Willem de Vlamingh is reportedly the first European to have seen black swans near modern-day Perth, Western Australia in 1697. The 'black swan' had existed in Europe as a metaphor for about fifteen centuries by this point. Therefore, it wouldn't be surprising if such reports of a sighting of a black swan would go unbelieved. What were the contemporary European reactions of de Vlamingh's sightings of black swans?
Regarding the use of black swan as a metaphor:
The Roman satirist Juvenal wrote in AD 82 of rara avis in terris nigroque simillima cygno ("a rare bird in the lands, and very like a black swan"). He meant something whose rarity would compare with that of a black swan, or in other words, as a black swan did not exist, neither did the supposed characteristics of the "rare bird" with which it was being compared. The phrase passed into several European languages as a popular proverb, including English, in which the first four words ("a rare bird in the land") are often used ironically. For some 1500 years, the black swan existed in the European imagination as a metaphor for that which could not exist.
The Dutch explorer Willem de Vlamingh made the first European record of sighting a black swan in 1697, when he sailed into, and named, the Swan River on the western coast of New Holland. The sighting was significant in Europe, where "all swans are white" had long been used as a standard example of a well-known truth. In 1726, two birds were captured near Dirk Hartog Island, 850 kilometres (530 mi) north of the Swan River, and taken to Batavia (now Jakarta) as proof of their existence.
The emphasis here is mine with the effect that it looks as if the Europeans wanted to prove the existence of these birds to a larger European population.
Further, LifeOnPerth writes:
Ready to turn back, Willem observed the then unknown "Black Swan". Back in those days everyone believed that swans had to be white. This spooked the expedition, which then decided they had seen enough. The moment when Willem's, and the swan's eyes first met, has been immortalised in a statue erected near the site.
And:
The Black Swan is the only entirely black coloured swan in the world, which explains why they startled Willem de Vlamingh when he first saw them in 1697. Everybody thought swans had to be white, so a statue commemorating this historical moment has been erected on the Swan River.
This site only says:
For 1,500 years the black swan was a European euphemism for something that could never happen. One can only imagine the impact on Western Renaissance thinking when news that black swans were real reached Europe.
But doesn't describe the actual reactions. Matter of fact, I've not seen any of these overviews writing anything as to whether de Vlamingh was considered credible or not. So, what contemporary reactions did de Vlamingh's reported sighting elicit?
