Matthew Flinders was a British explorer and scientist. He was a pioneer of Australian exploration and was a navigator of the first voyage to circumnavigate Australia by water, from 1801 to 1803. Born in Sussex, England, he moved with his family to Australia at the age of ten. In 1798 he joined the Fleet under William Bligh on HMS Bounty, which sailed to Tahiti and then to New Zealand
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In 1801 he sailed for Australia in the Adventure, but in 1803 left her at Port Jackson with a crew of twelve men, including botanist Joseph Banks, and a number of Tahitian "farewellers", who had been promised land if they agreed to be transported to Sydney.
He was one of the first Europeans to explore Western Australia when he sailed from Shark Bay in August 1804.
In March 1805 he sailed from King George's Sound into Bass Strait in search of Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania).
In May 1806 Flinders sighted the west coast of Tasmania, naming it after George III (King George was created King of Hanover in 1714).
With the help of aboriginal guides, Flinders sailed south-east across Bass Strait; his boat was wrecked near Macquarie Harbour on 29 May. He then continued northwards but did not find any passage through Bass Strait.
On 14 August 1806 his ship "Investigator" grounded on the Great Barrier Reef, which led several months later to his death when he drowned while leaving the vessel to swim ashore at Port Curtis (now known as Derby). His body was never recovered..