Botanical Gardens

Australian Arid Lands Botanic Gardens

A place to wander

Colours of the bush, Australian Arid Land Botanic Garden, Port Augusta, South Australia, © Bronwen Scott

In March 1802, Matthew Flinders sailed HMS Investigator into Spencer Gulf, hoping that it might be the entrance of a navigable channel leading to the north coast of Australia. It fell short by 1,700 kilometres (1056 miles). Flinders’ ‘consolatory hope’ — that the gulf ended in a substantial river — was also dashed. It was salt…