They boat was called Tom Thumb. It was 2.5 meters long. It seemed strange to out in the open sea with such a small boat. They entered Bounty Bay in good shape and explored Georges river. On they next trip they observed the IIawarra and port Hacking areas in Australia.
They are still many placers that Flinders wanted to discover in Australia. People wanted to know whether Tasmania was or was not joined to Australia. Flinders and Bass next journey was to solve this problem. They sailed south on October 1798, they proved that Tasmania was separated to Australia by journeying through the sea that separated mainland Australia and Tasmania. They named the Sea Bass Strait. They sailed down the west coast of Tasmania, up the Derwent River, around the south of Tasmania and back to Sydney. Tasmania and Australia were separated by the river Bass Strait. They had to shorten the sea journey from Europe by three week. In 1801 he started to investigate the map of Australia. By 1803 he completed his journey around Australia mapping the entire coastline. Because of Flinders people can see what the whole continent of Australia looked like. Matthew Flinders was a skilled navigator who was very accurate at measuring staff. The charts he made were a great help to Australian shipping.
