The Life of Captain Matthew FlindersScott, Ernest, Sir
History
The Life of Captain Matthew Flinders
Scott, Ernest, Sir
Australia -- Discovery and exploration; Flinders, Matthew, 1774-1814
From the crest of this granite mountain he would command a superb view.
Towards the north, in the interior, the dark bulk of Mount Macedon was
seen; and all around lay a fertile, promising country, mile after mile of
green pastures, as fair a prospect as the eye could wish to rest upon.
There can be little doubt that Flinders made his observations from the
flat top of a huge granite boulder which forms the apex of the peak. "I
left the ship's name," he says, "on a scroll of paper deposited in a
small pile of stones upon the top of the peak." He called it Station
Peak, for the reason that he had made it his station for making
observations. In 1912 a fine bronze tablet was fastened on the eastern
face of the boulder on which Flinders probably stood and worked.* (* It
is much to be regretted that this very laudable mark of honour to his
memory was not effected without doing a thing which is contrary to a good
rule and was repugnant to Flinders' practice. The name Station Peak was
sought to be changed to Flinders' Peak, and those who so admirably
occasioned the erection of the tablet managed to secure official sanction
for the alteration by its notification in the Victorian Government
Gazette. But nobody with any historical sense or proper regard for the
fame of Flinders will ever call the mountain by any other name than
Station Peak. It was his name; and names given by a discoverer should be
respected, except when there is a sound reason to the contrary, as there
is not in this instance. As previously observed, Flinders never named any
discovery after himself. Honour him by calling any other places after him
by all means; the name Flinders for the Commonwealth Naval Base in
Westernport is an excellent one, for instance. But his names for natural
features should not be disturbed.)
The boat was reached, after the descent of the mountain and the return
tramp across the sodden flats, at three o'clock in the afternoon. The
party were very weary from this twenty-mile excursion, a feat requiring
some power of endurance, as one who has walked along the same route and
climbed Station Peak several times can testify; and especially hard on
men who were fresh from a long voyage. The party camped for the night at
Indented Head, on the west side of the port, and on Sunday, May 2nd, they
again boarded the Investigator.
The ship was anchored under the shelter of the Nepean Peninsula, nearly
opposite the present Portsea. On the way back Flinders shot "some
delicate teal," near the piece of water which Murray had called Swan
Harbour, and a few black swans were caught.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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