaf i ddarganfod Awstralia Orllewinol, eto i’r Isellmyn (Dutch) y perthyn y clod o wneyd y wlad yn wybyddus i’r byd gwareiddiedig, a hwy a’i galwasant yn Holland Newydd—enw ac sydd wedi glynu wrth y wlad hyd yn gydmarol ddiweddar—ac yn ystod y 17eg ganrif ymwelai mordwywr Hollandaidd a’r gororau hyn yn fynych a rhoddasant enwau ar luaws o fanau ar yr arfordir. |
Although the Portuguese were the first Europeans to discover Western Australia, to the Dutch belongs the honour of making the country known to the civilized world, and it was they who named it New Holland—a name that persisted in use until comparatively recently—and during the 17th century Dutch mariners visited its shores frequently, giving names to many places on the coast. |
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Mor foreu ar flwyddyn 1616 darfu i Dirk Hartoch ddarganfod Sharks Bay a rhoddodd enw ei hun ar ynys ag sydd yn dwyn ei enw hyd heddyw. |
As early as 1616 Dirk Hartog discovered Shark Bay and gave his own name to an island which still bears the name today. |
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Yn y flwyddyn 1629 cymerodd erchyllwaith arswydus y Batavia le. Llong oedd y Batavia ar ei mordaith, mor bell ac y gwn, o Holland i’r Dutch East Indies. Yr oedd ar ei bwrdd y môrlywydd Pelsart a’i wŷr a mordeithwyr, ac ar ol mordaith hir a themestlog aeth yn llongddrylliad ar ynysoedd peryglus yr Abrolhos, ar arfordir Awstralia Orllewinol. Y mae llongddrylliad y Batavia a’r canlyniadau yn fwy llawn o erchyllwaith, beiddgarwch a rhamantus na dim a ellir ei ddarllen mewn cysylltiad ag archwilwyr boreuol Awstralia. Yr oedd y rhai a longddrylliwyd yn cynwys nifer tra lluosog o wyr, rhai gwragedd a phlant a buont fyw yn Awstralia Orllewinol oddeutu bedwar mis, a gellir eu hystyried y sefydlwyr gwynion cyntaf y wlad, neu o leiaf y preswylwyr gwynion cyntaf yno. Wedi eu taflu i’r làn methwyd darganfod dwr croyw, a darfu i’r môrlywydd Pelsart hwylio ymaith i Java mewn cwch bychan er ceisio cymhorth i’r bobl ag ydoedd efe yn gorfod eu gadael ar ol. Ar y cyntaf darfu iddo hwylio ar hyd glanau Awstralia Orllewinol gan lanio yma a thraw i chwilio am ddwfr, ac unwaith neu ddwy gwelodd rai o’r brodorion y rhai a ymddangosent yn ddynion duon ac yn hollol noeth, ac yr oedd y wlad yn ymddangos mor llwm, fel nad oedd na choed na phorfa i’w gweled yn unlle, ond yn hytrach wedi ei gorchuddio â bryniau morgrug wedi eu cyfodi o bridd. Wedi hwylio yn mlaen gyda’r glanau am gryn bellder, darfu i wynt croes beri iddo ymwneyd am y y môr agored, a cheisio parhau i’r fordaith i ynys Java mor fuan ac oedd modd, ac o’r diwedd darfu iddo gyrhaedd Batavia, prif ddinas yr ynys hono ar ol mordaith o 1,600 o filldiroedd mewn cwch bychan. Pan ddarfu iddo ddychwelyd yn ol o Java i’r fangre ag y cymerasai y llongddrylliad le, cafodd ddeall fod gwrthryfel feiddgar yn cael ei ddilyn gan gyflafan erchyll wedi cymeryd lle yn ystod ei absenoldeb. Ymddengys mai gweithredwyr yr ysgelerderau hyn oeddynt haid o fileiniaid a arweiniwyd gan adyn o’r enw Cornelis, yr hwn a amcanai osod ei hun i fyny fel môrleidr ac i roddi pawb na chydymffurfiai a’i amcanion dieflyg i farwolaeth, a chafodd nifer mawr o wyr, gwragedd a phlant, eu llofruddio mewn gwaed oer. Darfu i’r môr-lywydd grogi yr euog yn ol ei haeddiant. Ymddengys fod llongddrylliadau yn beth cyffredin iawn y dyddiau hyny ar arfordir Awstralia, oblegyd yr ydym yn cael i long arall o Holland o’r enw De Vergulde Draeck fyned yn ddrylliau yn y flwyddyn 1655, pryd y collwyd 118 o fywyd. Cenedl enwog oedd y Dutch y dyddiau hyny ar y môr er nad oeddynt ond bychan. |
In the year 1629 the atrocity of the Batavia took place. The Batavia was a ship sailing, as far as I know, from Holland to the Dutch East Indies. On board were commodore Pelsart and his men and passengers, and after a long and stormy voyage they were shipwrecked on the perilous islands of the Abrolhos, on the coast of Western Australia. The wreck of the Batavia and its consequences are more full of cruelty, daring and romance than anything to be read in connection with the early explorers of Australia. Those shipwrecked included a large number of men and some women and children, and they lived in Western Australia about four months. They can be considered the first white settlers of the country, or at least the first white residents there. After being cast ashore they failed to find any fresh water, and so commodore Pelsart set sail for Java in a small boat, to get help for the people he had to leave behind. At first he sailed along the coast landing here and there to look for water, and once or twice he saw some of the natives, who were black and entirely naked, and the country appeared to be so barren that there was neither tree nor pasture to be seen anywhere, rather the land was covered with ant-hills raised from the earth. After following the coast for a considerable distance, a cross-wind forced him to make for the open sea, and try to complete the voyage to Java as soon as possible, and he finally reached Batavia, capital of that island, after a voyage of 1,600 miles in a small boat. When he returned from Java to the site of the wreck, he discovered that an audacious mutiny had taken place in his absence, followed by terrible slaughter. It appeared that the perpetrators of this villainy had been led by a wretch by the name of Cornelis, whose aim was to set himself up as a pirate and to put to death anyone who did not conform to his diabolical aims, and a great number of men, women and children were murdered in cold blood. The commodore hanged the guilty as they deserved. It seems shipwrecks were a very common thing on the Australian coast in those days, because we find another Dutch vessel called the Vergulde Draeck being wrecked in 1655, when 118 lives were lost. The Dutch were a famous nation on the sea in those days, despite being a small one. |
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Y Sais cyntaf a roddodd ei droed ar dir Awstralia ydoedd gŵr o’r enw William Dampier, a hyny yn y flwyddyn 1688, ac y mae Dampier’s Land a Dampier’s Archipelago yn adgoffa i ni ei enw hyd y dydd heddyw. Môrleidr oedd Dampier. Ganwyd ef yn y flwyddyn 1652, yn Somerset, ac wedi claddu ei dad a’i fam aeth i’r môr bron yn fachgenyn, a thrwy ei fod yn meddu ar ysbryd anturiaethus, ymunodd â haid o fôrladron yn India y Gorllewin, ac yn un o’i wibiadau o amgylch y byd ar fwrdd y llong Cygnet, tiriodd yn Ngogleddbarth Awstralia Orllewinol, a rydd hanes tra hynod am y wlad a’r brodorion. |
The first Englishman to set foot on Australian land was a man named William Dampier, in the year 1688, and Dampier Land and Dampier Archipelago remind us of him to this day. Dampier was a pirate. He was born in 1652, in Somerset, and after burying his father and mother he went to sea while little more than a boy, and his adventurous spirit led him to join a gang of pirates in the West Indies, and during one of his rovings around the world on the ship Cygnet, he landed in the north of Western Australia, and he gives a remarkable account of the country and its natives. |
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Dywed y gŵr hwn am y wlad ei bod yn ymddangos yn sych, ddiffrwyth ac anobeithiol, ac am frodorion y wlad ryfedd, dywed eu bod “y druenusaf o bobl y byd … a gadael allan eu ffurf ddynol, nid ydynt yn gwahaniaethu ond ychydig iawn oddiwrth fwystfilod. Y maent yn unionsyth a thenau o gyrff gydag aelodau bychain hirion. Mae ganddynt benau mawr, talceni crwn, ac aeliau mawrion. Mae eu hamrantau bob amser yn haner cauedig i gadw y pryfaid allan o’u llygaid, y rhai sydd mor boenus yn y lle hwn fel na wnai un math o wyntyllio (fanning) eu hatal rhag dyfod i wyneb dyn, ac heb gymhorth y ddwy law i’w cadw ymaith, hwy a ddringant i ffroenau dyn, ac i’r safnau hefyd os na fydd y geg wedi ei chau yn bur dỳn. Gan eu bod o’u mabandod yn cael eu blino gan y trychfilod hyn, nid ydynt byth yn agor eu llygaid fel pobl eraill, gan hyny nis gallant weled yn mhell heb ddal eu penau i fyny fel pe baent yn tremio ar rywbeth uwchben iddynt. Mae ganddynt drwynau costrelaidd mawrion, gweflau lled lawn, a geneuau llydain. Mae y ddau ddant blaen uchaf yn eisiau yn ngenau pob un o honynt yn wyr ac yn wragedd, hen ac ieuainc; pa un ai ydynt yn eu tynu allan nis gwn. Nid oes ganddynt farfau chwaith. Mae ganddynt wynebpryd hir, ac o ymddangosiad tra annymunol, ac nid oes dim yn hyfryd yn eu gwedd o gwbl. Mae eu gwallt yn ddu, byr, a chyrliog, fel eiddo y Negroaid, ac nid yn hir a llaes fel eiddo yr Indiaid cyffredin. Lliw eu crwyn, eu dwylaw a rhanau eraill o’u cyrff, ydyw glo-liw (cyn ddued a’r glo) fel Negroaid Guinea.” |
This man describes the country as dry, infertile and forlorn, and of the natives of that strange place, he says they are the “the miserablest people in the world … and setting aside their shape, they differ but little from brutes. They are tall, straight-bodied and thin, with small long limbs. They have great heads, round foreheads, and great brows. Their eyelids are always half closed to keep the flies out of their eyes; they being so troublesome here that no fanning will keep them from coming to one's face, and without assistance of both hands to keep them off they will creep into one's nostrils and mouth too, if the lips are not shut very close; so that from their infancy being thus annoyed with these insects they do not open their eyes as other people; and therefore they cannot see far unless they hold up their heads as if they were looking at something over them. They have great bottle-noses, pretty full lips, and wide mouths; the two fore-teeth are wanting in all of them, men and women, old and young; whether they draw them out I know not; neither have they any beards. They are long visaged and of a very unpleasing aspect, having no one graceful feature in their faces. Their hair is black, short and curled, like that of the negroes, and not long and lank like the common Indians. The colour of their skin, both of their faces and the rest of their body, is coal-black like that of the negroes of Guinea.” |
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Tua’r flwyddyn 1696, darfu i’r mordwywr Isellmynaidd Fleming ddarganfod yr Afon Alarch, ar lànau pa un y saif Perth, prif-ddinas Awstralia Orllewinol heddyw. Galwodd hi yn Afon Alarch (Swan River) trwy iddo weled llawer o eleirch yno. Ac enwodd ynys gerllaw yn Nyth y Llygod trwy iddo weled cymaint o dyllau walabiaid yno. Ond rhydd yntau, fel Dampier, ddarluniad anffafriol o’r wlad. |
About the year 1696, the Dutch navigator Fleming discovered the Swan River, on which Perth, the capital of Western Australia, stands today. He named it after the many swans he saw there. And he called the nearby island “Rats’ Nest”7 because he saw so many wallaby holes there. But he, like Dampier, gives an unfavourable depiction of the country. |
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Yn mhen rai blynyddau ar ol hyn bu amryw fordwywyr enwog o Ffrainc, megys y Cadben De St. Alouarn ac eraill, yn archwilio arfordir Awstralia Orllewinol am flynyddoedd lawer, gan roddi enwau ar luaws o fanau ag sydd yn aros hyd y dydd hwn. |
Some years after that several famous French navigators, such as Captain De St. Alouarn and others, spent many years exploring the coast of Western Australia, giving to numerous places names which remain to this day. |
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Yn y flwyddyn 1791, darfu i’r mordwywr Prydeinig Vancouver ddyfod ar draws porthladd rhagorol a enwodd yn King George’s Sound er anrhydedd i’r brenin Sior III. |
In the year 1791, the British mariner Vancouver discovered an excellent harbour which he called “King George’s Sound” in honour of King George III. |
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Yn ystod y blynyddoedd 1818-1822 bu y mordwywr a’r morddarluniwr enwog y Llyngesydd King yn archwilio ac yn morfesur rhai miloedd o filldiroedd o’r arfordir, a gwnaeth waith canmoladwy, ac ar ol hyn bu ar arfordir Patagonia yn gwneyd yr un peth, ac ysgrifenodd lyfrau dyddorol yn dal perthynas âg Awstralia Orllewinol a Phatagonia. Ni fu Cadben Cook yn Awstralia Orllewinol o gwbl. |
During the years 1818-1822 the famous mariner and oceanographer Admiral King explored and surveyed several thousand miles of the coast, doing commendable work, and later did the same thing for the coast of Patagonia, and wrote interesting books dealing with Western Australia and Patagonia. Captain Cook never visited Western Australia at all. |
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7 Rottnest Island. |