Encounter Bay, SA was named for the surprise meeting in 1802 of the explorers Matthew Flinders in the Investigator and Nicholas Baudin and his crew of Le Geographe.

English navigator 28 year old Matthew Flinders was charged with the task of exploring and mapping the coastline of New Holland as it was then known and was heading east when he met his counterpart the Frenchman Nicholas Baudin sailing westards. Despite both skipper’s beliefs that their countries were at war (a peace treaty had been signed only a few weeks earlier) they breakfasted together on board Le Geographe and shared their charts and findings thus far, learning that Terra Australis or Australia as subsequently named by Flinders was one continent.

Flinders named Baudin Rocks off Robe in honour of Nicholas Baudin. Guichen Bay where the town of Robe sits today was named by Baudin in honour of Admiral De Guichen.

Sadly, the trip home wasn’t as successful. Nicholas Baudin died of tuberculosis in Mauritius and Matthew Flinders was held captive there for seven years.

“Captain Matthew Flinders (16 March 1774 – 19 July 1814) was an English navigator and cartographer who led the second circumnavigation of New Holland that he would subsequently call “Australia or Terra Australis” and identified it as a continent. Abel Tasman had circumnavigated it more widely in 1642-43 and had charted its north coast in 1644.

Flinders made three voyages to the Southern Ocean between 1791 and 1810. In the second voyage, George Bass and Flinders confirmed that Van Diemen’s Land (now Tasmania) was an island. In the third voyage, Flinders circumnavigated the mainland of what was to be called Australia, accompanied by Aboriginal man Bungaree.” – Wikipedia