Who is Matthew Flinders?
An expert cartographer and navigator, Matthew Flinders is one of the most important figures in Australian history. His name is everywhere in the country, from streets to mountain ranges, institutions to an island. While being the first man to fully circumnavigate and map the Australian mainland Flinders also named numerous areas (often with descriptive names of what he saw or encountered) and is 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
Early Life of Matthew Flinders
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 the convict settlement of Norfolk Island, and instructed to find a safe passage between the Australian mainland and Van Diemen’s Land (now Tasmania). 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 future ships heading for Sydney could avoid going round the south of Van Diemen’s Land, saving days on a journey. Bass Strait is a treacherous piece of water, sailing through it was likened to threading a needle and Australia’s south coast is now often referred to as Shipwreck Coast and is littered with shipwrecks.
Marriage and Return to Australia
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 the newly weds wouldn’t see each other for 9 years. Flinders was due to sail back to Australia and begin work on surveying more of 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.
Prison and Home to England
The Investigator was deemed unseaworthy after Flinders’ return and without a new ship of his own 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 as a spy. 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.
Flinders’ map gained significance as it was the first to refer to the British colony as 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.
Trim, Flinders' cat
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 his London home.
Trim would be aboard ship for all Flinders’ voyages but disappeared while in Mauritius. Whether killed, stolen or eaten by the natives Trim would not return home to England with Flinders.
During his prolonged stay in Mauritius, Matthew Flinders wrote another of his books, an endearing tribute to his faithful friend and companion entitled Trim: Being the True Story of a Brave Seafaring Cat. A statue of Trim can be found on the window ledge of the New South Wales library behind the Flinders statue.
Reading List:
A Voyage to Terra Australis by Matthew Flinders
Trim: Being the True Story of a Brave Seafaring Cat by Matthew Flinders
The Life of Matthew Flinders by Miriam Estensen
