# The Life of Captain Matthew Flinders, R.N./Bibliography

BIBLIOGRAPHY.
A.—MANUSCRIPT SOURCES.
1. The Flinders Papers, in the Melbourne Public Library, consisting of a letter-book of Flinders (August 31, 1807, to May 31, 1814); manuscript narrative of the voyage of the Francis; miscellaneous notes and memoranda by friends and relatives, a short manuscript memoir, and a large quantity of transcripts of journals, family letters, etc. This material is not at present numbered, and allusions to it in the text of the book are therefore made by the general reference, "Flinders Papers."
2. Decaen Papers, in the Municipal Library of Caen, Normandy. General Decaen's manuscripts fill 149 volumes. The documents relating to Flinders, including a translation of portions of the Cumberland's log, are principally in volumes 10, 84, 92, and 105. Peron's important report upon the British colony at Port Jackson is also in this collection, which includes many original letters of Flinders.
3. Archives Nationales, Paris, Marine BB4, 996 to 999, contains a quantity of manuscripts relative to Baudin's expeditions, including reports and letters by him, and many miscellaneous papers.
4. The Bibliothéque Nationale, Paris, nouveaux acquisitions, France, contains many documents relative to Baudin's expedition, including the diary of the commander.
5. The Archives du Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle de Paris contain reports and documents concerning the scientific work of Baudin's expedition.
6. The Depôt de la Marine, service hydrographique, Paris, cartons 6, 22, and 23, contains many reports upon the Australian coast made to Captain Baudin by his officers.
​7. The Library of the Royal Colonial Institute, London, contains Westall's original drawings executed on the Investigator voyage. Photographed copies are in the Mitchell Library, Sydney.
8. The Mitchell Library, Sydney, contains Smith's manuscript journal of the Investigator voyage, and many Flinders and Franklin papers, as cited in the text.
B.—PRINTED DOCUMENTS.
Most of the Flinders material contained in the Record Office, London, and the British Museum, is printed in Vol. III., IV., V., VI., and VII. of the Historical Records of New South Wales, edited by F.M. Bladen (Sydney, 1893 to 1901). Copies of other letters and documents, mainly from the same source, are in course of publication by the Commonwealth Government, under the direction of the Commonwealth Library Committee, edited by Dr. F. Watson.
C.—WORKS BY FLINDERS.
Flinders, Matthew, A Voyage to Terra Australis, 2 vols., London, 1814. The principal authority for the voyages of the navigator.
Flinders, M., Observations on the Coasts of Van Diemen's Land, etc., London, 1801.
Flinders, M., Papers on the Marine Barometer and on Variations of the Mariner's Compass, printed in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, London, 1806 and 1807.
Flinders, Matthew, Reise nach dem Austral-Lande, in der Absicht die Entdeckung desselben zu vollenden unter nommen in den Jaksen, 1801, 1802 and 1803. Aus dem Englischen, von F. Götze. Weimar, 1816. A German translation of the Voyage to Terra Australis. An accompanying map is of great interest, as it essays for the first time to indicate by colours the portions of the Australian ​coast discovered by the English, the Dutch and the French. The map errs with regard to Kangaroo Island, in attributing the discovery of the north to the French and the south to the English. The reverse was the case.
Matthew Flinders, Ontdekkings-reis naar het Groote Zuidland anders Nieuw Holland; besigtiging van het zelve in 1801, 1802 en 1803; noodlottige schipbreak, en gevangenschap van 6½ jaar by de Franschen op Mauritius. Uit het Engelsch. 4 vols., Haarlem, 1815 and 1816. A Dutch translation of the Voyage to Terra Australis.
D.—OTHER PRINTED BOOKS.
Barrow, Sir John, articles in Quarterly Review, 1810 and 1817, strongly condemning the work of Peron and Freycinet (see below), and championing the cause of Flinders. Barrow had access to material in possession of the Admiralty, sent to England from Mauritius by Flinders.
Becke, L., and Jeffery, W., Naval Pioneers of Australia, London, 1899. Very useful.
Dalrymple, Alexander, Collection of Voyages and Discoveries in the South Pacific Ocean, 2 vols., London, 1770.
Edinburgh Review, 1807, reviews with commendation Flinders' "Observations upon the Marine Barometer."
Grant, Narrative of a Voyage of Discovery, London, 1803.
Labillèire, F. P., Early History of the Colony of Victoria, 2 vols., London, 1878 to 1879. Prints extracts from Flinders' ms. journals relating to Port Phillip.
Laughton, Sir J. K., article on Flinders in Dictionary of National Biography.
Maiden, J. H., Sir Joseph Banks, the Father of Australia, Sydney, 1909.
Fowler, T.W., "The Work of Captain Matthew Flinders in Port Phillip," Victorian Geographical Journal, 1912. Good topographical account.
​Malte-Brun, Annales des Voyages, 1810 and 1814. Interesting references to Flinders; biographical sketch in Vol. XXIII., 268.
Naval Chronicle, Vol. XXXII. (1814), contains a biography of Flinders, with portrait.
Paterson, G., History of New South Wales, Newcastle-on-Tyne, 1811. Contains account of the early discoveries of Bass and Flinders.
Péron and Freycinet, Voyage de découvertes aux Terres Australes, Paris, 1807 to 1817. Second edition, with additions by Freycinet, 1824. Very important, but the historical statements have to be checked by reference to Baudin's manuscript diary and letters (see reference to manuscripts above).
Scoresby, W., Journal of a Voyage to Australia for Magnetic Research, 2 vols., London, 1859. The introduction by A. Smith deals with Flinders' discoveries regarding variations of the compass.
Scott, Ernest, Terre Napoléon, London, 1910. Deals generally with French explorations in Australia and particularly with the work of Baudin and Flinders. See also the bibliography to that book.
Scott, Ernest, English and French Navigators on the Victorian Coast, with maps, etc., in the Victorian Historical Magazine, 1912.
Scott, Ernest, "Baudin's Voyage of Exploration to Australia," in English Historical Review, April, 1913.
Smith, E., Life of Sir Joseph Banks, London, 1911.
South Australian Geographical Society's Proceedings, 1912. Prints from Baudin's letter to Minister of Marine his account of the meeting with Flinders in Encounter Bay, and Decaen's statement of his reasons for detaining Flinders.
Picard, Ernest (editor), Memoires et Journaux du Général Decaen, 2 vols., Paris, 1911.
​Pitot, Albert, Esquisses historiques de l'Ile de France, 1715 to 1810, Port Louis, Mauritius, 1899.
Prentout, Henri, L'Ile de France sous Decaen, Paris. 1901. Very important.
Victorian Geographical Journal, Volume XXVII. (1910 and 1911) prints a biographical sketch of Flinders from a manuscript found in a copy of A Voyage to Terra Australis in Donington vicarage in 1903. It is printed with an Introduction (by G. Gordon McCrae) wherein it is stated to be "hitherto unpublished." But it is simply the Naval Chronicle sketch, with a few paragraphs added, and it is from the same pen as the manuscript sketch mentioned above.
Walckenaer, C. A., biography of Flinders in the Biographie Universelle, Volume 14; excellent.
Walker, J. Backhouse, Early Tasmania, Hobart, 1902. Gives an admirable account of Flinders' explorations in Tasmania.