Captain Flinders
CHAPTER V.
THE DISCOVERIES OF FLINDERS AND BASS.
FROM these doleful chronicles of irresponsible tyranny, of crime, and famine, it is a relief to turn and contemplate the heroism of the two men to whose ill-rewarded enterprise the most brilliant discoveries on the Australian coasts are due.
In 1795 Captain Hunter, who had commanded the "First Fleet," was sent out again to supersede Governor Phillip. Among the gentlemen under his command were Matthew Flinders, midshipman; and George Bass, surgeon. Flinders was born at Donington, in Lincolnshire. He was a descendant of the Flemish colonists, introduced by Henry VII., who first taught the English how to turn desolate, heron-haunted swamps into rich pastures. From his earliest years he displayed an adventurous and investigating spirit. It is among the traditions of his family, that on the day he was promoted from petticoats to
