Details: By: Rob Mundle

Shipwreck, storms, death and danger – and the race to beat the French

Two hundred years ago, in the romantic age of exploration, Matthew Flinders became the first to circumnavigate and chart the treacherous Terra Australis coastline. Literally, he is the man who put Australia on the map.

Inspired to follow a life at sea after reading Robinson Crusoe, Flinders rose through the ranks of the British navy to become a great seafarer, an accomplished leader and an exceptional navigator and cartographer, often braving the boiling fury of a storm-lashed ocean in boats hardly seaworthy in the name of science and discovery.

Rob Mundle's Flinders brings to life the fascinating story of this exceptional maritime explorer – from the drama of epic voyages and devastating shipwrecks; his part in the naming of Australia; his cruel imprisonment by the French on Mauritius for six long and harrowing years; the heartbreaking separation from his beloved wife; and the comfort he got from his loyal cat, Trim; to his tragic death at just forty, before ever seeing the publication of his life's work. Flinders is a true hero whose name is forever woven into the fabric of Australian history.