Report on progress this year to date  · Jul 23, 11:21 AM

... since we “discovered” the contents of the 1804 map from Mauritius, i.e,

  1. 26 January: NSW Governor’s Australia Day address, announcing 200th anniversary of the naming of Australia thanks to documents at State Library of NSW.
  2. 2 April: NSW Governor’s visit to London to receive a copy of the 1804 chart that named Australia, from the great-great-great-grand-daughters of Matthew Flinders.
  3. 20 April: Lady-In-Waiting of Queen Elizabeth II advises that the Queen acknowledges that the chart indicates that the year 2004 marks the two hundredth anniversary of the naming of Australia.
  4. 9 June: Presentation by Governor of NSW to the Parliament of NSW of a copy of the 1804 chart, to be hung in the Parkes Room of the Parliament.
  5. 24 July: Queensland Governor received a copy of the chart from the Beerburrum State School, for presentation to the Parliament of Queensland.
  6. Arrangements in hand for presentation of a copy of the chart to the Governor of Victoria on 22 September at Flinders Peak, in the You Yangs.
  7. Arrangements underway for presentation of copies of the chart to the other State/Territory parliaments.

Future plans

The major objective is to have a copy of the chart in each parliament house before 14 November, so that all Australians have an opportunity to see the chart and reflect on its significance.

Other local and possible connected events should be achievable, involving for example, Mauritius, London, Donington, and Australian embassies overseas. The entire celebration should be compatible with and form part of the celebrations being arranged by the ‘Australia on the Map 2006’ Committee.

 

The chart that put Australia on the map  · Jun 9, 09:51 PM

At 11.30am today in the Parkes Room of Parliament House, the Governor of NSW, Professor Marie Bashir, will present a chart to the president of the Legislative Council, Dr Meredith Burgmann. The chart is singularly plain: a simple, if meticulous, pen and ink rendition of the continent we call home.

Yet behind today’s ceremony lies a fascinating tale of two men, separated by two centuries. The first is Matthew Flinders, the explorer and map-maker who died in 1814, aged just 40. The second is Bill Fairbanks, 66, a company secretary from Wahroonga. What the two share is obsession. Flinders – born in Lincolnshire on March 16, 1774 – was obsessed with becoming the first man to circumnavigate the continent (a mission he achieved on June 9, 1803 when his ship, Investigator, limped back into Sydney harbour).

As for Fairbanks, he is obsessed with reminding us that 2004 is the 200th anniversary of an emotional moment in our history, the first time the name “Australia” was ever used on a map…

Continue reading: Sydney Morning Herald – June 9, 2004

 

Names by which Australia or the area in general was known  · Jun 7, 10:31 AM

The immense prehistoric supercontinents of which Australia was part well over 200 million years ago:

The following are the names given by European geographers and mapmakers to the huge continent that they believed capped almost the entire southern hemisphere, and subsequently, to the landfalls actually sighted:

—Miriam Estensen

 

next page »