BASS STRAIT

+Source.+--Voyage to Terra Australis (Matthew Flinders, 1814),
Introduction, pp. xcvi-xcvii, cxix-cxliii

The first coastal explorations after the establishment of Sydney
were conducted by Bass and Flinders. Together they discovered the
Hunter River; Bass in a second voyage discovered Western Port; and
again together they sailed through Bass Strait, proving Tasmania to
be an island.


1795. On arriving at Port Jackson, in September it appeared that the
investigation of the coast had not been greatly extended beyond the
three harbours; and even in these some of the rivers were not altogether
explored.

In Mr. George Bass, surgeon of the _Reliance_, I had the happiness to
find a man whose ardour for discovery was not to be repressed by any
obstacle, nor deterred by danger; and with this friend a determination
was formed of completing the examination of the East Coast of New South
Wales, by all such opportunities as the duty of the ship and procurable
means could admit.

Projects of this nature, when originating in the minds of young men, are
usually termed romantic; and so far from any good being anticipated,
even prudence and friendship join in discouraging, if not in opposing
them. Thus it was in the present case; so that a little boat of eight
feet long, called _Tom Thumb_, with a crew composed of ourselves and a