Australians Bay
'Had I permitted myself any innovation upon the original term [Terra Australis] it would have been to convert it into Australia; as being more agreeable to the ear, and an assimilation to the names of other great portions of the earth.' Flinders - Voyage to Terra Australis Vol. 1 Intro. iii *note
Ian McIntosh in the dunes behind Australians Bay where the PastMasters affixed a plaque to commemorate Flinders' meeting with "the Australians" on his last landfall in the continent which he discovered & named.
View from the plaque cave - that Indonesian rubbish is metres deep - bottles, nets & medical waste.
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Royal Navy boarding-axe 1750-1816
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Cave of the Axes hard by Australians Bay
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Back Story
In October 1803, following the loss of the Investigator, Matthew Flinders was sailing the 29 ton Colonial Schooner Cumberland from Sydney to London where his charts, logs and treasures of the great south land would secure his place amongst the great navigators, cartographers and explorers. Having sailed north through the Great Barrier Reef and the Torres Strait, he headed west across the Gulf of Carpentaria to the coast of Arnhem Land that he had charted some eight months earlier.
Intending to complete his survey of the Wessel Islands by sailing around the northern tip, he was confounded by the wind and tide. Perceiving at last a gap in the islands, he made for the narrow passage but in the dying light saw the tumult of shallow waters and turned away to shelter for the night in a bay out of the tide race.
Intending to complete his survey of the Wessel Islands by sailing around the northern tip, he was confounded by the wind and tide. Perceiving at last a gap in the islands, he made for the narrow passage but in the dying light saw the tumult of shallow waters and turned away to shelter for the night in a bay out of the tide race.
Matthew Flinders Mauritius 1804
The next morning Flinders was ashore on a small beach, in a bay on the SE corner of Marchinbar Island with a party of his men who were chopping up a wrecked Macassan prau for firewood. At length, a small group of native men walked down to meet them and following a "friendly intercourse" - Matthew Flinders' final act on Australian shores was to present axes to these Yolngu men whom he called "the Australians". It is believed to be the first time that he applied that name to the people of the continent that he had discovered, mapped and named.
The Traditional Owner, Glen Malawa, is naturally a tad chuffed by this historic connection and supports the proposal to append the name Australians Bay to this symbolically significant site. It is hoped that this may encourage young people to learn more about the Balanda & Yolngu history that swells their abundant cultural inheritance, as a source of pride and future opportunities in research and heritage economics.
The name Australia, Terra Australis (Sir Joseph Banks' preference) - Incognita not longer - derive from the notion of a counterbalancing great southern landmass in antiquity. Having charted the southern coast and found no great river or seaway and similarly explored the Gulf of Carpentaria, Flinders answered the question posed in the sailing orders of every explorer of the south land since Tasman. At Sweers Island he proved that the great southern land was an island continent - the only one. His maps & journal were published in 1814, the name Australia was accepted by the Admiralty in 1824 & the Commonwealth of Australia began on 1st January 1901. Australia Day commemorates the arrival of the first fleet at Sydney.
So with the 'Australians' sorted - the Constitution might more properly be amended to include the non-Aboriginal inhabitants of the great south land.
The Traditional Owner, Glen Malawa, is naturally a tad chuffed by this historic connection and supports the proposal to append the name Australians Bay to this symbolically significant site. It is hoped that this may encourage young people to learn more about the Balanda & Yolngu history that swells their abundant cultural inheritance, as a source of pride and future opportunities in research and heritage economics.
The name Australia, Terra Australis (Sir Joseph Banks' preference) - Incognita not longer - derive from the notion of a counterbalancing great southern landmass in antiquity. Having charted the southern coast and found no great river or seaway and similarly explored the Gulf of Carpentaria, Flinders answered the question posed in the sailing orders of every explorer of the south land since Tasman. At Sweers Island he proved that the great southern land was an island continent - the only one. His maps & journal were published in 1814, the name Australia was accepted by the Admiralty in 1824 & the Commonwealth of Australia began on 1st January 1901. Australia Day commemorates the arrival of the first fleet at Sydney.
So with the 'Australians' sorted - the Constitution might more properly be amended to include the non-Aboriginal inhabitants of the great south land.
Google Earth image of the bay where Flinders met 'the Australians' and which is proposed to be named Australian Bay.
Matthew Flinders' in the Wessel Islands
HMS Investigator & Schooner Cumberland in Feb. & Oct. 1803
Section of Flinders' chart - Sheet II Plate XIV - Libraries Board of SA 1966 - The voyages of the Investigator and Cumberland are shown.
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William Westall sketch of a Macassan prau made during the 1803 encounter with Pobassoo in the English Company Islands.
The teachers' resource site...http://www.myplace.edu.au/decades_timeline/1800/decade_landing_20.html?tabRank=4&subTabRank=2 Under Mapping the coast of Australia - a fair bit about Baudin & a lot about Bungaree and about Flinders whilst at Mauritius....." he wrote his book, A Voyage to Terra Australis, about his maritime explorations. In the book, he promoted the use of the name, Australia, instead of the Dutch term, 'New Holland'. " - followed by an image of Baudin.