This week Roy and I have decided it's a perfect time to tell you about Matthew Flinders, an important figure in Australian history, the anniversary of whose death falls in just a few weeks, on the 19th of July. Many Australians, including children, already know a little bit about Matthew Flinders (children often learn about Bass and Flinders at school) and his important role in the exploration of Australia, so the question was, what could we look at that the people might not already know. Then, I remembered Trim, Matthew Flinders famous sea faring cat. After talking to the children at work to discover the state of Trims fame today, I found that he would be a perfect focus for this weeks post - the children did not know of him and were fascinated by the very idea of an adventurous, sea faring cat!
If you would like to visit Trim, he is in Macquarie Street, on the windowsill outside the Mitchell Wing of the NSW State Library, in Sydney. He is just behind the statue of his master, Matthew Flinders! While you are in the area, why not visit the library itself, to see it's wonderful exhibitions and beautiful architecture. The NSW State Library often hosts wonderful exhibitions, and has an amazing collection all of its own.
Matthew Flinders was an exceptional navigator and cartographer, one of the most successful of his age. Born in 1774 and dying in 1814, in his 20 year career he circumnavigated (or sailed completely around) not only Australia, but the globe! He was also one of the people to push for the adoption of the name 'Australia' for the country which at that time was known as New Holland. He worked out how to stop the iron equipment onboard wooden ships from interfering with compass readings and even wrote what is probably the first book on Australian exploration 'Voyage to Terra Australis'. He led a life of excitement and adventure, surviving shipwreck and sailing in a ship which was (on return to Port Jackson, Sydney) declared unseaworthy. He was even arrested and imprisoned by the French in Mauritius when he was forced to stop there because his ship was leaking! He had already had to abandon the original ship he had planned to make the journey to England on due to shipwreck and his passport had the wrong ship listed as a result, making the French, who were at war with England, suspicious. He was kept imprisoned in Mauritius for over 6 years.
Although the children did not learn of Trim at the time when they learned of Flinders, Trim was an exceptional cat and was very important to Matthew Flinders. He was beside his master through much of Matthew Flinders adventures. In the late 1790's Matthew Flinders was on the HMS Reliance, which was making a trip to the Cape of Good Hope to collect supplies for New South Wales. On board the ship was a pregnant cat from Stepney in London and somewhere in the Indian Ocean, the cat gave birth to a litter of kittens. Being born at sea the kittens soon found their sea legs and, most surprisingly of all, to not be at all bothered by water (most who have a cat will be well aware of how much they usually hate it!) From this litter of kittens one stood out and that cat was Trim.
Trim was jet black, but had a burst of white on his chest, like a star. He also had a white lower lip and white paws which Matthew Flinders thought looked like they had been 'dipped in snow'. Matthew Flinders loved him immediately and named him Trim. The name came from Laurence Sterne's novel Tristram Shandy, where Trim, a butler, looked after his master with great affection and loyalty, qualities which Matthew Flinders thought Trim the cat also possessed. Trim, like his owner, led a life of excitement and adventure. Even as a kitten his activities apparently often led to him falling overboard, but he was apparently unfazed, simply swimming to the ship and climbing a rope thrown to him! He was an articulate cat, able to get his message across with little difficulty, whether he wanted to be admired, given a little affection, or was demanding to have a piece of meat from the plate of each diner. On top of all this, he shared his masters adventures, circumnavigating both Australia and the globe and surviving shipwrecks along side Flinders. Trim even shared Flinders imprisonment! Unfortunately, it was during the imprisonment that he met his untimely end, going missing and never being seen again despite offer of a reward.
Matthew Flinders was terribly upset by the loss of Trim and promised to erect a memorial to him if he was ever able to return to England. He even wrote a story about Trim called "Trim: Being the True Story of a Brave Seafaring Cat". Unfortunately, Matthew Flinders health had been destroyed by his imprisonment and he only lived another four years after his return to England, dying just one day after his book 'Voyage to Terra Australis' was published. He did not see his story about Trim published (in fact it was not published for over a century and a half after he died) and nor, as far as we know, was he able to erect a memorial to Trim. Despite this, Trim has been commemorated along side his master in statue and story.