Oval mezzotint portrait of Captain Matthew Flinders R.N.

Matthew Flinders (1774-1814), navigator, hydrographer and scientist, was the first man to circumnavigate Australia. His charts were so accurate that some are still in use to this day.

After sailing with the famous Captain Bligh on PROVIDENCE, Flinders’ adventures brought him to Australia onboard RELIANCE. In 1796 he explored the coastline around Sydney in a tiny open boat called TOM THUMB. He next proved that Tasmania was an island by finding and sailing through Bass Strait.

His most successful voyage came between 1801 and 1803 when he charted the coastline of Australia, completing and linking together other partial surveys to give us the first complete picture of the island nation.

Flinders recorded his voyage in detail in “Journal on HMS Investigator, Volume 1, 1801-1802”, and the sequel “Journal on HMS Investigator, Volume 2, 1802-1803”.

Flinders was later shipwrecked on the Great Barrier Reef. Remarkably, he managed to navigate the ship’s cutter across the open sea back to Sydney, a distance of some 700 miles, and arranged for the rescue of the marooned crew on Wreck Reef.