Wayward Wandering The fun of travel, history, life and being a backpacker

Who is Matthew Flinders?

Matthew Flinders is one of the most important figures in Australian history. His name is everywhere in the country, from streets to mountain ranges and an island. Matthew Flinders was an expert cartographer and navigator, he sailed round Australia and mapped the continent and is also often quoted in the naming of the country as Australia, while also writing one of the first works on the country, A Voyage To Terra Australis.

Matthew Flinders has now leant his name to over 100 locations and features in Australia. Notably, Flinders Island in the Bass Strait; Flinders Ranges in South Australia; Flinders Chase National Park on Kangaroo Island; Adelaide suburb Flinders Park, Flinders University and Flinders Medical Centre and Flinders Bay in Western Australia. Melbourne and Adelaide both have a Flinders Street while Canberra has a street named Flinders Way.

It was the book Robinson Crusoe that first inspired Flinders and gave him a desire to travel and become a sailor. Born in 1774 in Donington, England, Flinders joined the British Royal Navy at the age of 15 and began to build a reputation as a sailor, serving for a time under Captain Bligh (of HMS Bounty fame and 4th Governor of New South Wales). Although Flinders sailed in the South Pacific his first trip to Australia was aboard HMS Reliance with New South Wales’ 2nd Governor, John Hunter.

As Flinders progressed his abilities as a navigator and cartographer improved and in 1798 was given command of the Norfolk, the only ship to be built on convict settlement of Norfolk Island, and instructed to find a safe passage between the Australian mainland and (then called) Van Diemen’s Land. Sailing west past the Furneaux Islands (the largest of which would later be called Flinders Island), Matthew Flinders, along with his friend George Bass, navigated a way through what is now the Bass Strait. This meant that future ships heading for Sydney could avoid going round the south of Van Diemen’s Land saving days on a journey. Although the strait was a treacherous piece of water, sailing through was likened to threading a needle and Australia’s south coast is now often referred to as Shipwreck Coast.

After returning to England Flinders married Ann Chappelle in 1801 and attempted to smuggle her aboard his new ship, the Investigator. The unsuccessful attempt meant that the two wouldn’t see each other for 9 years as Flinders was due to sail back to Australia and begin work on surveying the southern coastline of Australia.

As with many sailing investigations around new found lands, Flinders would sail with botanists and carry numerous new found species of animal and plant life. These were scientific explorations and, despite the English and French being at war, Flinders met French explorer Nicolas Baudin. The two understood the nature of their travels and met to exchange details and information at Encounter Bay (just south of Adelaide).

Flinders trip along the southern coastline of Australia in 1801 became the first of two major voyages. After spending some time in Sydney, Flinders set sail again in 1802, heading north and began a detailed mapping of the northern coastline of Australia. Although his ship was leaking, Flinders still managed to circumnavigate the entire country, returning to Sydney in 1803.

The Investigator was deemed unseaworthy after Flinders’ return and without a new ship he set sail on a return to England. The voyage didn’t last long, the ship was wrecked on the Great Barrier Reef. A second attempt to return home proved even more disastrous when the poor condition of this ship, HMS Cumberland, meant a stop in French controlled Mauritius.

Despite a friendship with Baudin and having a French passport Flinders was imprisoned. The English and French were at war again and the Mauritius governor, Charles Matthieu Isidore Decaen, found that Flinders passport and documentation were for the Investigator and not the Cumberland. After months of delays as Decaen requested information from Paris Flinders was released from prison but not allowed to leave Mauritius.

Flinders spent 7 years in Mauritius and in that time produced his first full map of Australia and wrote a biography of his faithful sea-loving cat Trim. In June 1810 Flinders finally left after the Royal Navy had blockaded the port. He returned home later that year.

The significance of Flinders’ map was that it became the first to call the country he had circumnavigated “Australia”, a name he took from Dalrymple’s book An Historical Collection Of Voyages And Discoveries In The South Pacific Ocean. “I call the whole island Australia or Terra Australis,” he would write in a letter to his brother.

Sadly, the British government hadn’t even looked at his map when Flinders arrived home. They were still referring to the country as New Holland or Terra Australis. Flinders’ book A Voyage To Terra Australis was published on 18 July 1814 although Flinders’ ill health meant he never saw the final book. Flinders died the following day. In the book Flinders promotes the use of the name Australia as being more “agreeable on the ear”.

Trim, Flinders cat and seafaring companion

No mention of Matthew Flinders is complete without reference to Trim; the ship’s cat, companion and friend. Born at sea on the HMS Reliance Trim survived falling overboard as a kitten and grew up to develop a love for the sea and being aboard ship. Flinders would sail with Trim between Australia and England and around the coastline of Australia. Trim hated being on land and would devise ways to escape from London.

Trim disappeared while in Mauritius with Flinders during his time there. However, Flinders did write one of the most heartfelt biographies of his faithful friend while on Mauritius, entitled Trim: Being the True Story of a Brave Seafaring Cat. A statue of Trim is on the window ledge of the New South Wales library behind the Flinders statue.