Matthew Flinders: Australia explorer's remains found

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Captain Flinders led the first circumnavigation of Australia and is credited with naming the country. Some 61,000 skeletons will be removed from St James's Gardens, where the station for the HS2 rail route will be built near London Euston station.
A recently discovered coffin showed the captain was buried on 23 July 1814.

Captain Flinders, who was from Lincolnshire, made several significant journeys, notably as commander of HMS Investigator. In the ship he became the first known person to navigate around the entire coast of Australia, confirming it as a continent.

He is also credited with giving Australia its name - although he was not the first to use the term, his work popularised its use.

But the man credited with mapping this vast country and identifying it as a continent also has a lesser-known legacy. Matthew Flinders also found time to write a biography of Trim, his ship's cat.

Trim survived storms, a fall overboard and a shipwreck before, according to Captain Flinders, eventually being eaten by starving slaves in Mauritius. There is even a statue in Sydney to celebrate Trim, and the obvious affection shown to him by his intrepid, seafaring owner.

Captain Flinders will be reinterred with the buried population of St James's Gardens at a location to be announced.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-46974247?intlink_from_url=https://www.bbc.com/news/topics/c1038wnxyy0t/archaeology&link_location=live-reporting-story

[dixiegrrrrl]

1. Wow...just wow.

Thanks for posting this.....