Captain Matthew Flinders (1774 – 1814), the English navigator and cartographer who successfully circumnavigated Australia, is to be reburied in his home village of Donington, Lincolnshire. He is also credited with the naming of Australia, or Terra Australis, changing it from New Holland.
Ever since his remains were discovered in Euston in London recently, during excavations in a burial ground for the HS2 project, there has been speculation about where his final resting place would be.
Although a Lincolnshire man, it’s probably true that Flinders is even more famous on the other side of the world in Australia, where many places bear his name. Adelaide for example, capital of South Australia, even has a university named after him.
Bearing this in mind, it is perhaps no surprise that there has been much debate about where he should be reburied. However, probably the most logical resolution, and one certainly supported by his descendants and the Donington community, was to allow his remains to be interred in his home church of Saint Mary and the Holy Rood, the final resting place of other members of his family.
A recent picture from a flower festival inside Saint Mary and the Holy Rood church in Donington, Lincolnshire.
copyright Francis Barker 2019
Ciscography 