Taking it to the edge: did you know? Flinders Ranges were not named by Matthew Flinders

Matthew Flinders named no place on the continent of Australia after himself. Flinders Island on the west coast of South Australia is named after his brother, Samuel Flinders who was second lieutenant on board the ship Investigator. (See Voyage to Terra Australis volume 1 page 124). 

The Flinders Ranges were named such by Governor Gawler in a letter of 10 July 1839 to Colonel Torrens, which was published in the Government Gazette 11 July 1839 page 3. In this letter Gawler describes the work of the explorer Edward Eyre and advised that he had named the range of mountains the 'Flinders Ranges'.  Matthew Flinders himself named only Mount Brown after his botanist Robert Brown (See Voyage to Terra Australis volume 1 page 157) and Mount Arden after his great grandmother (See Voyage to Terra Australis volume 1 page 158). Further south he also named Mount Lofty, sighted from Kangaroo Head on Kangaroo Island, part of the range of hills known now as the Mount Lofty Ranges, or Adelaide Hills (Voyage to Terra Australis vol 1 page 170).

Many places have subsequently been named after him including Flinders Street in the City of Adelaide, Flinders Park, a suburb of Adelaide, the Flinders University of South Australia and the Flinders Chase Conservation Park on Kangaroo Island to name a few.