A grand naval ceremony with hundreds of guests from around the world is being planned for the reburial of Lincolnshire explorer Matthew Flinders, the BBC reports. The naval captain is credited with popularising the name Australia, and for being the first to sail around the continent.
His body was rediscovered during work on HS2 in 2019.
Following a local campaign, Flinders will now be reburied in July in the village of Donington, where he was born.
Preparations for the reburial of Matthew Flinders were delayed by the Covid pandemic in 2020 but are now far more impressive than initially planned, organisers have said.
Jane Pearson, who started the Matthew Flinders Bring Him Home campaign group, said: “We have a very, very grand sending off for Captain Flinders now he’s due back to Donington.”
There will be three days of commemorations marking the history and life of the celebrated figure on 12, 13 and 14 July.
As a naval captain, he will receive an 18 gun salute and will have six pallbearers from the Royal Navy’s state ceremonial team carrying his coffin.
There will be representatives from Australia, and from Mauritius, where the captain was arrested by the French during the Napoleonic war.
In total, Ms Pearson expects “just over 400 people” to attend the burial on Saturday 13 July.
