Matthew Flinders literally put Australia on the map, but he didn’t do it alone — he was helped by a cat called Trim. Trim was born in 1799 on board HMS Reliance on Flinders’ voyage from the Cape of Good Hope to Botany Bay.

The ship was on a voyage in 1799 between the Cape of Good Hope and Botany Bay. Flinders noticed that he was a gentle and kind-hearted kitten and gave him the name of Trim, after a kind-hearted and humble cat owned by his Uncle….Location.

Kidney disease
Matthew Flinders/Cause of death

Flinders died, aged 40, on 19 July 1814 from kidney disease, at his London home at 14 London Street, later renamed Maple Street and now the site of the BT Tower.

The statue of Trim the Cat is located along Macquarie Street outside the Mitchell Library in Sydney. You’ll see the large statue of Matthew Flinders first. Trim stands on the window ledge behind the statue of Flinders.

It was the English explorer Matthew Flinders who made the suggestion of the name we use today. He was the first to circumnavigate the continent in 1803, and used the name ‘Australia’ to describe the continent on a hand drawn map in 1804. The National Library holds a reproduction.

Matthew Flinders is remembered in South Australia through various locations and institutions bearing his name, including Flinders Street in Adelaide, the suburb of Flinders Park, the Flinders Ranges, Flinders Chase National Park on Kangaroo Island, Flinders Highway from Port Lincoln to Ceduna, Flinders Island, the …

Ann Chappellem. 1801–1814
Matthew Flinders/Spouse

HMS Investigator
HMS Investigator was the mercantile Fram, launched in 1795, which the Royal Navy purchased in 1798 and renamed HMS Xenophon, and then in 1801 converted to a survey ship under the name HMS Investigator. In 1802, under the command of Matthew Flinders, she was the first ship to circumnavigate Australia.

Before 1900, there was no actual country called Australia, only the six colonies – New South Wales, Tasmania, South Australia, Victoria, Queensland, and Western Australia. While these colonies were on the same continent, they were governed like six rival countries and there was little communication between them.

In an epic voyage of discovery lasting from 1801 to 1803, Matthew Flinders was the first to circumnavigate the island continent known as New Holland. On 18 July 1801, Flinders sailed from Portsmouth in HMS Investigator to explore the continent’s ‘unknown coast’, sighting Cape Leeuwin, Western Australia, on 6 December.

The name Australia (pronounced /əˈstreɪliə/ in Australian English) is derived from the Latin australis, meaning “southern”, and specifically from the hypothetical Terra Australis postulated in pre-modern geography.

Matthew Flinders (1774 -1814) Matthew Flinders was born in England and joined the British Royal Navy at 15. He was the Midshipman, or the master’s mate, on the HMS Reliance where he met George Bass. Bass and Flinders shared an interest in exploring and after arriving in Sydney in 1795, they set out to explore the coast south of the settlement,…

Trim: The Cartographer’s Cat, subtitled ‘The ship’s cat who helped Flinders map Australia’ is a new book about the famous sea-going feline. Pictured is his statue at the State Library of NSW

Flinders sails back to Sydney on Porpoise’s cutter Hope while Trim stays on Wreck Reef. Flinders and Trim are reunited and sail for England on HMS Cumberland but are captured by the French in Mauritius.

Early life. Matthew Flinders was born in Donington, Lincolnshire, England, the son of Matthew Flinders, a surgeon, and his wife Susannah, née Ward. He was educated at Cowley’s Charity School, Donington, from 1780 and then at the Reverend John Shinglar’s Grammar School at Horbling in Lincolnshire.