Batavia's Graveyard

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Batavia's Graveyard
Author Mike Dash
Country Great Britain
Language English
Subject(s) Australian History, Dutch History
Publisher Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Publication date 2003
ISBN ISBN 0-7538-1684-9

Batavia's Graveyard: Batavia's Graveyard: The True Story of the Mad Heretic Who Led History's Bloodiest Mutiny, is a 2003 book by Mike Dash about the mutiny by crewmembers of the Dutch ship Batavia, which was shipwrecked on the Western Australian coast in 1629. The title refers to the name for the small island near where the ship crashed where the mutineers remained in the Houtman Abrolhos, which is now known as Beacon Island.

It describes the mutiny led by Jeronimus Corneliszoon, who murdered 125 people on what are now called the Wallabi islands, and also of the escape and resistance of some of the people who fled to a nearby island (West Wallabi). The book explores the background to some of the people involved in Holland, the trip from Europe to the East Indies where a mutiny was planned even before the crash, and a detailed account of the events which transpired on the islands after the captain and some of the crew left for Java in an open boat, before they returned several months later with help. It also has information on what happened to the survivors.

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