Flinders was born in Donington, Lincolnshire, to proud parents Matthew Flinders, a surgeon and his wife Sussanah (nee Ward) in 1774. The young Flinders joined the Navy in 1789, and served under William Bligh. In 1795 he arrived in Sydney on the same ship as George Bass, and the two, sharing their love of exploration, became close friends.

Flinders' first expeditions with Bass included the Georges River, Botany Bay and Lake Illawarra, as well as a survey of the Furneaux Islands. His most notable early exploration occurred in 1798-99, when he circumnavigated Van Diemens Land with Bass.

He returned to England following some exploration of the coast of Queensland, and published an account of his expeditions in 1801. In that same year he was promoted and sent back to Australia in order to complete a survey of the missing areas of the coastline.

In 1802, Flinders stopped in Sydney to overhaul his ship Investigator before continuing north to map the coastline. He mapped as far as the Gulf of Carpenteria before abandoning the survey, and completing his circumnavigation of the Australian Mainland by arriving in Sydney in 1803.

Flinders, wishing to complete his task, returned to England in the Cumberland, to obtain another boat. En route the ship began to take water, and when forced to land on the French occupied island of Mauritius, Flinders and his crew were placed under arrest, as France and England were currently at war (1804). Although Napoleon himself had ordered that Flinders be released in 1807, it was not until 1810 that he was finally released.

During his imprisonment, Flinders had been working on a book for publication called "A Voyage to Terra Australis", which was finally published the day before his death in 1814.

His legacy of accurate maps and charts of the Australian coastline remained for over 50 years after his death. He also solved the problem of compass deviation by using a correcting bar which bears his name.

0 of a possible 0 points from 0 votes