In the Introduction to his Voyage to Terra Australis …(1814), Matthew Flinders summarises all the expeditions on the Australian coast before his expedition of 1801-03. Towards the end of this lengthy section he gives some of the reasons for leading a new expedition to the continent. Flinders refers to the possibility of finding a major river, as none had been found to the time he was writing. He also alludes to the possibility of an inland sea in the interior. Sir Joseph Banks had written in 1798 that Australia was such a size that it was impossible that it did not have a large navigable river.

Charles Sturt would discover Australia's major river system, the Murray/Darling, in 1828-30. Matthew Flinders however missed the mouth of the Murray River in Encounter Bay when he was there in April 1802, and also missed the mouths of most of the rivers on his circumnavigation of Australia, 1801-03.

Flinders further alludes to the possibility of an inland sea: this theory, in part arisen because of the westward flowing rivers of New South Wales, and because of the size of the continent would puzzle and tease explorers, in particular Charles Sturt for many decades to come.

Flinders, Matthew, 1774-1814

State Library of South Australia: Mortlock Wing. Taking it to the edge August 2004-