So, on that basis, how much detail does The Author need?
The answer there is fairly obvious.
On the reader-defined level, The Author needs to include enough detail to explain down to whatever level is required.
But there is also an author-defined level. Mapping The North begins from the notion that no one "discovered" The North or, indeed, any part of Australia.
From the earliest human habitation of the continent, we are looking at people who knew something was 'over there' because, if they couldn't actually see what they were about to investigate, knew there was something there.
Deep Purple might have seen smoke on the water, but you don't get smoke coming directly off the water. Smoke on the horizon should mean land just over the horizon.
Once one discounts the notion of discovery, many questions spring to mind.
The first European explorers to arrive off the shores of the continent were looking for something. What were they looking for, and where did those notions come from?
The stories told by Marco Polo are one obvious source, but there were earlier notions about the Antipodes.
If we accept the notion that there was some form of pre-European contact with Australia, who made the contact?