Australia Day: Great Southland of the Holy Spirit?

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StJohnsAshfield StainedGlass Baptism
StJohnsAshfield StainedGlass Baptism (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Many will be familiar with references to the ‘Great South Land of the Holy Spirit.’ We talk about it, we sing about it, but what’s it really all about? Can we really claim that this is God’s own country? Is there something spiritually significant about this nation of ours beyond the fact that all the earth belongs to God?
The Great South Land of the Holy Spirit reference stems from a proclamation by Captain Pedro Fernandez de Quiros, a Portugese seaman and explorer.
In March 1603 Queirós was finally authorized to return to Peru to establish another expedition, with the intention of finding Terra Australis, the mythical “great south land,” and claiming it for Spain and the Church. Queirós’s party of 160 men on three ships, San Pedro y San Pablo (150 tons), San Pedro (120 tons) and the tender (or launch) Los Tres Reyes left Callao on 21 December 1605.
In May 1606 the expedition reached the islands later called the New Hebrides and now the independent nation of Vanuatu. Queirós landed on a large island which he took to be part of the southern continent, and named it La Austrialia del Espiritu Santo (The Austrian Land of the Holy Spirit), for King Philip III, who was of Austrian descent. The island is still called Espiritu Santo. Here he stated his intention to establish a colony, to be called Nova Jerusalem.
Queirós’s religious fervour found expression with the founding of a new Order of Chivalry, the Knights of the Holy Ghost. The Order’s purpose was to protect the new colony. However, within weeks the idea of a colony was abandoned due to the hostility of the Ni-Vanuatu and to disagreements among the crew.- Wikipedia.org
So while the captain did make it into the area, it would seem that he never set foot on mainland Australia. However, the proclamation he made certainly included Australia.
Let the heavens, the earth, the waters with all their creatures and all those here present witness that I, Captain Pedro Fernandez de Quiros, in the name of Jesus Christ, hoist this emblem of the Holy Cross on which Jesus Christ’s person was crucified and whereon He gave His life for the ransom and remedy of the human race, on this day of Pentecost, 14 May 1606, I take possession of all this part of the South as far as the pole in the name of Jesus, which from now on shall be called the Southern land of the Holy Spirit and this always and forever to the end that to all natives, in all the said lands, the holy, sacred evangel may be preached zealously and openly.
I guess the next question is what weight such a proclamation holds. I’m not saying that it’s not significant, I just wonder what it means. He was claiming and naming land that was already inhabited.  Even if the proclamation is sound, what significance should it hold for Christians in today’s Australia? We see people in scripture claiming lands for God so such instances aren’t without precedents but what difference should this particular proclamation hold for us?

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