The Original Map of Australia
The Original Map of Australia 1804 - Matthew Flinders at Mauritius - National Archives UK ADM 352-477
The 1804 general chart of Australia or Terra Australis is the first map of the last continent and the first to bear and give primacy to the name Australia. It is now 220 years since Flinders' map was spirited out of Mauritius and into the verifiable, documentary record. Yet it has remained stubbornly incognita. Two efforts to bring the map to prominence have failed. The 1804 map has not (until now) been discoverable on the Internet, other than in newspaper articles covering the 1988 bicentenary facsimile.
A record of the 2004 commemorative print was received by the NT Parliament via His Honour the Administrator. In seeking the approval of the House to receive the map the Speaker, the Hon. Dheran Young, got the name wrong by using the 1814 map's title of 'Terra Australis of Australia' instead of the significant 'Australia or Terra Australis' thereby largely defeating the purpose of the exercise. Neither the 1988 facsimile nor the 2004 frame image of the original are discoverable by NT Libraries & Archives. The then Administrator, Ted Egan AO, has no recollection of this bequest.
A record of the 2004 commemorative print was received by the NT Parliament via His Honour the Administrator. In seeking the approval of the House to receive the map the Speaker, the Hon. Dheran Young, got the name wrong by using the 1814 map's title of 'Terra Australis of Australia' instead of the significant 'Australia or Terra Australis' thereby largely defeating the purpose of the exercise. Neither the 1988 facsimile nor the 2004 frame image of the original are discoverable by NT Libraries & Archives. The then Administrator, Ted Egan AO, has no recollection of this bequest.
Mauritius 1804
In 1804, Flinders and all those aboard the Cumberland were imprisoned on Mauritius by the French. Uncertain of his prospects of release and security of his papers, Flinders takes the opportunity offered by the release of the master of HMS Investigator. The map is sequestered amongst Mr Aken's papers and addressed to Sir joseph Banks, it is the first map of the continent of Australia - the first map to bear the name Australia. The ship sails for England on 14th November 1804. It will enshrine his reputation and debunk false claims to a part borne in the discovery of north Australia.
Detail from The First Map of Australia 1804
Detail of 1804 map Centrepiece
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Terra Australis before Flinders Insert Map 1798
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Voyage to Terra Australis
Flinders preferred Australia over Terra Australis and whilst in Mauritius gave it prominence - in 1814 the chart was published in the elephant folio accompanying the official two volume 'Voyage to Terra Australis'. It was the preference of Sir Joseph Banks - Flinders' patron & 'Father of Australia'.
General Chart of Terra Australis or Australia 1814
'For nearly all of its >200 years, the map has missed out on the public acclaim it deserves, because Banks and the Admiralty completely lost interest in Flinders during his imprisonment – so much so that when Flinders did finally return to England in 1810, he discovered that Banks had not even bothered to unpack the chart.
In the meantime, the 1804 version of the chart languished in the archive of the British Hydrographic Office, forgotten and available only on microfiche – until Sydney enthusiast Bill Fairbanks discovered it because of his involvement with the reenactment of Flinders’ circumnavigation in 2002-03. He had 34 high-quality copies of the chart made, and resolved that all State parliaments in Australia should be presented with their own copy'.
In the meantime, the 1804 version of the chart languished in the archive of the British Hydrographic Office, forgotten and available only on microfiche – until Sydney enthusiast Bill Fairbanks discovered it because of his involvement with the reenactment of Flinders’ circumnavigation in 2002-03. He had 34 high-quality copies of the chart made, and resolved that all State parliaments in Australia should be presented with their own copy'.
At this distance in time it is impossible to fully appreciate the tumult of those times in Europe. Flinders sent the map to Banks in late 1804 - the year before Trafalgar - thereafter the Napoleonic Wars raged on until Waterloo in 1815 - the year after Flinders published Voyage to Terra Australis and died. A great many things were set aside & overlooked during this period - the Napoleonic Pause. Today, there is an opportunity to reflect upon which great issues of 2019 fail to regain public consciousness after the Covid Pause.
The First Published Map of Australia
Freycinet 1st Published Map of Australia 1811
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Freycinet Map 1808 NLA - published >1814 ~ 1824 Atlas Carte de Nouvelle Hollande
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The Freycinet Map of 1811 – Is it the First Complete Map of Australia? Rupert Gerritsen Peter Reynders
'From a scientific viewpoint the Baudin expedition had been an outstanding success. In all about 100,000 specimens were brought back, including 2,500 new species, as well as a large collection of indigenous artifacts from Tasmania and the south Pacific. In geographic terms much of Australia‟s coastline had been explored, though they had been gazumped by Flinders in the Investigator and Lt. Grant in HMS Lady Nelson in the charting of the previously unknown part of the south coast. Just about all the expedition could lay claim to discovering was a small stretch of the coast of South Australia, from Mt. Schanck to Encounter Bay.
'The voyage had been an especially arduous one, beset by many difficulties, and taken a great toll of personnel. Of the 23 scientists who set out, only three returned, the others either abandoning the expedition, dying or left behind at various ports to convalesce. Among those to return was Péron, who immediately set about securing a preeminent role for himself, taking charge of the collections, writing scientific reports and lobbying Decrès, the new Minister of Marine, to be named chronicler of the expedition. It appears to have taken some time, however, to determine which Ministry (Marine or Interior) was responsible for which parts of the anticipated publication and the personnel to be involved. In the meantime Péron, probably trying to curry favour, gave the entire ethnographic collection (206 items) to Empress Josephine. With the support of the 'professors of the Museum' and the intervention of the father of palaeontology Cuvier, Napoléon at last issued a decree on 4 August 1806 authorising publication. Péron and the gunner cum naturalist and artist Lesueur were selected, with Louis de Freycinet, who had already been working on charts, to undertake the cartography.
'Publication of the volumes giving the official account of the expedition, Voyage de Découvertes aux Terres Australes, and the associated atlases took nine years, being beset by delays and complications which resulted in some confusion in the order of publication. For example, the first volume, Historique, was published in 1807, but the second volume, also Historique, was not published until 1816, whereas volume 3, Navigation et Geographie, was published in 1815. This was partly due to the death of Péron in 1810, from tuberculosis, when de Freycinet took over 12 responsibility for the final volumes, and partly strained government finances. But these were minor issues compared to the two great controversies ignited by their publication.
'The first of these controversies was the almost complete elimination of any reference to Baudin. He is referred to anonymously as the 'chief' or 'commandant' throughout, until the publication of last volume in 1816, where he is finally named by de Freycinet. The justification and reasons for this are still being debated. Blackening of Baudin's reputation began with the book published by the deserter Bory in 1804 and was carried out systematically by Péron in the course of writing Voyage de Découvertes. Of course Baudin was not able to defend himself.
The other controversy centred on the charts and 1811 map prepared by de Freycinet.
It seems that at Péron's behest French names were applied to many features discovered and named by other navigators.
Most egregiously, however, Flinders' discoveries on the south coast were systematically ignored, the application of French nomenclature effectively robbing him of precedence in terms of discovery. This was done quite deliberately and knowingly, Flinders had informed Baudin of his explorations when they met at Encounter Bay and he had also showed him his chart when they met again in June 1802 in Sydney.
Ultimately Flinders was vindicated and his priority was fully acknowledged in the second edition of Voyage de Découvertes, published in 1824.'
{See Full paper Pdf below}
The other controversy centred on the charts and 1811 map prepared by de Freycinet.
It seems that at Péron's behest French names were applied to many features discovered and named by other navigators.
Most egregiously, however, Flinders' discoveries on the south coast were systematically ignored, the application of French nomenclature effectively robbing him of precedence in terms of discovery. This was done quite deliberately and knowingly, Flinders had informed Baudin of his explorations when they met at Encounter Bay and he had also showed him his chart when they met again in June 1802 in Sydney.
Ultimately Flinders was vindicated and his priority was fully acknowledged in the second edition of Voyage de Découvertes, published in 1824.'
{See Full paper Pdf below}
Bonaparte Tasman Map 1644
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Freycinet 1811 - + Tasman anchorages & coast mirrored.
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Flinders Original 1804 ground proof
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Comparison of the 1644, 1804 & 1811 maps. The anchorages and coastline from the Bonaparte Map [allegedly showing the voyages of Tasman 1642 & 1644] have been added to the Freycinet 1811 & the Top End coast mirrored to show the crudity of the fake. This demonstrates that Flinders was the first European to chart the Gulf of Carpentaria and the politically motivated Freycinet cannot be called complete being 8 years after Flinders mapped the coast & 5 years after his first rough chart was smuggled out of French custody. That the French should rely upon Dutch deceit and be championed by authorities - such as the National Library of Australia - is instructive.
Bill Fairbanks: The Man who Saved the Bicentenary
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BILL FAIRBANKS 1937-2015
The day before Australia's Bicentennial First Fleet Re-enactment Expedition was due to sail from Portsmouth in May 1987, the organisers ran out of money. The Queen was booked to farewell the fleet next morning from HMS Sirius, but none of the captains would sail unless they got paid. Fleet executive director Wally Franklin could not work out what to do. Out of the blue, Bill Fairbanks, a public servant, arrived in a suit and tie from Australia with $500,000 in cash. No sooner had he handed this over to Franklin, explaining it was an unexpected government loan, than Franklin had divided it into 11 brown paper bags then, with Fairbanks, sprinted along the wharf distributing it to disbelieving captains. Next morning, Her Majesty raised naval flags ordering the fleet to depart and 11 square-riggers sailed over the horizon towards Australia's 200th anniversary. Back on the wharf, Fairbanks breathed a sigh of relief. He had arrived in time to save this private expedition, which he believed would be a popular event, from foundering. Fairbanks' vision proved correct. Three million spectators greeted the fleet sailing into Sydney Harbour in January 1988, with him proudly on board. It remains Australia's largest live spectator event. William Charles Fairbanks was born in Melbourne on October 6, 1937, one of four children of Harold Fairbanks, a builder, and his wife, Peggy. He studied accounting, took an ANU Arts degree in 1962, won an American Fulbright Scholarship, served with the John Curtin School of Medical Research, then Prahan College of Advanced Education. Dr David Armstrong, CEO of the Australian Bicentennial Authority hired Fairbanks as the authority's company secretary. |
Courtesy Herald Sun Newspaper
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Not answerable to Parliament, but with $200 million a year, the authority developed its program of celebrations. Historian Dr Jonathan King's proposed re-enactment was disposed of with a bogus "feasibility study" and replaced with a copy-cat Tall Ships Parade based on America's 1976 Bicentenary.
When journalist Alan Ramsay exposed corruption in 1985, Prime Minister Bob Hawke sacked both Armstrong and ABA chairman John Reid. But when new chairman Jim Kirk attacked the re-enactment, even as public support grew, Fairbanks protested to him, "If ever a case is to exist for the Ombudsman to justifiably criticise the authority for adopting a biased approach, the evidence is rapidly accumulating on our files relating to the First Fleet Re-Enactment and the Tall Ships Project. If ever this conflict reaches the public domain, I will have difficulty associating myself with the contradictory, frequently illogical, irrelevant and misleading statements made by the authority on these two projects over the years."
Fairbanks persuaded Kirk to lend that $500,000 after the Queen announced she would farewell the fleet – ignoring Kirk's advice. Fairbanks' generosity inspired 2GB presenters John Laws and Mike Carlton to raise another $900,000 for the fleet, through a listener appeal during the August Rio de Janeiro stopover.
After escorting the fleet into Sydney, Fairbanks gave a one-metre-high pile of documents to Senate Estimates Committee chairwoman Senator Bronwyn Bishop, who reported, "The fact that the First Fleet Re-Enactment occurred with little financial support from the [bicentennial authority] and the active attempt by some to destroy it, is nothing short of a miracle almost the same miracle as the landing of Captain Phillip". Fairbanks then helped King and Re-enactment Communications Director David Iggulden publish The Battle for the Bicentenary (1989).
Fairbanks, an early environmentalist, co-founded Green Australia Party in 1989 and helped to establish Landcare Australia, for which he raised $1 million and designed its logo.
He also discovered Matthew Flinders' little known 1804 map in England. Realising that Flinders had called the continent "Australia", Fairbanks promoted this first naming as "Australia's Birth Certificate". He distributed hundreds of maps to prime ministers, governors-general, governors, premiers, parliaments and schools, created the Matthew Flinders Society of Australia and erected a Flinders statue in Euston Station in London.
Fairbanks also founded the Sydney Cove Rotary and Guthega Ski Lodge, and supported the Sydney Portsmouth Sister City Committee.
Bill Fairbanks is survived by his wife Jan, sons Peter, Graham, Rohan, Haydn and David, their wives, and seven grandsons.
Richard Tanner - Updated May 8, 2015 — 10.46am first published May 7, 2015 — 9.00pm
When journalist Alan Ramsay exposed corruption in 1985, Prime Minister Bob Hawke sacked both Armstrong and ABA chairman John Reid. But when new chairman Jim Kirk attacked the re-enactment, even as public support grew, Fairbanks protested to him, "If ever a case is to exist for the Ombudsman to justifiably criticise the authority for adopting a biased approach, the evidence is rapidly accumulating on our files relating to the First Fleet Re-Enactment and the Tall Ships Project. If ever this conflict reaches the public domain, I will have difficulty associating myself with the contradictory, frequently illogical, irrelevant and misleading statements made by the authority on these two projects over the years."
Fairbanks persuaded Kirk to lend that $500,000 after the Queen announced she would farewell the fleet – ignoring Kirk's advice. Fairbanks' generosity inspired 2GB presenters John Laws and Mike Carlton to raise another $900,000 for the fleet, through a listener appeal during the August Rio de Janeiro stopover.
After escorting the fleet into Sydney, Fairbanks gave a one-metre-high pile of documents to Senate Estimates Committee chairwoman Senator Bronwyn Bishop, who reported, "The fact that the First Fleet Re-Enactment occurred with little financial support from the [bicentennial authority] and the active attempt by some to destroy it, is nothing short of a miracle almost the same miracle as the landing of Captain Phillip". Fairbanks then helped King and Re-enactment Communications Director David Iggulden publish The Battle for the Bicentenary (1989).
Fairbanks, an early environmentalist, co-founded Green Australia Party in 1989 and helped to establish Landcare Australia, for which he raised $1 million and designed its logo.
He also discovered Matthew Flinders' little known 1804 map in England. Realising that Flinders had called the continent "Australia", Fairbanks promoted this first naming as "Australia's Birth Certificate". He distributed hundreds of maps to prime ministers, governors-general, governors, premiers, parliaments and schools, created the Matthew Flinders Society of Australia and erected a Flinders statue in Euston Station in London.
Fairbanks also founded the Sydney Cove Rotary and Guthega Ski Lodge, and supported the Sydney Portsmouth Sister City Committee.
Bill Fairbanks is survived by his wife Jan, sons Peter, Graham, Rohan, Haydn and David, their wives, and seven grandsons.
Richard Tanner - Updated May 8, 2015 — 10.46am first published May 7, 2015 — 9.00pm
Double Trouble
"It fell into trouble a second time, in Rio de Janeiro, and I was with Stephen Hall, a Director of Bicentenary Events (as was I as Corporate Director of the Bicentennial Festival of Sydney) when he took a desperate phone call seeking additional funds or otherwise having to finish in Rio!
It was late in the day and we threw a few ideas around before ringing the Festival’s major sponsor, Coca Cola Amatil, to see if they could help.
They did so by generously extending their already then largest ever sponsorship of the Festival, on one condition - a Coca Cola logo mainsail similar to the one already granted to Australia Post! And the fleet duly arrived in Sydney.
As an aside, we had contracted Geoffrey Robinson to do a Hypothetical for the Festival - one he described as the first sighting. When he began, he stood motionless on stage for several minutes with his ‘Aboriginal’ hand up to his eyes peering ‘out to sea’. The audience was growing restless when he appeared to see the sails of ‘the whitemen’ and with increased vision, said slowly - Coca… Cola!" (Courtesy Kym Bonnefin)
It was late in the day and we threw a few ideas around before ringing the Festival’s major sponsor, Coca Cola Amatil, to see if they could help.
They did so by generously extending their already then largest ever sponsorship of the Festival, on one condition - a Coca Cola logo mainsail similar to the one already granted to Australia Post! And the fleet duly arrived in Sydney.
As an aside, we had contracted Geoffrey Robinson to do a Hypothetical for the Festival - one he described as the first sighting. When he began, he stood motionless on stage for several minutes with his ‘Aboriginal’ hand up to his eyes peering ‘out to sea’. The audience was growing restless when he appeared to see the sails of ‘the whitemen’ and with increased vision, said slowly - Coca… Cola!" (Courtesy Kym Bonnefin)
The Original Map of Australia 1804 - NAUK - cleaning
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Flinders 1804 Download 45.4kb nla.obj-804204505
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Sources & Resources
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"Flinders’s mapping was anticipated to some degree by the Frenchman Louis de Freycinet’s production of the first published map of Australia as a continent in 1811.[i] But Freycinet did not supply the sheer number of place names furnished by Flinders, and the nomenclature given by Flinders soon embedded itself into Australian usage. This was undoubtedly aided by Britain’s victories over France at the battles of Trafalgar and Waterloo. In the second edition of his map, published in 1824, Freycinet omitted many French names in favour of those conferred by Flinders".[ii]
[i] Rupert Gerritsen and Peter Reynders, “The Freycinet Map of 1811: The first full map of Australia?” The Globe 72 (2013), pp. 1-10.
[ii] Martin Terry, “Global Roaming” in Mapping our World, pp. 208-9.
[i] Rupert Gerritsen and Peter Reynders, “The Freycinet Map of 1811: The first full map of Australia?” The Globe 72 (2013), pp. 1-10.
[ii] Martin Terry, “Global Roaming” in Mapping our World, pp. 208-9.
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