Precis 14

Early Days on Eyre Peninsula 14

DID THE FRENCH STEAL FLINDERS' PLANS ?

By J. D. Somerville

This concerns Australia as a whole, but to Eyre Peninsula it has particular interest, as its coastline was the greatest length unsurveyed when the English and French expeditions, led by Capt. Matthew Flinders and Capt. Nicolas Baudin respectively, set out on their explorations. The rest of the survey was only filling in gaps, improvements on previous surveys and then making a comprehensive map of Australia.

After the expeditions of Flinders and Baudin, the impression had got about that the French had used Flinders' plans [also logs and diaries] when preparing charts [published] to accompany the historical text of the French voyage. …

[Nevertheless, after much debate it was determined] that the French, however badly they treated Flinders [in prison in a French colony for nearly six years], did not use either his logs or plans in the preparation of the history or charts of the French expedition. …

Read the full (quite detailed) article 

Next installment: Story of the Pre-Settlement Period of Port Lincoln.