Bass & Flinders Centre

8 Elizabeth Street, , 7253 Phone: 61 03 6382 3792 Timings: Public Holiday: 1000 - 1600 Christms Day: Closed Good Friday: Closed ...... Monday: 1000 - 1600 Tuesday: 1000 - 1600 Wednesday: 1000 - 1600 Thursday: 1000 - 1600 Friday: 1000 - 1600 Saturday: 1000 - 1600 Sunday: 1000 - 1600 www.bassandflinders.org.au

About

The Bass and Flinders Centre is centrally located in George Town on Tasmanias Tamar River. In 1798, the explorers Bass and Flinders were dispatched to Van Diemens Land to ascertain if Tasmania was an island or not. They sailed with a crew of eight in Her Majestys Colonial Sloop Norfolk right into the Tamar River and anchored off what is now George Town. In 1998, Bern Cuthbertson in the replica Norfolk, re-enacted the Bass and Flinders journey. Like Bass and Flinders, Bern established a relationship with George Town and asked if she could be berthed on the banks of the Tamar at George Town. Bern and his team of volunteers in Hobart constructed the replica Norfolk. The hull is Huon Pine and the mast and deck are made out of Celery Top Pine. Not a screw or a nail was used trunnels or treenails hold the vessel together. The Bass and Flinders Centre is now the home of the replica sloop Norfolk, together with the Elizabeth, a replica of the whale boat rowed by James Kelly around Tasmania; the ex-naval cutter Kenneth Dickenson; two old racing fours; a banana boat surfboard and the gentle Melanie.