---
node: au_matthew_flinders
type: person
slug: matthew_flinders
title: "Matthew Flinders"
lead: "The British navigator who was the first to circumnavigate and chart the Australian continent and who popularised the name Australia."
published: 2026-07-15
updated: 2026-07-15
---

## Who they were

Matthew Flinders joined the navy young and surveyed the coasts near the early colony. Between 1801 and 1803 he became the first to circumnavigate the Australian continent, in the Investigator.

## What they did

He charted the coastline precisely and confirmed that the eastern and western lands, once thought separate, were one continent. He urged that it be called Australia.

## Legacy

On his way home he was detained by the French at Mauritius for more than six years. He died in 1814, just as his charts and account were published, but the name Australia eventually took hold.