March 14, 2023

When Governor Hunter came to Australia in 1795, he brought with him, on board his ship THE RELIANCE , a young surgeon called George Bass, and a midshipman called Matthew flinders. These two young comrades, with the hand of a small boat and a boy to lend a hand would push the envelope of Australian discovery, and initially with such scanty resources, but ample courage against danger, evading death from the terrible seas on their small vessel to outwitting natives who had them at spear point. Bass would later in his career meet an uncertain but likely grim fate, while Flinders would toil away to enlightened Britain and Christendom back home as to the terrain and peculiarities of this strange new continent which was fast enrapturing the public’s fancy.