George Bass and Matthew Flinders set out from Sydney in a sloop and circumnavigate Tasmania in 1798–99, thus proving it to be an island.

In 1801–02 Matthew Flinders in HMS Investigator leads the first circumnavigation of Australia.

Aboard ship is the Aboriginal explorer Bungaree, of the Sydney district, who becomes the first person born on the Australian continent to circumnavigate the Australian continent.

Previously, the famous Bennelong and a companion had become the first people born in the area of New South Wales to sail for Europe, when, in 1792 they accompanied Governor Phillip to England and were presented to King George III.