So, it's that time of the month when I fall down a rabbit hole again. This time, I was talking to u/Fijure96, another flair from r/askhistorians, about a Japanese adventurer in the 1600s whose Wikipedia claims he buried treasure in Australia (spoilers: there's no source).
The star of our rabbit hole today is Yamada Nagamasa, a Japanese 'adventurer' whose life is super interesting even ignoring this whole 'mystery'. The big claim that his article makes is that stories of Yamada burying treasure on/around Magnetic Island, Australia "persist".
Now, as always with these rabbit holes, there is of course no citation. Having learnt from my previous rabbit hole (the Woolworths name dare), I immediately checked Yamada's Wikipedia article history, to see when this part of the article came to be. The claim did not exist when the article was first created in December 2004, and would not be on the article for the next 3+ years. However, in late December 2008, a guest user with no other edits before or since would add the claim in its entirety and leave no citation. The claim has remained there for over 16 years, uncited, essentially untouched. And when I went to look through google for blogs/forums/sites that mention Yamada and his arrival in Australia, I quickly realized that the Wikipedia article was in fact the earliest 'source' for the claim.
Atleast, on the internet. I quickly made my way to trove and searched up Yamada's name. It only appears 19 times in Australia's digitised newspaper history, so that made my life easier. And lo and behold, the first two articles were key to understanding this rabbit hole. These would be a November 1933 and a January 1934 article, both in Brisbane's Courier Mail. Both were written by a Dr W.G. Goddard (who I'd later figure out was William George Goddard). He has a lot of claims (check the pictures below), but, he seems to be the first to claim much of this story.
Now, I cannot fully verify or deny Goddard's claims due to a lack of sources provided, but the fact that this seems to be the only time he talks about this suggest his evidence is not strong. Fijure and I both agree its probably more 'wishful' thinking and mistranslation than anything concrete. However, this provides us with a clear source regarding Yamada's 'arrival' to Australia. Some Australian academic in 1933 wrote about it twice, it was parroted a few more times in the coming decade, and somehow entered into local legend right? Well, most likely, but there is abit more.
You see, a 1977 article titled "A Short History of Thursday Island in Six Parts" from Torres News mentions Yamada in a more specific context. It suggests that Yamada used Booby Island, just north of Cape York Peninsula, as a base and saw 'substantial' success from it.
Well, as you probably just thought, this makes it sound like Yamada not only 'touched' Australia, but was here for a decent while. And yet, this article is the only source I can find anywhere claiming this. Furthermore, the Wikipedia article mentions Magnetic Island, which is over 1000km away. You'll also note that none of these 'sources' even mention a buried treasure, despite some 2010s sites claiming that this treasure was worth over $100mil (yep, that's what sites like this claim in anycase).
Furthermore, as far as I can tell, Yamada's Australian 'adventures' are not mentioned at all from 1977 until 2008, when it arrives on Wikipedia, no longer just a visit to Australia but a full-blown pirate mystery attached, with no evidence, to Magnetic Island.
And so, one would believe that to be it right? Except its not. An obscure TV documentary, called "Search for the Sunken Treasures", makes mention of not only Yamada, but the $100mil treasure. So that must be the source for the wikipedia article? Right???
The keen eye of you probably spotted this, but of course not! That clip came out in April 2009, and the whole documentary was out in 2010 according to IMDB. If you'll remember, the Wikipedia section was added in December 2008. If you'll note though, that article doesn't mention the amount of money, a claim that only appears with the documentary (atleast, it seems that way). This disconnect is telling, in my opinion. Is it possible that Ben Cropp, the documentary maker who did basic nature films, made it up?
In any case, we're left with a fragmented story. The Wikipedia article's origins seem certain, stemming from a couple old newspaper articles. The treasure part, likely massively exaggerated later on, is probably a local legend that has little basis beyond "pirate=treasure", as Fijure put it. In the end, we see how things added to Wikipedia early on, with no citation, can grow and shift far beyond the initial premise. Did Yamada Nagamasa visit Australia? Highly unlikely. Did he bury $100mil in treasure? Certainly not. Will we ever know more? I doubt it.
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