1998 Proof Set - Bass & Flinders

1998 Proof Set - Bass & FlindersIssued to commemorate the bicentenary of the discovery of Bass Strait by George Bass and Matthew Flinders in 1798.Both George Bass and Matthew Flinders were officers aboard HMS Reliance, the ship that brought the second governor, John Hunter, to New South Wales.The Governor supported their explorations of the coastline in the small boat Tom Thumb, as well as a hazardous whaleboat voyage by Bass which took him as far as Westernport.On 7th October 1798, Bass and Flinders sailed from Port Jackson in the sloop Norfolk, determined to establish the existence of a strait between Van Diemen's Land (later known as Tasmania) and New South Wales.he strait, once discovered, would shorten the perilous voyage from England or India and help ships avoid the notorious gales found at low latitudes.Despite the treacherous weather and strong winds, Bass & Flinders sailed through the strait and circumnavigated Van diemen's Land, exploring the Tamar and Derwent river inlets, later sites for new settlements.Flinders recommended to Governor Hunter that the strait be names Bass "after my worthy friend and companion, as a just tribute to the extreme dangers and fatigues he had undergone in first entering it in the whaleboat.Mintage 32,225In mint condition as issued by the Royal Australian Mint