The lookout named after Matthew Flinders offers excellent views of the Flinders Ranges and the upper Spencer Gulf. The lookout is located near the Australian Arid Lands Botanic Gardens and can be reached via a short walking track from a newly developed car park.

Matthew Flinders Lookout - Port Augusta visitor guide showing a virtual tour of 'Matthew Flinders Lookout' linked to an interactive map with local and travel information. 360° panoramas from South Australia.

The Matthew Flinders Lookout is found just north of Port Augusta in South Australia. Situated on top of red cliffs, it gives great views over the top of Spencer Gulf and over to the Flinders Range, forming one of the tourist attractions around Port Augusta. It is named after Matthew Flinders, one of the greatest Australian explorers of the early 19th century.

Often abbreviated to 'Flinders Lookout', it is also known as 'Redcliff Lookout' for the cliffs on which it stands. At high tide, cruise boats from Port Augusta take tourists up along the cliffs to the head of Spencer Gulf.

Matthew Flinders

Matthew Flinders was born in Donington, Lincolnshire in England in 1774. He sailed to Australia twice, and wrote 'A Voyage to Terra Australis' about his journeys. Flinders championed the name 'Australia' for the continent and is remembered by over 100 landmarks in Australia including this Matthew Flinders Lookout, the Flinders Range and Flinders Island in Bass Straits.

Matthew Flinder's first voyage took about 5 years from 1795 to 1800. During this time he proved a most capable navigator and was given command of the sloop Norfolk with a mission to chart Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania). During this expedition he discovered the Bass Straits and Flinders Island.

In 1801 he married Ann Chappelle but soon after had to leave here for his second voyage in which he commanded the aptly named 'HMS Investigator', which would separate the couple for 9 years. Over the next two years Flinders circumnavigated and charted the whole of Australia, ending up in Sydney in 1803. By this time the Investigator had lost seaworthiness and Flinders set sail for England on the HMS Porpoise but was shipwrecked on the Great Barrier Reef.

Surviving this, he then set out again on the Cumberland, but was forced to land at French controlled Mauritius. Being at war with Engladnd at the time, and finding papers from the governor of Australia in his possession, Flinders was arrested and detained for 7 years. He eventually returned to England in poor health in 1810. He and Ann had a daughter in 1812 and he died in 1814, just before the publication of his 'A Voyage to Terra Australis'.

Flight: Port Augusta Airport
Car: Matthew Flinders Lookout is about 5km north of the center of Port Augusta on the west side of Spencer Gulf, near the near the Australian Arid Lands Botanic Gardens.