Matthew Flinders: personal letters from an extraordinary life offers the reader a representative selection of over one hundred of Flinders' letters, including many relating to his great circumnavigation of Australia, as well as his time on Mauritius where he was held by the French for over six years. The letters written in Mauritius are published here for the first time, and cover a tragic, though little known, period in his life. Also of particular poignancy are the letters written by Flinders to his beloved wife Ann. After only three months of marriage, Flinders sailed for Australia, and the couple were not to meet again for nine years.

Matthew Flinders: personal letters from an extraordinary life offers the reader a representative selection of over one hundred of Flinders' letters, including many relating to his great circumnavigation of Australia, as well as his time on Mauritius where he was held by the French for over six years. The letters written in Mauritius are published here for the first time, and cover a tragic, though little known, period in his life. Also of particular poignancy are the letters written by Flinders to his beloved wife Ann. After only three months of marriage, Flinders sailed for Australia, and the couple were not to meet again for nine years.

Of great significance is the audacious letter written by a young Flinders to the "Father of Australia" Sir Joseph Banks, where Flinders volunteers himself for the formidable task of completing the discovery of New Holland. This was, as Paul Brunton writes, 'one of those letters which change history'.