Matthew Flinders
Australia has had its fair share of explorers and navigators from many countries but few could rival the achievements of Matthew Flinders. He is credited as being the person who gave Australia its name and we in Redcliffe can claim that same honour for our lovely peninsula.
Matthew Flinders was born in Donington, Lincolnshire, England on 16 March, 1774 to surgeon Matthew Flinders Snr and his wife Susannah (née Ward). As a youngster, he was inspired by his reading the novel Robinson Crusoe and developed a desire to set off to sea and explore the world. At the age of 15 in 1789, Flinders’ dream of becoming a seafarer was realised as he joined the Royal Navy. He began his naval career as a servant on the HMS Alert but moved quickly through the ranks.
Flinders took part in various expeditions between 1791 and 1803. In 1795, driven by his adventurous spirit, Flinders embarked as a midshipman on HMS Reliance heading to New South Wales. It was on that voyage he met surgeon George Bass who later accompanied Flinders on many of his expeditions.
By 1798, Flinders had attained the rank of lieutenant and he was given command of the sloop Norfolk. Along with his friend, George Bass, and crew he circumnavigated Van Diemen’s Land and named the strait between it and the mainland “Bass Strait”.
In 1799, he requested to explore the coast north of Port Jackson. His request was granted and he again commanded the Norfolk for the expedition. Accompanied by his brother Samuel and Kuringgai man, Bungaree, and his cat named Trim, they set off on 8 July 1799.
Although named by Captain James Cook on his journey in 1770, it was Matthew Flinders who was the first English explorer to enter Moreton Bay. The Norfolk arrived on the morning of 16th July 1799 and after landing on the southern end of Bribie Island, Flinders sailed southwards and anchored several miles off the Peninsula before landing at Woody Point on 17th July.
An excerpt from his journal details the landing. (Note the name Red Cliff Point and the description of Woody Point.)
Wednesday. 17th At daylight on Wednesday morning we again weighed and turned up with a southerly breeze, as long as the tide lasted. At half past ten o’clock, anchored one mile and a half off a point that has red cliffs in it, in three and half fathoms. A little West of this Point I observed the latitude with the artifical horizon to be 27°:16’:25″ south. The bight which lays round the Point, is shoal with a muddy bottom; the land is low, but not so sandy as in the neighbourhood of the river. The rocks are a strongly impregnated Iron stone, with some small pieces of granite & chrystal scattered about the shore. From Red Cliff Point we pulled over to a green head about two miles to the westward, round which the bight is contracted into a river like form, but the greatest part of it is dry at low water. The wood that we collected at high water mark for our fire, proved to be Cedar and of a fine Grain.
A light sea breeze coming from the northward in the afternoon on our return on board, we got the Sloop underweigh, steering our course SEbS; the water gradually shoaled to two fathoms, and the breeze dying away at the same time, we pulled to the north eastward with the sweeps into two and a half and then anchored for the night upon a soft muddy bottom. The extreme near Cape Moreton now bore N21°E, and the farthest connected land now visible on the same side of the bay [Moreton Bay], ENE, which is not far from the latitude of the entrance from Moreton Bay: the shore to the S:W: was four or five miles distant.
(the full journal can be accessed here)
Flinders’ charting of Moreton Bay, including the Redcliffe Peninsula and Bribie Island, was to set the groundwork for the later exploration by John Oxley in 1823 which, in turn, led to the establishment of the penal colony in Redcliffe in September 1824. The bicentenary of this event will be commemorated by History Redcliffe in September 2024 as Redcliffe Remembers 1824-2024.
That Norfolk expedition went as far north as Hervey Bay before returning to Sydney on 20 August 1799.
In 1801, Flinders was promoted to commander and given command of HMS Investigator and charged with the task of charting the coastline of New Holland…and to do so before his French counterpart, Nicholas Baudin. By 1803, Matthew Flinders had achieved what he had set out to do, becoming the first person to circumnavigate Australia and identify it as a continent.
For his return to England, Flinders took command of HMS Cumberland but encountered difficulties and was forced to put in at Isle de France (now Mauritius). England was at war with France at the time and the French governor arrested and detained Flinders for a period of six years. During this time, Flinders worked on his charts and recording his findings. It was at this time he recorded the name of the continent as Australia or Terra Australis.
He was released and finally returned to England in October 1810. Ill health plagued him as he continued work on his publication A Voyage to Terra Australis. It was published and he passed away the following day on 19 July 1814, aged 40.
Matthew Flinders is honoured across the continent with numerous locations bearing his name and statues and monuments having been erected as an acknowledgement of his contribution to putting Australia on the map.
Edited excerpts from the Annual Presidential Address by Mrs H. Y. Robertson on 16 September 1949 – from Queensland Geographical Journal No 39, V53-session 1948-1949.
A TRIBUTE TO MATTHEW FLINDERS WHEN AUSTRALIA CELEBRATED THE 150TH ANNIVERSARY OF HIS DISCOVERY AT REDCLIFFE – 1949
A celebration Committee was formed at Redcliffe with The Mayor Ald. R.T. Bradley as Chairman and a committee comprising Mrs M.I. Court, Mrs Martha Bradley and 25 gentlemen.
According to The Royal Geographical Society of Australasia (Qld)…
“the greatest triumph in Redcliffe’s history with a successful series of functions, doing the utmost credit for the honouring of Flinders, commenced on July 10th with religious services in all the churches at which members of the committee attended according to their respective faith, and terminated on July 31st with the presence of 5,000 motor cars and an attendance of over 30,000 people, making it the greatest day in Redcliffe’s history as predicted at the commencement of the celebrations.
The Redcliffe Shire Council generously donated a £250 subsidy towards the celebrations and donations came from the citizens of Redcliffe and the merchants of Brisbane to carry out the celebrations. The Brisbane City Council presented six Flindersia trees to the Council which were planted in the recreation reserve at Redcliffe by the Mayor and Mayoress, officials of the Royal Georgraphical Society and the Celebrations Committee.
The Royal Geographical Society of Australasia (Qld) issued 5,000 souvenir envelopes to honour Flinders and donated 1,000 for official use. The Society posted 4,000 to all parts of the world and advertised Redcliffe through its extensive publications”.
Looking for more stories? Check out our previous features…
Redcliffe in times past: the humble oyster
Sand Garden Competitions on the Peninsula