Matthew FlindersPrint Page

The lighthouse at Cape Borda was named "Flinders Light" by the Governor-in Chief in 1858 to commemorate Matthew Flinders, the first European discoverer of Spencer's Gulf and adjacent parts of the colony.  

Matthew Flinders and the Investigator left England on 18 July 1801 with a crew of 80 men and at least two cats, one of which was the famous Trim, who accompanied his master to exile in Mauritius. Flinders was commander and his brother, Samuel was First Lieutenant. The crew included botanist Robert Brown, landscape painter William Westall and natural history painter Ferdinand Bauer.

Investigator sighted Cape Leeuwin, Western Australia, on 6 December 1801 and sailed east along the southern coast. In February 1802, they entered Spencer's Gulf, which Flinders named after the second Earl Spencer. Kangaroo Island was discovered; Gulf St Vincent, named after John Jervis, Earl St Vincent was charted and in March Flinders met the French explorer, Nicolas Baudin, at the appropriately named Encounter Bay.

The Governor-in-Chief has been pleased to name the lighthouse erected at Cape Borda the ' Flinders Light,' in honour of the first discoverer of Spencer's Gulf and the adjacent parts of tbe colony.
South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA), 30 July 1858.

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