A rich tapestry of pivotal events over the past 250 years has enabled a local woman to rediscover her intriguing family history and historical ties. The unexpected links between the construction of a high-speed train service, an adventurous novel, leaky boats, imprisonment, an unplanned beach stop and a contemporary historic seaman, resemble the opening of an adventure novel. Indeed, the essence of adventure is at the heart of this story.

 

A casual conversation related to an article about Matthew Flinders and his burial and reburial published in the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH 16 March 2024), led Lesley Pickering to reconnect with local resident Yannick Martin, who is a direct descendant of families who had been closely connected to Matthew Flinders’ life and his detainment in Mauritius.

 

Matthew Flinders, the renowned British navigator and cartographer, passed away in 1814, aged 40, and was initially buried in the burial grounds of St James Church, Piccadilly (later known as St James’s Gardens Camden), England. His grave was largely forgotten over the years and in the 19th century the area underwent significant changes, leading to the loss of his burial site.  In 1852 Isabella Tyler, Flinders’ sister-in-law, visited St James Cemetery and discovered that his grave was missing. Years later, Flinders’ daughter recounted in a letter that her aunt “found the churchyard remodeled, and quantities of tombstones and graves with their contents had been carted away as rubbish, among them that of my unfortunate father, thus pursued by disaster after death as in life.” (ref 12)

 

However, in 2019 researchers and historians conducting an investigation at the site of a new high-speed rail link at the site of St James Cemetery, which is believed to contain over 60,000 buried bodies behind Euston Station, made a significant discovery. During their exploration of the old churchyard, they uncovered the remains of Matthew Flinders. “All the records showed that he was buried there, but actually finding someone with a breast plate confirming their name is really amazing,” said lead archaeologist Helen Wass. (ref 11) 

 

After the osteo-archaeologist investigation, it was proven to be the remains of Matthew Flinders. His daughter would have been so relieved and pleased.

 

An adventurous young Matthew Flinders had read the novel Robinson Crusoe which ignited his desire for exploration and ultimately guided him toward a career in navigation and maritime exploration. However, these aspirations conflicted with his father's hopes for his eldest son. In Flinders’ own words, he was "induced to go to sea, against the wishes of my friends, from reading Robinson Crusoe", and in 1789, at the age of 15, he joined the Royal Navy.

 

After just ten years he was a lieutenant and had completed the circumnavigation of Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) with George Bass in 1798, and various voyages, surveying and charting.  In 1799 the Governor of New South Wales John Hunter gave orders for Flinders to discover more about the noted sightings of Captain Cook 29 years earlier, and to explore the possibility of rivers that could provide a pathway into the interior of New Holland. Flinders was assigned the HM sloop Norfolk to complete this expedition north - approximately 70 tons burthen (burden) and measuring about 18 metres (approx 60 feet) in length. This size made it relatively small compared to larger ships of the time, but it was well-suited for exploration and coastal navigation.

 

Flinders’ crew was made up of the volunteers who had sailed with him around Van Diemen’s Land along with Bongaree, a Port Jackson Kuringgai Aborigine “whose good disposition and manly conduct has attracted my esteem” (ref 1, p 96).  Also part of the crew was Matthew’s brother Samuel Flinders, aged 16.

 

While sailing north, Flinders needed to repair the Norfolk which was leaking severely. He found an area that he called Shoal Bay, present-day Yamba, and the Clarence River. Here he stopped at the Clarence River’s entrance, which today bears little resemblance to that at the time of Matthew Flinders experience on 12 July 1799. Flinders wrote:

 

“This shoal is mostly dry at low water. We afterwards went up this channel in the boat: and round the shoals; but altho the tide ran very rapid, there were scarcely three fathoms any where; and in going toward some branches in the north part of the bay, were obliged to get out and drag the little boat over the sands into another channel.  The north point of the entrance into this bay is only a projecting spit of sandy ground; the water turns sharply around the point and runs to the northward nearly parallel with the coast line. Along this shore, there is a deeper channel but the swell from the sea seems to prevent the tide from making a clear passage out, for the channel becomes shoaler as it approaches the entrance.” Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, Matthew Flinders journal in the Norfolk Sloop, 1799, C 211/, https://acms.sl.nsw.gov.au/_transcript/2012/D14130/a002.html

 

Flinders stayed at this ‘shoal bay’ for a short time and was able to find the highest point to take measurements, to view Aboriginal shelters, and to find and replenish his fresh water supplies.   

 

A fascination for the sea and adventurous seamen motivated a modern-day sailor.  A 1977 ABC radio interview with Tasmanian seafarer Bern Cuthbertson included a description of his project to build a replica of the sloop Norfolk and the planned re-enactment of Flinders’ voyages. This interview piqued the interest of one member of the Port of Yamba Historical Society and so began the communication between Cuthbertson, who was very interested in ceremonies associated with his voyage of rediscovery, and the Society’s concept for a 1999 Matthew Flinders Bicentennial project.

 

Yannick Martin

Local resident Antionette Marie Yannick Martin (1953) was born in Mauritius and finally moved from Africa to Brisbane after having lived in many places in the world like many of her cousins. Yannick’s mother, Marie Therese Nicole Marier d’Unineille (1927-2014) was born in Mauritius, one of eleven children. The family lived on the Flaque sugar cane plantation.  Yannick’s uncle, Christian d’Unineille (1923-2022), the oldest child of the family, was entrusted with keeping the family connected. Every year Yannick’s mother would receive a “letter of encouragement for the year ahead” and this letter would be distributed among each of the many families throughout the world. In 2016 Yannick was able to visit her uncle in Mauritius and re-connect with many other family members, listen to family stories and revisit places of her youth.

 

When Yannick was living in Brisbane she felt like an adventure to see more of Australia. She planned for an adventurous weekend away, the only condition being that the location must start with a Y - one of those fun things you can do that sometimes sets the tone for the rest of your life. So, Yannick and her mother ventured south to Yamba and found a place that she had been seeking – a coastline like her home, canefields, friendly geography and a connection that was so strong that Yannick and her mother moved to Yamba just 6 months later in June 1998. Yamba felt so like her home in Mauritius.

 

Early in 1999, the year of the Bicentennial project, Yannick Martin and her mother were visiting Yamba Museum and as they entered, her mother spoke to Yannick in French. Volunteer Marjorie Cousins overheard the conversation and asked where they came from. When Yannick replied Mauritius, Marjorie informed them that the sloop Norfolk would sail into Yamba in a few days and that this event may be of interest to them.  Yannick had known of the family’s connection to Matthew Flinders’ detainment in Mauritius and was very interested in seeing the replica of the Norfolk and understanding more about his connection to Yamba.

 

Just a few days later, Yannick was on the replica of the Norfolk with Bern Cuthbertson and all things Matthew were discussed. Bern was able to tell Yannick of an American woman Mariam Estensen who was researching and writing a book about Matthew Flinders, creating another connection.  

 

Yannick and her mother were great resources for the writer, as also was the book that Yannick’s cousin had written:  Last Years of the Isle of France (1800-1814). To the launch of her book in 2002, Mariam Estensen invited Yannick, her mother and other family members as the direct descendants of the Mauritius community who had been part of Matthew Flinders’ life on Mauritius from 1803 to 1810.

 

1999 Bicentennial celebration

The Bicentennial Project’s concept was started by the Port of Yamba Historical Society.  Bern Cuthbertson and his crew of 12 worked on the replica of the Norfolk with 17 local community groups. It was a huge success and the sloop was escorted by a guard of honour of local yachts and power boats as she arrived at Yamba. Attractions during the 3-day festival included ferry trips to welcome the Norfolk, public inspections of the Norfolk, markets, ethnic dancing and sporting events, along with the visit by the former Governor of NSW The Honorable Gordon Samuels and Mrs Samuels to unveil the plaque on Pilot Hill where Matthew Flinders had taken surveying points back in 1799.

 

Flinders detainment in Mauritius

Matthew Flinders faced daunting experiences at sea: as a passenger returning to England in 1803 on the HMS Porpoise, he made a 700 mile journey back to Port Jackson in an open boat in order to mount a rescue of the 94 survivors, when the ship struck a reef in the Coral Sea, Queensland; circumnavigating coastlines of Australia in the rotting vessel HMS Investigator and then his voyage back to England in an un-seaworthy boat.

 

In 1803 the HMS schooner Cumberland was conveying Matthew Flinders home to England, with a diversion to Ile De France (Mauritius) paramount as the ship was leaking and in need of repairs, and he was forced into Baie du Cap, on the south coast. After seeing a French schooner, Flinders followed her through the reefs and found that there seemed to be something amiss. The inhabitants were quick to leave their boat and retreat to land: “…. they were met by a person who, from the plume in his hat, appeared to be an officer and presently we saw several men with muskets on top of the hill” (ref 1, p 315).  

 

Flinders probably sensed problems; soon after, he lowered a small boat with Aken the Master put ashore with letters and his passport. Shortly after, Aken returned with the officer with ‘the plume in his hat’ and two men armed with swords and pistols. The official was Marie Claude Antoine Marrier, Baron d’Unienville. Flinders’ passport for his crew and vessel was written in French but the ship Flinders had arrived in was not the one mentioned in the passport. The HMS Investigator had been wrecked in Australia and the Cumberland, in which he was sailing, had taken its place - but not on the paper passport required by foreign lands.

 

From his private journal, we learn that while in the company of d’Unienville, Flinders discovered that hostilities had been resumed between the French and the British.

 

The officer ... spoke a little English; he asked if I were the captain Flinders (as) mentioned in the passport, whether we had been shipwrecked, and to see my commission. Having perused it, he politely offered his services, inquired what were our immediate wants, and invited me to go on shore and dine with him, it being then near three o'clock. I explained my wish to have a pilot for Port North-West (the name at that time for Port Louis), since it appeared no reparations could be done in the little bay, and requested to have a cask or two of water. The pilot was promised for the next day, and Mons. d’Unienville sent a canoe for our empty casks and the master of the French schooner to moor the Cumberland in a secure place. (ref 10).

 

This created some concern for Flinders. It was decided that the letters and passport were to be accompanied with Flinders the next day to Government House, Port Louis, to meet with the French Governor, General Charles Mathieu Isidore Decaen.

 

Flinders was taken to d’Unienville’s home, Choisy at Montrose, a mile from the coast in order to have an early start the next morning to travel to the capitol Port Louis and to meet with Captain General Decaen. When no notice or command was given for the next morning’s trip, Flinders went down to the shore, determined to sail to the capitol, but the wind was against him. Flinders was asked back to the house for a meal and he agreed.  

 

Flinders’ journal recounts that Monsieur d’Unienville “entertained me very politely” and offered the crew fresh fruit and “did not let his hospitality rest there … but pressed me to dine at his house where he invited several of the neighboring gentlemen …” (ref 10}.

 

An order arrived before the meal was over for Flinders to sail “…our friendly party, ladies and all attended me to the shore and sent off a basket of mangoes with other refreshments. Monsieur le Citoyen d’Unienville and his lady seem very amiable people, and … at five o’clock, the pilot being on board, we stood out from the reefs”(ref 3). The HMS Cumberland arrived at Port Louis at eight o’clock in the morning unable to anchor until four in the afternoon.

 

If Flinders had thought it would be a short amicable stay, he was indeed wrong. Sadly, a much longer stay than had been hoped for or that was warranted, was given.  Decaen and Flinders disliked each other on sight. Decaen seemed to be influenced by the reports written by French Officer Peron and Flinders’ incorrect passport. Decaen thought something was amiss and that, in fact, Flinders was a spy.

 

Flinders in turn was made to wait for hours before his first meeting with Decaen; and he was interrogated by other officers before being questioned again by Decaen. A difficult and lengthy period of time ensured. A rejection by Flinders for a dinner invitation to Decaen’s home was not accepted and so began the lengthy confinement of Flinders from December 15, 1803 to June 14, 1810 - a mere 2,374 calendar days.

 

Each man has left a description of their first meeting. Flinders described Decaen as a “… shortish thick man in a laced round jacket”, while Decaen wrote that “... the English officer presented himself in an arrogant manner wearing his hat” (ref 8, and ref 4, p56 - through texts compiled and presented by J. Raymond d'Unienville).

 

Flinders began his first 100 days in the capital, Port Louis, initially staying at the Café Marengo and later at the Maison Despeaux, known as the ‘garden prison’. Visitors to the ‘garden prison’ were only permitted by the town mayor, yet these visits to Flinders helped his state of mind as most visitors were considerate and helpful.    

 

On 20 August 1805, Flinders was given leave of the ‘garden prison’ and allowed to move to Madame D’Arifat’s property, Vacoas, (ref 3, p42) at Wilhems Plains. The d’Arifats would become close family friends for the rest of his time in Mauritius. It’s from this country estate in the heart of the island that he undertook several excursions around the area and the land of which he knew very little. It was to be a time for Flinders to socialise, learn the French language and to teach maths and English to Madame D’Arifat’s children.

 

Flinders was limited in his movement of ‘no more than the distance of two leagues’ (approx. 11 kilometres) from the D’Arifat home. This allowed him to explore the surrounding countryside and meet the neighbours. He walked and recorded his observations of the countryside, running streams, mountain peaks and lush rainforests while trying to regain his health and fitness.

 

When the d’Arifat family arrived in the summer at their country residence, life became even more interesting for Flinders; he enjoyed picnics, socialising and playing his flute with Mrs Chazal at her harpsichord. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the musical duets; dancing was also a novel activity for Flinders to have taken up.

 

Over a period of time many of Flinders’ friends left and his despair increased. His letters confirmed his sad state of mind due to the seeming lack of decisive steps for his freedom by the Admiralty or the British Government.  

 

Tousaint Antione de Chazal de Chamarel, an amateur painter, had met Flinders before he left Port Louis and had helped him with his rehoming. Over time, Chazal could see that Flinders was in a state of despair and invited him on several occasions to spend time at his country residence while Chazal painted his portrait. Finished in early 1807, “It shows a young man in a black gold trimmed uniform with short curling hair and a thin clear featured face:  the nose long, the mouth small and tight, the brown eyes alert, direct and almost weary. This portrait had painted the strain of ill health deeply etched in Matthew Flinders’ face” (ref 1, p392). This portrait was gifted to the South Australian Art Gallery where it is currently on display.

 

Chazal asked to paint another portrait of Flinders as the first had been painted not long after his arrival in Wilhems Plains.  The second painted in 1808 was a portrait of a healthy man, handsome and sun-tanned, a man with confidence and an easy nature, concealing Flinders’ deep sorrow. A photograph of the portrait is held in the State Library of South Australia. The Port of Yamba Historical Society has not been able to discover the location of the original portrait.

 

Chazal and Flinders would most likely have shared engaging conversations, particularly given Chazal’s role as an artist and their time together. Additionally, a personal dimension and connection to Yamba is the fact that he is Yannick Martin's third great uncle by marriage. The possibility of more portraits painted by Chazal needs more investigation - maybe a trip to Mauritius.

 

Matthew Flinders is recognised as an inspiring adventurer, celebrated for his fearlessness and dedication to exploration. His imprisonment and isolation on Mauritius was, in part, alleviated by the support he received from local families and his connections with individuals such as d’Unienville and Chazal. Bern Cuthbertson has contributed to the legacy of Flinders by educating communities in Yamba and beyond about his life and achievements. Despite facing numerous challenges, including leaky, rotten boats, shipwrecks, arduous voyages, a prolonged separation from his wife, and his untimely death, Flinders' remarkable accomplishments during his short life serve as a lasting testament to his significant impact on exploration and maritime history with a direct link to Yamba and Mauritius.

​

References

 

1.  Estensen, Miriam.  The Life of Matthew Flinders, 2002.

2.  Flannery, Tim.   Editor. Terra Australis: Matthew Flinders' Great Adventures in Australia, 2000.

3.  Carter, Marina.  Companions of Misfortune - Flinders and Friends at the Isle de France 1803-1810, 2003.

4. d’Unienville,  Raymond and Carter, Marina. Last Years of the Isle de France 1800-1814, 1959. 

5.  Small Town Big Heart - An official entry in the National Community Link Awards, 2000

6.  Retter, Catherine. Letters to Ann The Love story of Matthew Flinders and Ann Chappelle,  2010.

7.  Mack, James.D. Matthew Flinders 1774-1814, 1966.

8.  A voyage to Terra Australis

https://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks/e00050.html#chapter3-3

9.  Matthew Flinders journal in the Norfolk Sloop, 1799

https://acms.sl.nsw.gov.au/_transcript/2012/D14130/a002.html

10.  Matthew Flinders, Private Journal, 17 December 1803 to 8 July 1814

https://acms.sl.nsw.gov.au/_transcript/2013/D17745/a007.html

11.The Guardian Grave of explorer Matthew Flinders unearthed near London station

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/jan/25/grave-of-matthew-flinders-discovered-after-200-years-under-london-station

12. Discovery

https://www.matthewflinders.net/discovery