By Dr Gillian Dooley

Matthew Flinders was a great seafaring explorer, charting much of Australia’s coastline despite a series of trials and wild adventures. An outstanding sailor, surveyor, navigator and our University’s namesake, he was a considerate and self-sacrificing leader who looked after all under his command.

When Flinders died on 19 July 1814, he was buried at St James Chapel in Hampstead Road, London, near where he had been living with his wife and daughter. However, 50 years later when his sister-in-law visited the churchyard, she discovered that ‘the tomb had been destroyed’ during the development of the area, which is near the present-day Euston Station.

The exact whereabouts of his remains (and thousands of others buried there) were unknown until archaeological excavations were undertaken in preparation for a new train line in the UK. Against all expectations, Flinders’ remains were discovered, largely owing to the fact that he had been buried with a lead breastplate engraved with his name.

After much deliberation, it was decided that his remains would be re-buried in the church of St Mary and the Holy Rood in Donington, Lincolnshire – the village where he was born in 1774 and lived until he joined the navy in 1790.

The initial plans were to hold the ceremony in July 2020. However, the organisers realised that many Australians who would want to be present would not be able to travel during the pandemic, so it was postponed until Flinders’ 250th birthday year. Held in July 2024, the big event attracted guests from across the globe, including representatives of Flinders University, and was celebrated with a series of associated activities in the village and further afield.

There was also a special Evensong service in Lincoln Cathedral and an exhibition in the church in Partney where he was married in 1801.

Jane Pearson, the determined organiser, told the BBC that Flinders’ remains were buried not in the churchyard, where his father and other relatives are buried, but inside the church. “It was the first burial within the church since the 19th Century,” she said.

Jane added that “his grave will be marked with a splendid black marble ledger stone,” designed to match the other graves in the church.

Watch the reinternment here.