Matthew Flinders & Louis FreycinetPrint Page

Sculptures commemorate Matthew Flinders and Louis Freycinet. The sculpture of Matthew Flinders holding a sextant and gazing over Spencer Gulf, was produced for 2002 Bicentenary of Flinders' exploration of Spencer Gulf in HMS Investigator, in February and March 1802.

As part of the Encounter 2002 project to recognise French exploration, the two explorers were commemorated at the lookout by the sculptures and the area renamed the "Flinders and Freycinet Lookout". Signage refers to both the European and Aboriginal history of the region. The lookout offers excellent views of the upper Spencer Gulf, Southern Flinders Ranges and Middleback Range in the west.

In 1802 Matthew Flinders (1774 – 1814) was the first European to navigate and chart this unknown coast of SA, solving the centuries old mystery as to whether Australia was one continent or two. A few miles offshore he wrote, "...our prospect of a channel or strait, cutting off some considerable portion of Terra Australis, was lost..."

Ten months later, in January 1803, Louis-Claude de Freycinet (1779 - 1842) navigated and charted the isolated coast for the Baudin expedition. He and his crew spent a night at sea, off what was to become Whyalla, and were impressed by the local scenery.

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