The biographical details of Matthew Flinders are shown thus:
Naval navigator, hdyrographer and discoverer. Born Donington, Lincolnshire, England.
At the age of 15 he entered the Royal Navy and as midshipman sailed for Port Jackson in 1795 meeting George Bass on HMS Reliance. Soon after arrival Bass and Flinders made their first journey to Botany Bay and Georges River in the Tom Thumb.
This was followed by their second voyage in a second and larger Tom Thumb, sailing further south to Lake Illawarra. In October 1798, Flinders, now a Navy Lieutenant, commanded the Norfolk on a successful voyage to explore the possibility of a strait between the mainland and Van Diemans Land. George Bass accompanied Flinders on this voyage. Flinders returned to England in March 1800, where he published his "Observations of Coast of New South Wales" dedicated to Sir Joseph Banks, and received instructions to explore the southern coast of Australia. Flinders sailed from England in July 1801 sighted Cape Leuwin, Western Australia in December 1801. He proceeded eastward and sailed into the "Unknown Coast", exploring Spencers Gulf, Gulf St. Vincent and discovering Kangaroo Island, eventually arriving in Sydney in May 1802. He refitted the Investigator and on 22 July he sailed north, making discoveries as he went. He eventually circumnavigated Australia and arrived back at Port Jackson on the 9 June 1803.
After further adventures he returned to England and prepared his monumental work "A Voyage to Terra Australis" in which he was the first to systematically use the name Australia, which was then gradually adopted.