Matthew Flinders: Erotic letter writer (part 1)

Matthew Flinders (1774-1814) is best known as the first white guy
to circumnavigate (and name!) Australia. But could he perhaps
also have been circumnavigating the towering physique of ship
surgeon George Bass?


Alecia and Leigh do a literal reading of a seemingly steamy
letter, written by Flinders to Bass in 1800, and a (potentially)
queer reading of the relationship between these chaps with maps.


By the end of this two-parter, you won't look at these men the
same way.


Sources:


The Life of Matthew Flinders by Miriam Estensen (2002)


Matthew Flinders: The Man Behind the Map by Gillian Dooley (2022)


The Life of Captain Matthew Flinders by Ernest Scott (2023)


My Own Destroyer: A Biography of Matthew Flinders, Explorer and
Navigator by Sidney John Baker (1962)


Matthew Flinders, Maritime Explorer of Australia by Kenneth
Morgan (2016)


Between Sentiment and Sea: The Meaning of Friendship in the
Letters of Matthew Flinders by Alecia Simmonds in The Great
Circle 38.2 (2016)


Friendship, Imperial Violence and the Law of Nations: The Case of
Late-Eighteenth Century British Oceania by Alecia Simmonds in The
Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 42.4 (2014)


Hosted by Alecia Simmonds and Leigh Boucher

Supervising Producer: Hannah Reich

Development Producer: Beverley Wang

Executive Producers: Clare Rawlinson and Eric George

Head of ABC Audio on Demand: Jessica Radburn

Theme: Martin Peralta

Artwork: Gabriel Virata-Alves