Sixty years after entering Port Phillip Bay [under Flinders in 1802], INVESTIGATOR returned with cargo for the Victorian Gold Rush. After 77 years of service, she was finally sold in Williamstown. Ironically, the ship that put Australia on the map [literally] finished up a coal hulk in Melbourne. In 1872, her register closed with the comment “broken up.” It was a dreadful end to arguably Australia’s most historically significant ship.

In Melbourne you might catch the D6 Tram down Flinders Street, alighting at the French Renaissance style Flinders St Station. In South Australia a geology student from Flinders University, might undertake field work in the nearby Flinders Ranges

The truism that product lifetime “ain’t what she used to be many long years ago” is underscored by the Navy’s decision to fork out an eye-watering $90++billion on subs having a service life only ten years longer than its build-time.

“Were a settlement to be made at Port Phillip, as doubtless there will be some time hereafter, the entrance could be easily defended. It is capable of receiving and sheltering a larger fleet of ships than ever yet went to sea, and the region has a pleasing and in many parts a fertile appearance.”