Flinders Prospect

FLINDERS PROSPECT

PELICAN LAGOON

"ALAS FOR THE PELICANS"

"Flocks of old birds were sitting along the beaches of the lagoon, and it appeared that the islands were their breeding places; not only so, but from the number of skeletons and bones there scattered, it would seem that they had for ages selected for the closing scene of their existence. Certainly none more likely to be free from the disturbance of every kind could have been chosen, than these islets in a hidden lagoon of an uninhabited island, situated upon an unkown coast near the antipodes of Europe, nor can any thing be more consonant to the feeling, if pelicans have any, than to quietly resign their breath whilst surrunded by their progeny, and in the same spot where they first drew it. Alas for the pelicans! Their golden age is past; but it has much exceeded in duration that of man."

Matthew Flinders Sunday 4th April 1802

ENCOUNTER 2002