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In April 1802 Matthew Flinders and Nicolas Baudin met at Encounter Bay. Both men had been sent out by their respective governments to chart and explore the unknown southern coast of Australia. Between them Flinders and Baudin explored, mapped and named most of the 3,700 kilometres of coastline from Ceduna in the west to Robe in the southeast, known in 1802 as 'the unknown coast'.

A map was produced by the English expedition, led by Matthew Flinders, aboard the Investigator. Another map - Carte generale de la Terre Napoleon (a la Nouvelle Hollande - was drawn by Louis Freycinet, the cartographer-surveyor travelling as a member of the French expedition.

Freycinet's chart of the French discoveries in South Australian waters was published in 1811, as part of Francois P ©ron's publication on Baudin's voyage. It was the first published map to show the entire South Australian coastline. The chart includes the area of the 1802 encounter between Baudin and Flinders at Encounter Bay, South Australia, and also shows part of the western coast of Victoria. The longitudes used for the chart are on the meridian of Paris rather than the Greenwich meridian. The map is enhanced by vignettes of Australian flora and fauna drawn by Charles Alexandre Lesueur.

The 1811 chart does not acknowledge Matthew Flinders' prior discoveries. In 1824 a second edition of the account of the Baudin expedition was published, edited by Freycinet, and in the Atlas Matthew Flinders' place names were restored to the coast he had first discovered.

Baudin, Nicolas, 1754-1803

Peron, Francois, 1775-1810

Freycinet, Louis de, 1779-1842

Flinders, Matthew, 1774-1814

Atlas of South Australia 1986 edition: Charting the gulfs

Encounter 1802-2002 (State Library of South Australia)

The Navigators (ABC.net)