James Mario Matra (c. 174629 March 1806), sailor and diplomat, was a

Province of New York The Province of New York was a British proprietary colony and later a royal colony on the northeast coast of North America from 1664 to 1783. It extended from Long Island on the Atlantic, up the Hudson River and Mohawk River valleys to ...

-born

midshipman A midshipman is an officer of the lowest Military rank#Subordinate/student officer, rank in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Royal Cana ...

on the voyage by

James Cook Captain (Royal Navy), Captain James Cook (7 November 1728 – 14 February 1779) was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer, and cartographer famous for his three voyages of exploration to the Pacific and Southern Oceans, conducted between 176 ...

Botany Bay Botany Bay (Dharawal language, Dharawal: ''Kamay'') is an open oceanic embayment, located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, south of the Sydney central business district. Its source is the confluence of the Georges River at Taren Point a ...

in 1770. He was the first person of

Corsica Corsica ( , , ; ; ) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the Regions of France, 18 regions of France. It is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of the Metro ...

n heritage to visit the future nation of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. The suburb of Matraville in

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

is named after him. This suburb is less than 2 kilometres away from Botany Bay.

Biography

His father James was a member of a prominent

n family who had migrated to

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

in the early 1730s, where he studied medicine and changed his surname from Matra to Magra. He moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, where his son James Mario Magra was born in 1746. James Mario later settled in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. Australian historians remember him for his misbehaviour aboard James Cook's '' Endeavour'' on its voyage of exploration to New Holland in 1768–70. Magra was suspected of snipping off the earlobes of Cook's drunken and alcoholic clerk after stripping him naked while he was drunk. During this voyage, Magra became acquainted with Sir

Joseph Banks Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, (19 June 1820) was an English Natural history, naturalist, botanist, and patron of the natural sciences. Banks made his name on the European and American voyages of scientific exploration, 1766 natural-history ...

, and their friendship lasted until his death. Circumstantial evidence has identified Magra as the anonymous author of ''A Journal of a Voyage Round the World'', which appeared two months after his return to England in 1771, and which offered some details of Cook's voyage not found in other accounts. In 1775, Magra petitioned the King to have his surname revert to its original form Matra, in order to claim a Corsican inheritance. Matra was the author of the "Proposal for Establishing a Settlement in

" put forward in 1783, which the immediate forerunner of the official and semi-official "plans" was resulting in the foundation of the first Australian colony. In a letter to the British Government in 1783, Matra discussed the potential commercial benefits to Britain of a settlement. He recommended that Britain should send American loyalists and/or convicts to settle at

in New South Wales. He looked forward to Australia as an asylum for "those unfortunate loyalists to whom Great Britain was bound by every tie of honour and gratitude and with visions, perhaps, of a reproduction of the life of the planters of

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

and Carolina". He pushed the latter plan partly because he had aspirations to become the first Governor of the new penal colony. His biographer,

Alan Frost Alan J. Frost , (29 March 1943 – 12 April 2023) was an Australian historian and professor emeritus at La Trobe University. A major theme of his research involved the European exploration of the Pacific Ocean over the second half of the eighte ...

, in 1995, noted that "silence covered Matra's activities until March 1777", when he applied for leave from his post as consul at Teneriffe in the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...

to deal with family matters in British-occupied New York. He was embassy secretary in

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

1778–80. In 1786 Matra accepted the appointment of consul at

Tangier Tangier ( ; , , ) is a city in northwestern Morocco, on the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The city is the capital city, capital of the Tanger-Tetouan-Al Hoceima region, as well as the Tangier-Assilah Prefecture of Moroc ...

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

. In October 1793 Matra married Henrietta Maxwell, daughter of the army victualling agent at

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

. They had no children. He remained in Tangier until his death there on 29 March 1806. James Matra is remembered in the Sydney suburb of Matraville, and in the islet of Magra on the

Great Barrier Reef The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system, composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over over an area of approximately . The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, ...

Published works

*Matra, J., P.A. de Hondt, & T. Becket. (1771). A journal of a voyage round the world, in His Majesty's ship Endeavour, in the years 1768, 1769, 1770, and 1771 : Undertaken in pursuit of natural knowledge, at the desire of the Royal Society : Containing all the various occurrences of the voyage, with descriptions of several new discovered countries in the Southern Hemisphere ... : To which is added a concise vocabulary of the language of Otahitee. London: Printed for T. Becket and P.A. de Hondt ... MMS ID 991018348089702626 *Matra, James Mario, et al. Nachricht Von Den Neuesten Entdeckungen Der Engländer in Der Süd-See; Oder, Auszug Aus Dem Tagebuch Des Königl : Schiffs The Endeavor, Welches in Den Jahren 1768 Bis 1771, Eine Reise Um Die Welt Gethan, Und Auf Derselben Verschiedene Bisher Unbekannte Länder in Der südlichen Hemisphäre Entdeckt Hat, Nebst Einer Kurzen Beschreibung Dieser Länder ...Und Einer Kleinen Probe Von Der Sprache Die in Jenem Theil Der Welt üblich Ist. Bey Haube Und Spencer, 1772. MMS ID 991013432619702626

References

Attribution

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Matra, James 1740s births 1806 deaths British diplomats British sailors People from colonial New York British people of Irish descent British people of French descent