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'Grand send off' for explorer who named Australia

BBC Bust of matthew flindersBBC
A bust of Matthew Flinders is one of the many signs of Donington's connection to the explorer in the village church

A grand naval ceremony with hundreds of guests from around the world is being planned for the reburial of Lincolnshire explorer Matthew Flinders.

The naval captain is credited with popularising the name Australia, and for being the first to sail around the continent.

His body was rediscovered during work on HS2 in 2019.

Following a local campaign, Flinders will now be reburied in July in the village of Donington, where he was born.

two men lowering wooden boards
Wooden boards are lowered into place over the new grave where Flinders will be reburied

Preparations for the reburial of Matthew Flinders were delayed by the Covid pandemic in 2020 but are now far more impressive than initially planned, organisers have said.

Jane Pearson, who started the Matthew Flinders Bring Him Home campaign group, said: "We have a very, very grand sending off for Captain Flinders now he's due back to Donington."

There will be three days of commemorations marking the history and life of the celebrated figure on 12, 13 and 14 July.

As a naval captain, he will receive an 18 gun salute and will have six pallbearers from the Royal Navy's state ceremonial team carrying his coffin.

There will be representatives from Australia, and from Mauritius, where the captain was arrested by the French during the Napoleonic war.

In total, Ms Pearson expects "just over 400 people" to attend the burial on Saturday 13 July.

portrait of jane pearson
Jane Pearson led the campaign to bring Matthew Flinders' remains back to Lincolnshire

Ms Pearson has been planning the reburial for nearly five years, and has had special permission from the Church of England for him to be buried in sacred ground in the Church of St Mary and the Holy Rood in Donington.

120 bags of consecrated soil have been removed from the grave, and have had to be kept in storage to be be used to fill it in alongside the coffin.

Ms Pearson, who was "born and bred" in Donington, said she felt it was right Flinders returned to his birthplace as there was "no other logical place for him to go".

"We've always celebrated Flinders' story here in Donington. Where else would he go to be buried? It was just the right thing to do."

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