Matthew Flinders is a towering figure in Australian history the first to chart our coastline and the leading champion for naming the country Australia. In 1801 he was made commander of the expedition of his life the first close circumnavigation of Terra Australis. Famous for his meticulous charts and superb navigational skills, Flinders was a bloody good sailor. He battled treacherous conditions in a boat hardly seaworthy, faced the loss of a number of his crewmen and, following a shipwreck on a reef off the Queensland coast, navigated the ship s cutter over 1000 kilometres back to Sydney to get help. Rob Mundle brings Matthew Flinders fascinating story to life from the heroism and drama of shipwreck, imprisonment and long voyages in appalling conditions, to the heartbreak of being separated from his beloved wife for most of their married life.
