Daily Dose of History - 7 October 1798

214 years ago today Matthew Flinders & George Bass embarked on a special journey: They were to prove that Van Diemen's Land was actually an island. Discovered 150 years earleir by Dutch seafarer Abel Tasman and named it after Tasman's patron, the Colonial Governor of East India, Antonius Van Diemen, it had originally be thought to be part of New South Wales.

But there was suspicion that there might be a shorter route to England than to sail around the Southern tip of Van Diemen's Land and Hunter, the Governor of NSW, commissioned Lieutenant Flinders and his friend, surgeon Bass, to set out tand find that shortcut. Then to circumnavigate Van Diemen's Land and prove it's island status.

The Strait they found to separate the island from the mainland was then named after one of the explorers - Bass Strait - and the largest island in the strait after the other - Flinders Island. Although, the better known island today is probably Kings Island, due to the yummy cheeses that come from there...