Flinders, Matthew
Flinders, Matthew (1774–1814). Flinders accurately delineated the coasts of Australia and began the practice of using that name for it. After joining the Royal Navy in 1789, Flinders served with Bligh before surveying the New South Wales coast in detail in 1795. In 1798–9 he and Bass circumnavigated Tasmania, proving its separation from the mainland and impressing naval and scientific opinion in Britain with his qualities as an explorer. A new scientific expedition led by him 1801–3 mapped the coasts of nearly all Australia with great accuracy, completing the basic exploration of the Pacific Ocean section of the world. Flinders became a prisoner of war of the French on his way home but was released from Mauritius in 1809.
Roy C. Bridges
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Flinders, Matthew
