How great explorer Matthew Flinders survived a shipwreck, jail and circumnavigated the continent
Matthew Flinders circumnavigated the continent, named it Australia, survived a shipwreck, was thrown in jail and was dead at 40 only for his remains to be lost for more than a century — here’s more you didn’t know about Australia’s greatest explorer.
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He circumnavigated the continent, named it Australia, survived a shipwreck, was thrown in jail and was dead at 40, only for his remains to be lost for more than a century.
The strange life of Matthew Flinders, whose name is immortalised in Melbourne landmarks, was fuelled by ambition and adventure.
THE GREAT UNKNOWN
Matthew Flinders once wrote, “I have far too much ambition to rest in the unnoticed middle order of mankind.”
He spent his short life living up to that statement.
A Royal navy man who heralded from Lincolnshire in England, he went to sea at the age of 15, became well acquainted with renowned botanist Joseph Banks and served under the formidable Captain William Bligh.
At the age of 27, on the recommendation of his peers, Flinders was given command of the ship Investigator and prepared for a special voyage: a mission to chart the coastline if the mysterious New Holland.
After a failed attempt to flout navy rules and bring his bride Ann on board, Flinders set sail in July 1801 on the voyage from England to Sydney, passing and charting the south coast of the Australian continent and proving what is now Tasmania to be an island by discovering and mapping Bass Strait.
After arriving in Sydney in 1802, Investigator embarked on a second marathon voyage that circumnavigated the mainland for the first time, providing vital charts that are so accurate, some are still in use.
During correspondence with his brother, Flinders said he had decided to call the place “Australia or Terra Australis”, coining modern Australia’s name.
By the time the voyage was completed, Investigator had sustained enough damage to be deemed unseaworthy, and Flinders made plans to hitch a ride back to England on HMS Porpoise.
That ended when the Porpoise smashed into the Great Barrier Reef and was wrecked alongside the ship Cato.
A third ship in the group, the Bridgewater, was accused of sailing on, despite seeing the two other ships crash into the reef.
With the Porpoise sunk and the surviving crew sheltering on a sand bank, Flinders embarked on a remarkable 1100km voyage in an open boat he named Hope all the way back to Sydney to arrange a rescue, and to set sail on a different ship.
CAPTURE AND THE GENTEEL JAIL
Flinders’ new ship, HMS Cumberland, wasn’t in great shape.
By the time Flinders sailed across the Indian Ocean, the ship was falling apart and he needed to find a port for repairs.
The on-and-off war between Britain and France might well have been on again, and the island now called Mauritius where flinders hoped to dock, was French.
But he thought he could get away with it.
Flinders had papers that were meant to grant him safe passage for a scientific journey and he had an existing relationship with the island’s French administrator, which he thought would smooth things over.
The gamble backfired.
The old administrator was dead and the new French brass didn’t think his voyage was scientific. They imprisoned Flinders and seized documents, including sensitive military communications between the governor of New South Wales and the admiralty, speculating about French activity in the area.
Because of his senior rank Flinders was treated reasonably well and was even invited to join the French commandant and his wife for dinner.
But his pride led to him to refuse, causing tension between Flinders and his captors.
The stand-offish imprisonment lasted six years while the French decided what to do about Flinders.
Despite Napoleon himself approving of his release, Flinders’ captors were still reluctant to let him out.
By that time Flinders knew Mauritius like the back of his hand and the French wondered whether his release would lead to a return by Flinders to take the island by force.
In 1809 they finally yielded and let Flinders go during a Royal navy blockade of Mauritius.
DEATH OF AN EXPLORER
During his imprisonment on Mauritius, Flinders had worked on a series of charts and writings documenting his voyages around Australia.
When he finally got back to England in 1810, he worked earnestly to get them published.
But his epic adventure to the south had taken its toll and Flinders was suffering ill health.
By 1814 he was close to death, suffering kidney failure, at the same time his book A Voyage To Terra Australis was about to be published.
His wife Ann, with whom Flinders had spent barely any time since their marriage in 1801, arranged for the books to be brought to his bedside, although it is not believed he was conscious to see them.
He died aged 40 and was buried in the St James Church grounds at Piccadilly.
But in the 1870s his place of burial was lost when Euston Station was expanded.
Despite the exact location of his remains being unknown for more than a hundred years, rumours persisted that Flinders was buried under the platform at Euston.
It was finally confirmed in January 2019 when works for a high speed rail project uncovered a coffin bearing Flinders’ name under Euston Station.
Matthew Flinders’ name has been given to numerous Victorian landmarks and places including Flinders St, the town of Flinders on the Mornington Peninsula, the federal electorate of Flinders currently held by Health Minister Greg Hunt, Flinders Peak in the You-Yangs and Matthew Flinders Girls Secondary College in Geelong.
Places named after him in other states include Flinders University, the Flinders Ranges and Flinders Chase National Park.
After the rediscovery of his body, it was agreed the explorer should be moved to his home parish in Lincolnshire for reburial — the final journey of one of history’s greatest wanderers.
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