There is much circumstantial evidence to suggest that a Portuguese discovery of Australia in the 1520's is highly probable. There is much evidence to suggest that it was neither the Dutch nor the British to be the first Europeans to discover Australia, but the Portuguese, around the 1520's. As stated in McIntyre's "Secret Discovery of Australia" it is believed that

"The evidence of pre-Cook, pre-Dutch visits by other Europeans points only in one direction - to the proposition that, in the ninety years before the first Dutch sighting, the Portuguese sighted and visited and charted the Australian coasts."

Though many historians hold these claims to be unsubstantiated or mythical, there seems to be sufficient conditional evidence to infer "some European presence...before the coming of the British."

The major piece of evidence suggesting that the Portuguese did indeed discover Australia in the 1520's is that of a series of maps, known as the Dieppe Maps, which are French copies of early sixteenth century Portuguese charts. One of these, called the Dauphin Map is said to "depict a southern continent that is thought to represent Australia." McIntyre also argues that

McIntyre also argues that "The Dieppe Maps indicate that Mendonca did enter the bay, and the keys indicate that some European explorer entered the same bay in or about the same century." It has been suggested that the possibility of "coincidental duplication," that is, of two separate visitors, unknown to each other, being involved, is most unlikely.

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