Matthew Flinders’ lead coffin plate completes voyage from underground London to South Australia

Matthew Flinders’ cleaned coffin plate reads: ‘Capt. Matthew Flinders RN, died 19 July 1814, aged 40 years.’ Composite: Alamy

The small sheet of lead, which once adorned a coffin that was lost under London for 200 years, now sits in a slick new building in central Adelaide.

“Capt. Matthew Flinders RN, died 19 July 1814, aged 40 years,” it says, the ornate writing legible despite signs of age.