"Did that protective Spirit deflect Quiros, halting the Hispanic hegemony far to the east and securing the great continent for vigorous Protestant work ethic and high public morals?"

No. Next!

"If the theory holds water..."

There is no 'theory'. This is something you just made up. The correct word for it is 'fantasy'.

Strange but true, the theory is out there. Google 'south land of the holy spirit' to see. People are free to believe or disbelieve it; the point is Pentecost (or 'Whitsunday') has meaning for everyone, and a particular meaning for Australia.

interesting stuff...[translating words..
back into their true meaning]

to quote...""Quiros claimed it at Pentecost, May 14,
for the Habsburg king Phillip II..in the name of La Austrialia del Espiritu Santo""

my bit will be adding in the meaning of its next name
[vandiemens land]

but back to auther's quote for context

""-not, as might be supposed,
the "Southland" but the "Austrian Land/of the Holy Spirit.""

now back to..Van-Die-MENS...* land
van is simple in its true meaning..essentially meaning 'of'

die means the[those]
and mens..means people...and if MENS..this means god

thus VanDieMens land
would translate as of the peoples[of gods]...land

now the use of mens
is also used as in menche
[a truelly good peacefull usefull person]

thus the duch calling these great south lands
VAnDieMENS land..was an honourem

it should be noted the parts played by george warrumpies mob
who chased the dutch from these lands..as well as the abduction of natives..from groot island..[big island]..during cerimony...to take them back home

not to be missed out upon too
is the works of swedenberg
[who translated hidden meanings within the wholy bible]
specificly translated revelations 19/20/21/22..that was stolen by the dutch controlers of their colonisation scam

word got out to the brits..that the 'river of life'
along which the tree of life..grew..[hemp]

thus they set off to claim the river of life..
and all that lovely hemp growing on its banks [rev 22]
seeing as russia wasnt delivering any more hemp to briton

anyhow the native name of the river of life
is the namoi river...[an extention ..that joined to the hunter river]
where the nimbin hippies found all that dope..in the seventies

look at police posters from this time
you will see it had 7 stems..[read exodus..25:...40]

and the translation of key bits in isiah

i couldnt resist expanding on this bit

quote...""It's the sort of tendentious thinking
that goes with "British Israel" –..the idea that the Lost Tribes of the northern Hebrew kingdom...became the Anglo-Saxon peoples spread across the globe.""

i wont digress with bolchovic jews
who do have their own...'homeland'

and go back to the semite[black jews]
from egypt...the old ones with mosus
WHEN ONLY THEIR KIDS..went into the 'promised' land

im refering to mosus..and the parents
of those..who did go INTO the promised lands
BUT who THEMSELVES..never left the wastelands/deserts

to wit those LIVING in/on
being part of the land...[THESE great southern lands
that broke off from gandwana plate

these harsh lands..[that yeilded plenty]
but not by hard work..or plow[see genesis 3]

""maybe Whitsunday,..celebrated this weekend,
plays a symbolic role in our story.""

just ask george warrumpies mob
to tell their bit...and those abducted from groot island

""On the first Pentecost –the 50th day after Passover/Easter, ""
big clues eh?

""marked as a harvest festival in the Jewish calendar
people of all *known lands were present..and heard the first Christians speaking in their own languages..by the gift of the Holy Spirit.""

the christ spirit
our emmanuel..our still voice within

the good of works...
not honouring god with only their lips
who love the GOOD/god..by doing good works..with good fruits

loving the living good...god
of grace/mercy/charity/works
light sustaining life via logic into love...

the living loving peronal good...god..
sustaining every living our very life
from within

its time we revealed
what the dream time...in this land of 0zzz
really has to reveal

we need to get concensous
where god wins..we all win

know a living loving good..[god]
sustains us[life]..our every breath..our every heartbeat

you shall call him....:emmanuEL

[god with us]
god...the good within all of us
that we do to the least..we do to him..!

And has anyone actually checked Torres's log for 1606, to see if it contains an entry: "Turned back by Holy Spirit"?

...[CRICKETS]...

No, I thought that might be too rational for a theist to think of.

Torres probably didn't write: 'Sailed through strait, didn't see Australia once' either. But what would that prove?
Some choose to believe that the Spirit moved people in the past in a certain way. The truth of that is probably unknowable.
However, the significance of Pentecost to a multicultural nation is a reasonable question, theist or not.