A Voyage to Terra Australis: Undertaken for the Purpose of Completing the Discovery of that Vast Country, and Prosecuted in the Years 1801, 1802, and 1803

In the early nineteenth century, Australia remained largely uncharted, and doubt prevailed as to its unity as a continent. The 1801 expedition led by English mariner and cartographer Matthew Flinders (1774–1814), was groundbreaking in this respect. Flinders' charting of the Australian coastline provided the first complete map outlining the continent, and his influence was decisive in changing its name from Terra Australis to Australia - a term 'more agreeable to the ear'. Structured around ...