Captain Matthew Flinders RN, Son of Donington, Lincolnshire
A public meeting will share the plans in place to welcome home Donington’s most famous son
Read MoreProposals for a dramatic feature film about the famous explorer and a campaign to make him a posthumous Fellow of the Royal Society are in the pipeline.
Read MoreThe remains of a Lincolnshire explorer credited with naming Australia will be reburied in his home village in 2024. Saturday 13th July 2024 is the date set aside for the reburial, with a weekend from 12th to the 14th of activities to mark the special occasion.
Read MoreDonington’s Bring Matthew Flinders home campaign wins £35,000 from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund
Read MorePlans are now in preparation for the reinterment which is to be in the North Aisle of the Church - adjacent to the Flinders Stained Glass Window. The preparation work has already started following Church permissions. This involves an archaeological survey of this part of the church and to be present during the dig. The design and creation of an appropriate Ledger Stone for on top of the grave to provide an appropriate and permanent tribute to this great man is already underway, with the stone coming from Ireland to match other ledgers in the church.
Read MoreIts been confirmed that Flinders' remains will be reinterred at St Mary and the Holy Rood Church in Donington. This has been agreed by Lincoln Cathedral and the Faculties. We are excited to plan for his return, with your help, and make the long weekend event in 2024 something Donington can be proud of. Watch this space for more details!
Read MoreResidents are being urged to rally around and do their bit to ensure the final homecoming of one of South Holland’s most famous sons is a memorable occasion the village can be proud of.
Read MoreThe remains of explorer Matthew Flinders will be laid to rest in a replica of his original coffin, members of the community were told last week.
Read MoreSouth Holland and the Deepings MP Sir John Hayes calls for Donington-born Matthew Flinders, the first to circumnavigate Australia, to be made fellow of Royal Society.
Read MoreThe long journey of Matthew Flinders — the first man to circumnavigate Australia — is coming to an end.
Read MoreMatthew Flinders: Explorer who 'named' Australia to be reburied in Lincolnshire.
Read MorePreparations are made within Donington’s St Mary and the Holy Rood Church for the return of explorer Matthew Flinders.
Read MoreAn eighteenth century British explorer is set to make his final voyage when his remains are brought back to his home county of Lincolnshire.
Read MoreBusinessman Stuart Rose discusses the life of cartographer Matthew Flinders, who mapped Australia 200 years ago, with Matthew Parris. From May 2010.
Read MoreThis poem by Elizabeth Adams is reproduced with permission from the October 2023 issue of Cook’s Log, the journal of the Captain Cook Society (www.captaincooksociety.com)
Captain Flinders Goes Home
If Dampier had lived in time to meet Cook,[1]
Would they have realised they both had stood
At opposite ends of the same landmass?
I like to think so, but doubt that they would.
For it wasn't until twenty years after Cook
That Captain Flinders sailed all the way
Round the vast, seemingly endless coast
And gave it the name we use to this day.
Most 'Brits' never took much notice of Flinders
Until, when digging for the country's new train,
His coffin was found in old burial ground
Where for two hundred years he had quietly lain.
He refused to live a life mediocre,
And now that for his body we no longer search,
He need fear no more to "rest .... unnoticed",
For he'll be taken back to his Lincolnshire church.
Reference [1] William Dampier was the first recorded Englishman to set foot on Australia, some 80 years before Cook.