Replica Of The 25 Ton Colonial Sloop Norfolk

Bass and Flinders prove Tasmania is an island

  

The Replica of the Norfolk in George Town

The 25 ton Colonial sloop Norfolk was built on Norfolk Island in 1798 and was constructed from Norfolk Island Pine.

Flinders had been doing some exploring on his own and believed that he could prove that Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) was an island.

Bass and Flinders convinced Governor Hunter that another expedition should be set up with a bigger boat and more men.

The Circumnavigation

Governor Hunter quickly put the Norfolk under the command of Matthew Flinders to be used
as a survey vessel.

From the Bass and Flinders Centre

In 1798, Bass and Flinders sailed the Norfolk through Bass Strait and round Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania), proving that it was an island.
 
They sailed with a crew of 8  right into the Tamar River and anchored off what is now George Town.

This was to be their last voyage together as Bass disappeared mysteriously in the Pacific Ocean.

Flinders also took the Norfolk north to chart Cook’s Morton’s Bay (now Moreton Bay) and Hervey’s Bay (Hervey Bay).

The Norfolk was then used to supply produce from the Windsor Area to Port Jackson, until 1800 when she was seized by convicts, at the mouth of the Hawkesbury River.

Intending to sail her to the Mollucas (A group of islands of eastern Indonesia between Sulawesi and New Guinea), the convicts ran her aground at Stockton on the northern side of the mouth to the Hunter River.

History on show

The Bass and Flinders Centre

In 1998-99 Bern Cuthbertson from Sandy Bay, Tasmania, re-enacted all of the Norfolk's journeys in a replica of the Norfolk, constructed of Tasmanian Huon and Celery Top pines.

The magnificent replica Norfolk is now on display at The Bass and Flinders Centre in George Town.

The Bass and Flinders Centre is at 8 Elizabeth Street, George Town TAS 7253 

http://www.bassandflinders.org.au