Hi Josephine, Matthew Flinders featured heavily in my school history lessons. particularly because he proved Van Diemen's Land was an island.I can remember making posters with badly drawn pictures of Bass and Flinders in their small boat. My mother in law was born on Flinders Island. The map is an important historical document, particuarly for Australians.but does this give us the right to it? I don't think so, but it would be a nice gesture to loan it to the country that appreciates it's importance rather than have it languish unappreciated in storage. regards Janine ---------------------------------------- > To: bristol_and_somerset@rootsweb.com > From: jojeremiah@dsl.pipex.com > Date: Sat, 29 Jan 2011 21:56:03 +0000 > Subject: Re: [B&S] Australia calls for return of historic map -- this isSomerset article > > On Sat, 29 Jan 2011 21:01:35 -0000, Roy Stockdill > wrote: > > > What therefore is the justification for the "return" of the map to a > > country where it has never actually resided? As Andrew Flinders was a > > Somerset man, is it not entirely appropriate that his historic map > > should reside within his home county? Simply because his map was the > > first to use the word "Australia", this is not in any way justification > > for sending it to a country where it has never actually "lived"! > > I suspect most people in the United Kingdom have never heard of Captain > Flinders and his map of Australia, whereas many people in Australia are > probably familiar with the name especially as, according to the following > web page about this captain in the Royal Navy, over 100 geographicial > features and places are associated with his name in Australia: > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Flinders > > I don't think that I had ever heard of him before today or, if I had, I > didn't retain the information. > > Note his name was Matthew not Andrew and he was born in Lincolnshire > rather than in Somerset. I don't know if he had any association with > Somerset. > > Further information about Matthew Flinders is on a BBC web page: > > http://www.bbc.co.uk/lincolnshire/content/articles/2006/12/22/famous_yellowbelly_matthew_flinders_feature.shtml > > Looking at these sites, I can say that I have certainly found out > something new today. > > -- > Josephine Jeremiah > www.ianandjo.dsl.pipex.com > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to BRISTOL_AND_SOMERSET-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

On Sat, 29 Jan 2011 22:40:37 -0000, Janine Gall <janine.gall@hotmail.com> wrote: > Matthew Flinders featured heavily in my school history lessons. > particularly because he proved Van Diemen's Land was an island.I can > remember making posters with badly drawn pictures of Bass and Flinders > in their small boat. My mother in law was born on Flinders Island. > The map is an important historical document, particuarly for > Australians.but does this give us the right to it? I don't think so, but > it would be a nice gesture to loan it to the country that appreciates > it's importance rather than have it languish unappreciated in storage. Hi Janine and Listers, We have certainly benefited in the United Kingdom from the loan of historical items from other countries. I remember the Tutankhamun exhibition in 1972 at the British Museum and how people queued for hours to see it. 1972 -- that seems a lifetime away now:-) Josephine -- Josephine Jeremiah www.ianandjo.dsl.pipex.com

> Matthew Flinders featured heavily in my school history lessons. > particularly because he proved Van Diemen's Land was an island.I can > remember making posters with badly drawn pictures of Bass and Flinders > in their small boat. My mother in law was born on Flinders Island. The > map is an important historical document, particuarly for > Australians.but does this give us the right to it? I don't think so, > but it would be a nice gesture to loan it to the country that > appreciates it's importance rather than have it languish unappreciated > in storage. > I would entirely agree with that and I respect your suggestion. Loan yes, "return" no. It would indeed be good for Australians to see the original map if it is so important to their heritage. Perhaps it could be loaned out for a period of, say, one year or two, and put on public display in a major city with the usual provisions for security, etc. There have been numerous examples of treasures from other countries being loaned to the British Museum and displayed in London for a limited period. It wouldn't do us any harm to reciprocate occasionally -- Roy Stockdill Genealogical researcher, writer & lecturer Newbies' Guide to Genealogy & Family History: www.genuki.org.uk/gs/Newbie.html "There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about." OSCAR WILDE