Remains of Australia explorer found

The remains of Captain Matthew Flinders, the first explorer to circumnavigate Australia and credited with naming the country, have been discovered near a busy London railway station


Matthew Flinders (1774-1814)


Flinders’ coffin found among 40,000 skeletons being exhumed at St James’s burial ground near London Euston station to make way for high-speed rail link, HS2

LONDON
Buckingham Palace
Big Ben
Trafalgar Square
1km 0.6 miles


AUSTRALIA
Flinders’ circumnavigation aboard HMS Investigator
Port Jackson, Sydney
Departure: Jul 22, 1802
Arrival: Jun 9, 1803
Torres Strait
Gulf of Carpentaria
Cape Leeuwin
Tasmania
Bass Strait

500km 300 miles


Archaeologists identified remains by lead plate placed on top of his coffin

Trim: Flinders’ beloved cat accompanied him on his voyages. Trim survived storms, falling overboard and shipwreck, before eventually being eaten

Trim’s bronze statue at Euston Station


Sources: HS2, State Library of NSW 
Pictures: AP, State Library of NSW 
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