The discovery of the British explorer’s body – long thought lost – who proved Tasmania was an island came as a shock to many on Friday, including the George Town centre dedicated to his work.
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Uncovered as part of a year-long project to excavate a former London cemetery, archaeologists involved have described the discovery of Matthew Flinders’ body among the tens-of-thousands interred there as like finding a “needle in a haystack”.
“I was watching Sunrise and went, ‘wow, they’ve found it’,” said Bass and Flinders Centre director Peter Hale, standing below a replica of the ship Flinders used to circumnavigate Tasmania – the “Norfolk”.
“I knew they were looking at Euston Station, I knew they were in a graveyard there but they didn’t expect to find his particular body … but it turns out they did.”
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“They were pretty lucky to have that breastplate on the coffin.”
Along with his voyage around Tasmania, Flinders is also credited as the first person to circumnavigate Australia. Experts hope his skeleton will bring further insight into his life.
Rob Mundle, author of Flinders: The Man Who Mapped Australia said the sailing Flinders did around Tasmania was a major feat.
“Going down the West Coast, that’s not a very pleasant coast a lot of the time with the westerly prevailing winds. How those guys coped with getting down there in the boat that they had was highly admirable in those days.”
For Mr Mundle, the discovery of his body 205 years after burial was a chance scenario.
“I never thought that they’d find his remains just because of the circumstances of how they built [Euston Station],” he said.
“It’s only this freakish situation that somebody had the nous to put a lead breastplate on the coffin, and what remained of the coffin. It was there and that was good enough to identify him because it hasn’t deteriorated over all the years.”
“It’s nice to know that we’ve got a better chance now to pay tribute to him than we have had until this time.”
Mr Hale isn’t holding his breath for any of the artefacts to make their way to Tasmania – with remains likely to be interred at a new site in London – but couldn’t help wonder anyway.
“Everyone’s got a bit of claim on him, wouldn’t it be a coup to have his body in this place.”
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