What did Matthew Flinders discover in Australia?

Answer 1

No. Matthew Flinders did not undergo any exploration in Australia's interior. The Macquarie, Darling and Marray Rivers were unknown in Flinders' time. The Macquarie River was discovered in 1813 by explorer and surveyor George Evans, the Darling River was discovered by Captain Charles Sturt in 1829, and the Murray River was first discovered by Hume and Hovell in 1824, who named it the Hume River. It was "rediscovered" by Sturt in 1830 and named the Murray after a statesman in England.

Answer 2

Matthew Flinders made a number of discoveries in Australia. He explored and charted the coast north and south of Sydney. Between December 1801 and June 1803, Flinders circumnavigated and charted the entire coastline of Australia, filling in the gaps of what was known about the continent.

Some of his exploration and discoveries were as follows:

• Flinders, together with Bass, proved that Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania) was an island, and not connected to the mainland.
• Flinders explored Moreton Bay in what is Queensland's southeast, naming several points of interest. He landed at, and named, Red Cliff Point, now Redcliffe, just north of Brisbane, as well as Coochiemudlo Island.
• He discovered and named Port Curtis on the central Queensland coast.
• While circumnavigating Australia, Flinders spent three weeks exploring and charting King George's Sound, now Albany, in Western Australia.
• He discovered and named Kangaroo Island off the South Australian coast.
• After one of Flinders's own cutters, which travelled with his ship, was lost along with an eight-man landing party, Flinders named Cape Catastrophe on the southern coast.
• He named Port Lincoln, now a major town on the Eyre Peninsula of South Australia, along with Fowlers Bay.
• He spent several days exploring and mapping Port Phillip Bay.

Answer 3

No. The Torres Strait Islands were discovered in 1606 by Spanish Captain Luis de Torres.

Answer 4

1803Matthew Flinders completes the first circumnavigation of the continent (still known as "New Holland")