A Voyage to Terra Australis

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A Voyage to Terra Australis
Flinders Map v1P.png
Map showing Matthew Flinders' voyages aboard HMS Investigator
Author Matthew Flinders
CountryEngland
LanguageEnglish
PublisherG. and W. Nicol
Publication date
1814
Media typePrint
Pages2 volumes

A Voyage to Terra Australis: Undertaken for the Purpose of Completing the Discovery of that Vast Country, and Prosecuted in the Years 1801, 1802, and 1803, in His Majesty's Ship the Investigator was a sea voyage journal written by British mariner and explorer Matthew Flinders. It describes his circumnavigation of the Australian continent in the early years of the 19th century, and his imprisonment by the French on the island of Mauritius from 1804 to 1810. [1]

Contents

Circumnavigation

Entrance to Port Lincoln in South Australia; engraving by John Pye. Entrance of Port Lincoln from A Voyage to Terra Australis (1814) by Matthew Flinders.jpg
Entrance to Port Lincoln in South Australia; engraving by John Pye.

The book told in great detail of his explorations and included maps and drawings of the profiles of unknown coastline areas of what Flinders called "Terra Australis Incognita". By this, he was referring to the great unknown Southern continent that had been sighted and partly mapped by prominent earlier mariners such as Captain James Cook. The ship Flinders commanded, HMS Investigator, was a 334-ton sloop. Up until this time the circumnavigation of Australia which was necessary to prove it was a single continent land mass, had never been completed. He achieved this by circling the island continent, leaving Sydney in July 1802, heading north, through Torres Strait, [2] across the top of the continent westward, and south along the western coastline. Flinders reached and named Cape Leeuwin on 6 December 1802, and proceeded to make a survey along the southern coast of the Australian mainland, and then completing the journey, arrived back in Sydney in June 1803, despite the dangerous condition of his ship.

Returning Home To England

Flinders' further description of imprisonment on Mauritius preceded his final return to England in October 1810 in poor health: despite this he immediately resumed work preparing A Voyage to Terra Australis and his maps for publication. In January 1811 approval for publication of his narrative was given by the Admiralty, but payment was restricted to the atlas and charts sections. Flinders was responsible for funding the major work. [3] The full title of this book which was first published in London in July 1814 was given, as was common at the time, a synoptic description: "A Voyage to Terra Australis: undertaken for the purpose of completing the discovery of that vast country, and prosecuted in the years 1801, 1802, and 1803 in His Majesty's ship the Investigator, and subsequently in the armed vessel Porpoise and Cumberland Schooner. With an account of the shipwreck of the Porpoise, arrival of the Cumberland at Mauritius, and imprisonment of the commander during six years and a half in that island". [4]

Publications

A Voyage to Terra Australis: title page Voyage to Terra Australis (cropped).jpg
A Voyage to Terra Australis: title page

Original publications of the Atlas to Flinders' Voyage to Terra Australis are held at the Mitchell Library in Sydney, Australia, as a portfolio that accompanied the book and included engravings of 16 maps, 4 plates of views, and 10 plates of Australian flora. [5]

The book was republished in three volumes in 1966 accompanied by a reproduction of the portfolio. [6] Flinders' map of Terra Australis was first published in January 1814 [7] and the remaining maps were published before his atlas and book. On 19 July 1814, the day after the book and atlas was published, Matthew Flinders died, at the age of 40. [1]

See also

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Lewis Island is an island located in Spencer Gulf off the east coast of Jussieu Peninsula on Eyre Peninsula in South Australia approximately 29 km (18 mi) south-east of Port Lincoln. It was named by Matthew Flinders in memory of George Lewis who was one of the eight crew lost from a cutter that capsized sometime after being launched from HM Sloop Investigator to search for water on 21 February 1802. Since 2004, the island has been part of the Memory Cove Wilderness Protection Area.

Hopkins Island is an island located in Spencer Gulf off the east coast of Jussieu Peninsula on Eyre Peninsula in South Australia approximately 32 km (20 mi) south-east of Port Lincoln. It was named by Matthew Flinders in memory of John Hopkins who was one of the eight crew lost from a cutter that capsized on 21 February 1802. Since 2004, the island has been part of the Memory Cove Wilderness Protection Area.

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Point Weyland is a headland located on the west coast of Eyre Peninsula in South Australia about 4 kilometres west south-west of the town of Venus Bay and about 51 kilometres north north-west of the town of Elliston. The point which is located within Anxious Bay is the southern extremity of the opening to Venus Bay. The point is described by one source as being "a conspicuous cliffy point, 89 m (292 ft) high, stands close S[outh] W[est] of the entrance of Venus Bay" and "rises to a height of 96 m (315 ft), close N[orth] and slopes inland toward Venus Bay". It was named by Matthew Flinders on 10 February 1802. The point has been within the boundary of the Venus Bay Conservation Park since 1977 while the waters adjoining its shoreline have been within a habitat protection zone in the West Coast Bays Marine Park since 2012.

Slade Point is a headland in the Australian state of South Australia located on the west coast of Eyre Peninsula in the locality of Sceale Bay about 29 kilometres (18 mi) south of the town of Streaky Bay. The point is the northern extremity of Searcy Bay and the southern extremity of a promontory that separates Searcy Bay in the south east from Sceale Bay in the north west. While it is within the coastline first charted by Matthew Flinders on 9 February 1802, it is not named by Flinders possibly due to the coastline being obscured by a thick haze. Slade Point was named in 1908 after “the late Mr. W. E. Slade” who served as the Assistant Engineer of Harbours in the South Australian Government. The cape has adjoined the boundary of the Cape Blanche Conservation Park since 2012 while the waters adjoining its shoreline have been within a habitat protection zone in the West Coast Bays Marine Park also since 2012.

Cape Blanche is a headland located on the west coast of Eyre Peninsula in South Australia about 25 kilometres south south-west of the town of Streaky Bay and about 4 kilometres west of the town of Sceale Bay.

References

  1. 1 2 Hello, H.M. (1966). "Flinders, Matthew (1774–1814)". Australian Dictionary of Biography . National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISSN   1833-7538 . Retrieved 1 October 2008.
  2. ↑ Blainey, Geoffrey: The Tyranny of Distance: How Distance Shaped Australia's History, Melbourne, Macmillan 1982 Pg 59 ISBN   0732911176.
  3. ↑ Tiley, Robert (2002). Australian Navigators:Picking up Shells and Catching Butterflies in an Age of Revolution. East Roseville NSW: Kangaroo Press. p. 206. ISBN   978-0-7318-1118-2.
  4. ↑ "Review of A Voyage to Terra Australis by Matthew Flinders". The Quarterly Review. 12: 1–46. October 1814.
  5. ↑ State Library of New South Wales /Catalogue. Library.sl.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved on 2013-08-02.
  6. ↑ Flinders, Matthew (1966) [1814], A Voyage to Terra Australis: undertaken for the purpose of completing the discovery of that vast country, and prosecuted in the years 1801, 1802, and 1803 in His Majesty's ship the Investigator, and subsequently in the armed vessel Porpoise and Cumberland Schooner; with an account of the shipwreck of the Porpoise, arrival of the Cumberland at Mauritius, and imprisonment of the commander during six years and a half in that island. (Facsimile ed.), Adelaide: Libraries Board of South Australia Facsimile reprint of: London : G. and W. Nicol, 1814 ed. In two volumes, with an Atlas (3 volumes).
  7. ↑ All maps published by the British H/Office are dated.

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