English Cartographers

The English were late to the task of mapping the Australian continent after minor early contributions via the shipwreck of the Trial (Tryall) off the West Coast in 1622 and visits to the North West coast by William Dampier in 1688 and 1699.

By the time of Cook's famous first voyage to the South Pacific in 1769, most of the continent's outline as well known thanks to the efforts of Dutch navigators and explorers. All that was missing from the map were the South Coast, the island of Tasmania and the entire East Coast.  Cook expertly charted the East Coast from Point Hicks north to the tip of Cape York and the Torres Strait in 1770.

But even when Cook's huge contribution was added to the map, it still wasn't complete. It would take another forty years and voyages by Bass, Flinders and the Frenchman Baudin to fill in the coastline in the south.

The first recognized full map of the continent by the English and the first to use the name "Australia" was Mathew Flinders' General Chart of Terra Australis or Australia, published in 1814 (above).