Statute-Matthew Flinders Royalty-Free Stock Image

Matthew Flinders Flinders & Swanston Streets, St Paul`s Anglican Cathedral, Melbourne At twenty-one Matthew Flinders was bothan outstanding navigator and an experienced seaman, having been apprenticed to the notorious Captain William Bligh. Together with George Bass, Flinders circumnavigated Tasmania, then thought to be part of the mainland , in the ship Norfolk. He explored much of the eastern coastline often by open boat, but it best remembered for having successfully circumnavigated and mapped Australia for the first time in 1803, a voyage he began in 1801. The colonial imperative for this task was a fear that the French would claim part or all of the continent. The artist Charles Web Gilbert ws responsible for a number of important commissions within Australia and overseas.