Bird images suggest early trade route between Australia, Europe

SYDNEY - Images of an Australian cockatoo parrot in a 13th century Italian manuscript suggest an extensive trade route reaching from the waters around Australia's north to Europe, centuries earlier than previously thought.

"The fact that a cockatoo reached Sicily during the 13th century shows that merchants applying their trade to the north of Australia were part of a flourishing network that reached west to the Middle East and beyond," said Heather Dalton, who published findings about the discovery on Tuesday.

The University of Melbourne School of Historical and Philosophical Studies' honorary research fellow detailed four images of a white cockatoo that appeared in a Vatican library book called the Art of Hunting with Birds by Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick II.