Mountbatten Medallic History of Great Britain and the Sea Medal: Matthew Flinders Survey of Coa…

Images(2)

Mountbatten Medallic History of Great Britain and the Sea Medal: Matthew Flinders Survey of Coast of Australia

AssociatedAssociated with Lord Mountbatten of Burma (Frogmore House, Windsor, England, 1900 - 1979)

Medallist John Pinches, Medallists

DateMay 2004

Object NameMedal

MediumSterling Silver

ClassificationsMedals

AcquisitionPresented in 2004 by Dr Joan M Burrell.

LocationView by Appointment - Aberdeen Treasure Hub

Object numberABDMS072500.36

Keywords

About MeThe east coast of Australia was revealed but not surveyed when it was discovered by Captain Cook in 1770. When he called it New South Wales, and for some time after the arrival of the first convicts at Sydney , in 1788, it was thought that the continent was divided into two islands, the western half being called New Holland on account of the discoveries of the Dutch in the 17th century. Nor was it realised that Tasmania, called Van Diemen's Land after the discovery of its southern point by Tasman in 1642, was an island. It was from Sydney that young Lieutenant Matthew Flinders RN (1774-1814) sailed with Dr George Bass in 1795 in an open boat called Tom Thumb to survey the coast to the southward. In 1798 the two friends made another voyage in a whaleboat to discover Bass Strait between Tasmania and the mainland and later circumnavigated the island.

Flinders was then commissioned, on the advice of Sir Joseph Banks, to survey the whole of the south coast of Australia in HM sloop Investigator during the years 1801-2. During his voyage he met a French scientific expedition under Nicolas Baudin, who wished to claim the whole coast as Terre Napoleon, but this claim was not substantiated and Flinders was able to prove that Australia was one continent.

Having surveyed the south coast, he made a voyage northwards in 1803 to the Gulf of Carpentaria, being the first to visit it since its discovery in 1606, but his ship was now unseaworthy and his men sick from scurvy .He had to break off his work to return to Sydney via the west coast, thus making the first circumnavigation of the new continent.

Having surveyed the south coast, he made a voyage in the schooner Cumberland in 1803 to the Gulf of Carpentaria, being the first to visit it since its discovery in 1606, but his ship was now unseaworthy and his men sick from scurvy. He had to break off his work to return to Sydney via the west coast, thus making the first circumnavigation of the new continent. His work was completed in 1817-22 by Captain P.P.King, who thrice circumnavigated the continent in the little cutter Mermaid.

On Flinders' return voyage in the schooner Cumberland in 1803 he was taken prisoner by the French and imprisoned at Mauritius for six years as a spy. During that time he wrote a paper demonstrating the error of the compass when in proximity to metal on board ship. As a result, all ships were fitted with what was called Flinders Bar to counteract the effects of magnetism.

Flinders never achieved popular fame, nor was he ever employed again. During his retirement he wrote his Voyage to Terra Australis which was published soon after his death in 1814. This not only described his survey but also the botany and zoology of a new continent, for which he suggested the name Australia. He has been well called 'the noblest and most attractive of Cook's successors'.

The Mountbatten Medallic History of Great Britain and the Sea, John Pinches Medallists Ltd.