James Mario Matra (174629 March 1806), sailor and diplomat, was an American-born

midshipman A midshipman is an officer of the lowest rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Canada (Naval Cadet), Australia, Bangladesh, Namibia, New Zealand, South Af ...

on the voyage by

James Cook James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean and ...

Botany Bay Botany Bay ( Dharawal: ''Kamay''), an open oceanic embayment, is 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 and the Cook ...

in 1770. He was the first person of

Corsica Corsica ( , Upper , Southern ; it, Corsica; ; french: Corse ; lij, Còrsega; sc, Còssiga) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 18 regions of France. It is the fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of ...

n heritage to visit the future nation of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

Biography

His father James was a member of a prominent

n family who had migrated to

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

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 or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

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

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. 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 naturalist, botanist, and patron of the natural sciences. Banks made his name on the 1766 natural-history expedition to Newfoundland and Labrador. He took part in Captain James ...

, 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

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

" 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 Loyalists were colonists in the Thirteen Colonies who remained loyal to the British Crown during the American Revolutionary War, often referred to as Tories, Royalists or King's Men at the time. They were opposed by the Patriots, who supporte ...

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 state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are ...

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, 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 (; es, :es:Canarias, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to ...

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

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

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

Tangier Tangier ( ; ; ar, طنجة, Ṭanja) is a city in northwestern Morocco. It is on the Moroccan coast at the western entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar, where the Mediterranean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Spartel. The town is the capi ...

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to A ...

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

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = "Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gibr ...

. 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 Matraville is located in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is approximately by road south-east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Randwick. History M ...

, and in the islet of

Magra __NOTOC__ The Magra is a long river of Northern Italy, which runs through Pontremoli, Filattiera, Villafranca in Lunigiana and Aulla in the province of Massa-Carrara ( Tuscany); Santo Stefano di Magra, Vezzano Ligure, Arcola, Sarzana and Amegl ...

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, A ...

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 1746 births 1806 deaths British diplomats British sailors People of the Province of New York British people of Irish descent British people of French descent