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Meeting of Matthew Flinders & Nicolas Baudin Print Page Print this page

Flinders +Baudin : 25-09-2011
Flinders +Baudin : 25-09-2011

Photographs supplied by Sandra Brown / Bryan Cole

The plaque commemorates the meeting of Nicolas Baudin and Matthew Flinders at Encounter Bay in 1802 and was unveiled in the centenary year of the event. 

The greatest scientific expedition that the world had seen sailed from France in October 1800 with "Le Geographé" under the captaincy of Nicolas Baudin. It coincided with that of Matthew Flinders, who set out from England in Investigator in July, 1801. Both men were charged with the tasks of scientific and geographical exploration. Both were determined to map the Southern continent.  Their voyages overlapped and they met in South Australia and both charted several of the same sections of coast, where many features still bear names bestowed by one or other of the expeditions.

The name `Encounter Bay` (given to this water body by Flinders) commemorated the meeting of 8 April 1802.

His Excellency Lord Tennyson unveiled a tablet yesterday set into a granite boulder on the summit of the Bluff on Victor Harbour to commemorate the meeting of Flinders and the French commander Baudin in Encounter Bay exactly 100 years ago. The ceremony was witnessed by a large number of people, including the officials of the Royal Geographical Society.
Examiner (Launceston), 9th April 1902.

Location

Address:Rosetta Head, Encounter Bay, Victor Harbor, 5211
State:SA
Area:AUS
GPS Coordinates:Lat: -35.591536
Long: 138.604079
Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate.
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Details

Monument Type:Plaque
Monument Theme:Landscape
Sub-Theme:Exploration
Actual Event Start Date:08-April-1802
Actual Event End Date:08-April-1802

Dedication

Actual Monument Dedication Date:Tuesday 8th April, 1902
Front Inscription

In Commemoration Of The Meeting Near This Bluff
Between H.M.S. Investigator - MATTHEW FLINDERS
Who Explored The Coast Of South Australia,
And M.F. "La Geographe" - NICOLAS BAUDIN, April 8 1802 
On Board The Investigator Was John Franklin
The Arctic Discoverer, The English And French Explorers
Held Friendly Conference, And Flinders Named
The Place Of Meeting "ENCOUNTER BAY"

Unveiled By His Excellency, Lord Tennyson 
                    April 8, 1902

Source: MA,SAM
Monument details supplied by Monument Australia - www.monumentaustralia.org.au