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Bass and Flinders
Questions and information about Australian explorers George Bass and Matthew Flinders.
177 Questions
What animals did Matthew Flinders bring to Australia?
Matthew Flinders was known for travelling with his black and white cat named Trim.
How long did Mathew Flinders live for?
Captain Matthew Flinders lived to be 40 years old. He was born March 6, 1774 and died on July 19, 1814.
Where did Matthews flinders live?
Matthew Flinders was born in 1774 and died in 1803, He lived in Lincolnshire England before starting his voyage with George Bass.
Who circumnavigated Van Diemens Land?
Van Diemen's land (now Tasmania) was first circumnavigated by sea explorers George Bass and Matthew Flinders.
What are the 2 islands in Bass Strait?
There are more than two islands in Bass Strait, but the two main ones are King Island and Flinders Island.
The HMS Reliance was a British Royal Navy exploration and transport vessel, mostly associated with the early days of the colony of Sydney.
It was purchased by the navy in 1793, had a burden of 394 tons, and was 90 feet (27 metres) long.
It sailed for Port Jackson (Sydney) in 1795 under the command of Commander Henry Waterhouse, carrying four people of note:
- Captain John Hunter, who upon arrival at Sydney would become the 2nd Governor of New South Wales.
- Midshipman Matthew Flinders
- Naval Surgeon George Bass
- Bennelong, the first Aboriginal person to visit England, and now returning home.
It was on this voyage that Bass and Flinders first met and became firm friends. When the ship stopped at the Cape of Good Hope, Bass purchased a small boat which he later named the Tom Thumb and was used in the first exploration endeavour by Flinders and Bass.
In 1796 the Reliance sailed to Norfolk Island to deliver supplies and officers to the small colony there.
In 1797 the Reliance (along with the Supply) made a journey to the Cape of Good Hope to procure supplies and cattle for the Sydney colony. It also brought with it the first Merino sheep (for John Macarthur.)
Flinders and Bass served on these supply runs. In his private notes, Flinders sometimes referred to the Reliance as the "Roundabout". It was on board the Reliance at the Cape of Good Hope that Flinders adopted a hardy kitten that he named Trim. Trim sailed with Flinders on all of Flinders' subsequent voyages.
In early 1800 Waterhouse used the Reliance to chart the Antipodes Islands off the coast of New Zealand. Upon her return to Sydney in March 1800, Governor Hunter decided that the ship was in such poor condition that it could no longer serve at Port Jackson and ordered Waterhouse to return it to England.
It carried (the now) Lieutenant Matthew Flinders with the findings of his earlier explorations - including the circumnavigation and charting of Tasmania - in order that he could put his case to the Admiralty for a larger survey of Australia.
Upon its return to England the Reliance was put into service as a harbour vessel, and was sold off in October 1815.
What meetings did Matthew Flinders have with the Aborigines?
Matthew Flinders had several encounters with Aborigines while charting and exploring Port Phillip Bay. These encounters revealed that the Aborigines were as interested in him as he was in them, and that the Port Phillip Bay Aborigines were unfamiliar with firearms, showing no concern about them. At no time did Flinders feel threatened by the Aborigines.
Flinders had an Aboriginal friend from Broken Bay, named Bongaree, who travelled with him when he briefly explored north of Port Jackson. Bongaree also travelled with Flinders aboard the Investigator during Flinders' circumnavigation of Australia.
When in Tasmania, Bass and Flinders both encountered the Aborigines. Contrary to reports from later Europeans, the Tasmanian Aborigines were very friendly and peaceable.
There were some occasions when Flinders' encounters with the Aborigines were not so friendly. One time Flinders seemed to have difficulty with the Aborigines was when he, Bass and their ship's boy, William Martin, met with the Aborigines at present-day Port Kembla. There was some tension as they were approached by a war-like party, but the situation calmed when Flinders decided to amuse the Aborigines by using scissors to cut their hair.
On another occasion, when Flinders was charting the Gulf of Carpentaria in present-day far north Queensland, a fight with the local Aborigines left one of his crew dead. And as testimony to another incident, Skirmish Point on the southwestern side of Southeast Queensland's Bribie island is so named because of a skirmish with the local Aborigines there.
Bass Strait is the channel located at the bottom of Australia between the mainland and the island of Tasmania.
Are Flinders Island and Tasmania Island the same thing?
No. Flinders Island lies in Bass Strait, between the island state of Tasmania and the Australian mainland.
What sickness killed Matthew flinders?
Matthew Flinders died 19 July 1814.
According to his biography by Ernest Scott, during his captivity in Mauritius, he developed a painful "constitutional internal trouble" - seeming to cause great pain in his stomach.
After his return to Britain, in 1813, a year before he died, the pain reoccurred and became much worse. His wife complained to a friend that he had aged so much that he looked 70, and was "worn to a skeleton." (he was only 39.)
Based on modern definitions we may never know precisely what disease killed Flinders. It seems that it might have been some sort of stomach or intestinal disease that was long-term, recurrent and caused wasting. Possibly some form of cancer, ulcers or colitis.
Did Matthew Flinders prove that Tasmania is a continent?
No - because Tasmania is not a continent.
Matthew Flinders, together with George Bass, determined that Tasmania (then known as Van Diemen's Land) was an island, and quite separate from the Australian mainland. Prior to this, sailors and explorers all believed that there was no sea passage between Tasmania and the rest of Australia.
born on 30 January 1771 at Aswarby in Lincolnshire.
:)
Did Matthew Flinders have any pets?
Yes. Matthew Flinders was known for his black and white cat, Trim, who accompanied him on most of his voyages.
What island did George Bass find seven convicts who had escaped?
On the evening of January 3rd 1798, George Bass on his voyage in an open whale boat to explore the possibility of a strait between Australia and Tasmania, came across a party of escaped convicts on a small island just off Wilson's Promontory.
Unfortunately Bass does not give the island a name.
A few week later on his return journey to Sydney, Bass rescued the convicts, taking 2 back to Sydney with him, and landing the rest on the mainland. Although giving those he landed provisions and weapons in the hope they might make it to Sydney, they were never seen again.
