Flinders and Bungaree - Bonus content
The fate of the main characters
Bungaree grew into one of Sydney’s most well-known figures. He learned English and was admired for his humour, generosity, and kindness. His portrait was painted many times. He also had a high standing with British officials and became famous for wearing colourful old British uniforms. You might have spotted his red jacket in the animation!
Even though Bungaree helped the colony, he experienced deep loss. He lost his community and way of life, and in 1804 his father was killed by convicts seeking revenge for Bungaree’s role in helping capture other convict escapees.
After his sailing adventures with Flinders, Governor Macquarie gifted Bungaree land at Georges Head, along with huts and supplies, and honoured him with a breastplate naming him “Chief of the Broken Bay Tribe” in 1815.
But Bungaree preferred life on the water to farming. Dressed in his red jacket and black cocked hat, he would paddle out in his Nawi to welcome ships to his Country. He later moved to the Domain, where he became ill, and died in 1830 in a hospital on Garden Island. He was buried at Rose Bay with his first wife, Matora (pronounced Mutt-rah), and many of his descendants still live on the Central Coast today.
View of Wreck-Reef Bank, taken at low water. Painted by W. Westall; engraved by I. Pye, for Flinders’ ‘Voyage to Terra Australis’.
ANMM collection
HMS Investigator became too unsafe to sail, but Flinders was impatient and he wanted to publish his map and keep exploring Australia. In August 1803, he headed for England as a passenger on the Porpoise to find another ship. But disaster struck when it wrecked on a reef in the Coral Sea. The crew camped on a sandbank while Flinders captained a spare sailing boat back to Warrane to get a rescue ship for his companions. Flinders returned on the leaky Cumberland, hoping to finish surveying Torres Strait on the way. It was a bold plan, but it backfired when he stopped at Mauritius and the French accused him of being a spy.
It wasn’t a quick stop, Flinders was held there for more than six years. He learned to play chess and tried to stay busy, but he missed his wife Ann, his friends, and home. At last, in March 1810, he returned to England and saw Ann again after nine long years apart.
In July 1814 his great book, A Voyage to Terra Australis, was finally published. Sadly, Flinders died the very next day, at the young age of 40, just after his remarkable story reached the world.
Do you remember Nicolas Baudin? He was the French explorer who met Matthew Flinders while sailing along the South Australian coast in 1802.
Baudin was the commander of a French expedition to Australia (Expédition aux terres australes), from 1800-1803.
This journey of scientific discovery started with two warships named Géographe and Naturaliste. There were 22 scientists, including five gardeners, two mineralogists, three botanists, six zoologists, two geographers and two artists on board the ships.
They explored the coast of Australia and Lutruwita, and collected over 18,000 specimens, including live kangaroos and emus! More than 2,500 species were new to European scientists.
Baudin abandoned the expedition because of illness on his ships. He died from tuberculosis in 1803 in Mauritius on the return voyage back to France.
But all was not lost. Louis de Freycinet, Baudin’s cartographer, went on to publish the map from the expedition. It was the first European map of Australia in 1811, beating Flinders by 3 years. It was called Carte generale de la Nouvelle Hollande. Flinders would probably have published his map first, had he not been imprisoned by the French for over six years in Mauritius.
Freycinet, Louis Claude Desaulses de, 1779-1842 & Tardieu, P. F. (Pierre Francois), 1757-1822 & Giraldon & Lale & Freycinet, Louis Claude Desaulses de, 1779-1842. Voyage de decouvertes aux terres australes ... : partie navigation et geographie. Atlas. 1812, Carte generale de la Nouvelle Hollande / dressee par M. L. Freycinet, Comandant la Goelette le Casuarina, an 1808. http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-230973732
National Library of Australia. Charles Daley Collection.
Sadly, Trim went missing when Flinders was held captive on Mauritius. Flinders loved Trim so much that he wrote her biography. It was called ‘A Biographical Tribute to the Memory of Trim’.
To the memory of
TRIM
the best and most illustrious of his race,-
the most affectionate of friends,-
faithful of servants
and best of creatures.
He made the Tour of the Globe, and a voyage to
Australia.
which he circumnavigated; and was ever the
delight and pleasure of his fellow voyagers.
Returning to Europe in 1803, he was shipwrecked
in the Great Equinoxial Ocean,-
This danger escaped, he sought refuge and assistance
at the Isle of France, where
he was made prisoner, contrary to the laws of
Justice of Humanity, and of
French National Faith;
and where, alas! He terminated his useful
career, by an untimely death,
being devoured by the Catophagi of
that island.
Many a time have I beheld his little merriments with delight,
and his superior intelligence with surprise.
Never will his like be seen again!
Trim was born in the Southern Indian Ocean, in the
year 1799, and
perished as above at the Isle of France
in 1804.
Peace be to his shade, and
Honour to his memory.