|
Earliest Australian Voyages
By Kathryn M.E.
____
Voici le manuscrit historique de Kathryn, notre amie, rédactrice australienne et résidente à Creswick, Victoria. Kathryn a rédigé en notre compagnie un grand nombre d'articles exceptionnels à propos des voyages historiques des explorateurs européens en Australie. Elle rend ainsi hommage à l'aventure française, essentielle dans l'histoire profonde de son pays. Bonne lecture à tous. Marc
Chapter 1 - Early Dutch Explorers
Though the honour of the discovery of Australia is given to Captain James Cook on his voyage of 1768, there is much more to the story than the generally accepted sketch of Australian history that states that Captain Cook discovered Australia and Dutch navigator Abel Tasman discovered Tasmania. In fact, Abel Tasman was long before Cook (1642), and charted a greater total length of coastline (including present day Tasmania, Western Australia and the northern coastline as far as the Gulf of Carpentaria in present day far north Queensland). I assume that it is partly due to the fact that the West Coast of Australia looked very inhospitable, whereas the east coast of Australia was found to be more sheltered for anchoring and had infinitely more possibilities, that Cook's voyage was deemed far more important. Also the fact that Cook's mapping was of a very high standard indeed and his discoveries of the eastern coastline led to the settlement of Australia, where all other discoveries made by other explorers of Australia's coastline did not, ensures his high position in Australian history.
Abel Janszoon Tasman
Recently whilst conducting research, I happened to come across published accounts of voyages to Australia which pre date even Abel Tasman's voyage, and were confirmed as fact. Part of the coast of New Guinea was discovered by the Spanish in the early 1540's, and many historians through time have wondered how, when the Spaniards had already come so close, that it could be that Australia stayed undiscovered so long past those dates...or did it? In the Australian Grolier Encyclopedia of 1963, it is recorded that the first substantiated sighting of the Australian mainland was actually made in 1606 by the Dutch ship Duyfken (Little Dove), under the command of skipper Willem Jansz. The event took place at the present day Cape York Peninsula. For some time after its completion, the Duyfken voyage was in dispute, as the log journal is missing and has never been found. Nevertheless, a chart of the voyage does exist, proving the route and that the Dutch did indeed sight the Australian mainland in 1606, several years before the first British contact with the coast in 1622. I believe this piece of history to be quite unknown to many Australians.
Chapter 2 - Early French Visits
In 1756, a French intellectual by the name of Charles de Brosses published his work entitled 'History of Navigation to the Southern Lands' ("Histoire de la navigation dans les Îles du Sud"). Sending a copy to Louis XV, he also wrote an accompanying long memoir in which he begged his Sovereign to 'turn his eyes towards an immense virgin land which was calling only for the benefits of colonisation' and establish a Christian mission in this third world, 'otherwise called the Austral Land, the south Land, the Antarctic Land and the unknown land', a project strongly supported by Saint Vincent de Paul and presented by a poor priest, canon of the cathedral church in Lisieux. Summary: 1504. In this year a supposed French voyage to Australia was made by one Binot Paulmier de Gonneville, who French geographers later believed had discovered a South Land in the South Atlantic or southern Indian Ocean. This legend would come to greatly influence French explorers in future centuries. * Recorded visits to 1817 (this may not be a full list but covers the main exploration ones). There are several early recorded visits to Australian shores by French navigators. Several are recorded as being little more than passing visits, so I shall mention these only briefly. 1767. Louis Antoine de Bougainville with the ships La Boudeuse and L'étoile sighted reefs in the present day north Queensland area near Cooktown, and narrowly missed being wrecked. 1769. Jean François Marie de Surville on his ship Le Saint-Jean-Baptiste sailed from India on a private commercial voyage. He anchored in a bay, named a couple of landmarks, and kept sailing onwards. 1771. Marion du Fresne explored part of the coast of Van Diemen's Land. In 1772 Du Fresne reached New Zealand and called it "France Australe" - French Australis. 1772. Yves Joseph de Kergulen Trémarec and Lieutenant François Alesne de Saint-Allouarn. 1788. La Pérouse arrived in Botany Bay only 5 days after the first fleet. 1791 - Rear Admiral Joseph-Antoine Raymond de Bruni d'Entrecasteaux and Captain Huon de Kermadec. 1801 - Nicolas Baudin, Louis Claude de Saulces de Freycinet (and his brother Henri). Also Captain Emanuel Hamelin. 1817 - Louis Claude de Saulces de Freycinet. What became of them while on duty?
1772 Saint-Allouarn - died of exhaustion on the Island of Mauritius. 1772 Marion du Fresne - escaped an Aboriginal attack in Van Diemen's land, only to be massacred by Maoris in New Zealand's Bay of Islands, along with crew members. 1788. La Pérouse, shipwrecked, off Vanikoro, Santa Cruz Islands, Isabel Province of the New Hebrides " now Solomon Islands.) Wreckage found 1826. 1793 Joseph-Antoine Bruni D'Entrecasteaux - scurvy, off Hermit's Island. 1793 Kermadec - died en route on Antoine D'Entrecasteaux' journey, shortly before the latter. 1803 Baudin - illness and lack of water, reached Mauritius around September 16 and died there.
Chapter 3 - Marion Du Fresne
1771. Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne began his journey from Mauritius Island (L'île Maurice). He was influenced by the legend of Gonneville's 1504 voyage and was determined to rediscover the supposed South Land for France. The ship sighted Van Diemen's Land after following the course mapped by Abel Tasman, and anchored in a bay on its South Eastern coast, which today is still called Marion Bay.
 
The first account of an encounter with the native Tasmanian Aboriginal people (who were much different in appearance to their mainland counterparts) was made here by Du Fresne and his crew. History records that they encountered a group of 30 Aborigines, including men, women and children.
The group led Du Fresne to a wood pile and offered him a firebrand. He set fire to the wood, wishing to please, however it appeared that the natives regarded this as a hostile move, for they began to shower the shore party with stones, one of which wounded Du Fresne. The French immediately returned to their boat, with the Aborigines hurling spears at it. The French replied with musket fire, killing one Aborigine and wounding several. The ship then sailed for New Zealand and sighted the west coast of the North Island, following the coastline before anchoring in the Bay of Islands. They needed a long stay in order to refresh the crews and make repairs to the mast of one of their two vessels. The Maori were friendly - or seemed so, and the French let down their guard. This was to be their downfall, for the Maoris suddenly attacked two of the shore parties and massacred Marion and two boat's crews - 27 men in total. The French named this area 'Treachery Bay' (La Baie de la Traîtrise) and they left to return to Mauritius...
Chapter 4 - Kergulen and Saint-Allouarn
1772. Another Mauritian expedition. The objective again was to search for De Gonneville's South Land. The expedition was commanded by Yves Joseph de Kergulen Trémarec in La Fortune, with a consort Le Gros Ventre, commanded by Lieutenant François Alesne de Saint-Allouarn. Land was sighted on the 13th of February 1772 and Kergulen believed from the extensive nature of his find that he had found the Great South Land of De Gonneville. A sudden storm though, prevented him from making a closer investigation. The discovery was in actual fact only a small island off the west coast, which now carries his name. The storm separated La Fortune and Le Gros Ventre and Kergulen returned to Mauritius, elated with his supposed discovery. He made another expedition in 1773, only then realising his mistake, so he named the island 'Land of Desolation'. Saint-Allouarn and Le Gros Ventre in the meantime, after being separated from La Fortune, voyaged toward the west coast of New Holland, which they sighted near Cape Leeuwin in March 17, 1772. Sailing north along the coast, they anchored in Shark Bay (Western Australia) and made landings. A member of the crew, a gunner, was buried ashore. This is noted as being the first burial of a Frenchman on Australian soil. The land was taken possession of for France and it's said that the ship continued on towards Timor, leaving New Holland behind on March 31, 1772...but Saint-Allouarn never reached his destination, dying on Mauritius Island. Interestingly, it has been thought that Saint-Allouarn's conquest of Western Australia was unknown even to historians until 1999 when a bottle containing French Ecu coins and a letter from Le Gros Ventre was found on Dirk Hartog Island...but yet in the Grolier Encyclopedia of 1963, part of the story is not only told, but lists actual dates as well, as though some journal had existed. In 1788, explorer La Pérouse arrived in Botany Bay, only 5 days after the arrival of the First Fleet, where he remained for six weeks. When he sailed away after that time, he was never heard of or ever seen again. He and his ships just vanished, the wreckage found in 1826 off Vanikoro Island, New Hebrides (now Solomon Islands). Since 1981, French undersea expeditions have been exploring the wrecks of La Pérouse's two ships. The Sydney suburb of La Pérouse was named in his honour.
Chapter 5 - Bruni D'Entrecasteaux
At least three important voyages to Australian waters were made in the last decade of the 18th century. Two were by the English, and one by Frenchman Joseph-Antoine Bruni D'Entrecasteaux.
Joseph-Antoine Bruni D'Entrecasteaux (1739 - 1793) was born in Aix en Provence. He joined the navy in 1754 and held positions such as Ensign, Junior Officer and Assistant Director of Ports and Arsenals, before being appointed as Governor of Mauritius. In September 1791, Rear Admiral Joseph-Antoine Raymond Bruni d'Entrecasteaux was selected as commander of an expedition sent, in part, to make investigations into the fate of La Pérouse and his missing ships. Antoine D'Entrecasteaux's ship La Recherche, was accompanied by L'Espérance with Captain Huon de Kermadec as second in command. The voyage plan was to explore the whole southern coast of New Holland, and particularly Van Diemen's Land, then sail for the Friendly Islands and follow the route they believed La Pérouse would have taken after leaving Botany Bay.
La Recherche and L'espérance following the route...
When D'Entrecasteaux's expedition reached the Cape of Good Hope in 1792, they heard a report or rumour that natives wearing French uniforms had been seen in canoes off the Admiralty Islands. In the belief that La Pérouse could have been wrecked here, the expedition headed this way. On the way, D'Entrecasteaux decided to refresh his crew at Van Diemen's Land, anchoring in a harbour on the east coast which they named La Baie de la Recherche ("Research Bay" or "Recherche Bay"). For five weeks, the French carried out detailed explorations of the area by boat, revealing beautiful waterways and estuaries. D'Entrecasteaux had good officers and scientists on board, including a hydrographical engineer named C.F. Beautemps-Beaupré, who became known as the father of modern French Hydrography. The charts made by Beautemps-Beaupré were published in the "Atlas du Voyage de Antoine Bruni D'Entrecasteaux" in France in 1807 and were very detailed and beautifully engraved. There were 39 charts in total and those of Van Diemen's Land remained the source for English charts for a long period of time afterward. D'Entrecasteaux sailed his ships through a fine navigable channel close to "Recherche Bay", and named this channel after himself (D'Entrecasteaux Channel). The large island they discovered on the other side of the channel is still called Bruny Island. Other major landmarks in the region named during this expedition included Port Esperance and the Huon River. Two English ships also sailed to Van Diemen's Land at that time, entering the D'Entrecasteaux Channel. This expedition knew nothing of D'Entrecasteaux's detailed charting of the area only three months earlier, and so this ship also carried out surveys and made their own explorations by boat, unwittingly renaming all the places named by the French, this time in honour of the English. (Afterward, there must have been a reversal, as today most of the French names in this region still stand). At the end of May 1792, La Recherche and L'Espérance sailed to the Pacific, and on to the Admiralty islands. After much careful searching, D'Entrecasteaux decided that the rumours about La Pérouse had been false, and sailed on. In October, he made for Cape Leeuwin (Western Australia), to search the southern New Holland coastline for La Pérouse, as per his initial orders. When they finally sighted land near the cape, they named it D'Entrecasteaux Point. There was much celebration... perhaps rather too much, in fact, as it is reported that Jean-Marie Marhadour, the ship's Smith, over indulged in alcohol and was dead the next day from an Apoplectic fit. Further east the ships sailed among many islands and dangerous shoals, which they named "Les îles d'Entrecasteaux" (D'Entrecasteaux Islands) - later altered to 'Recherche Archipelago' ("L'Archipel de la Recherche"). The area was very dangerous indeed, and when a violent storm descended on them on December 12, 1792, both ships were almost wrecked. Fortunately they located a safe anchorage where they could ride out the rest of the storm. The locality was named after the one who sighted the anchorage: Legrand and L'Espérance. No water was found and the ships continued east to the Great Australian Bight, but here the coast was even more arid and finding water became even more urgent. On January 4, 1793, D'Entrecasteaux was forced to leave the coastline and sail directly to Van Diemen's Land. Had he been able to continue onwards along the southern coastline of New Holland, all the geographical discoveries that later went to English explorers Bass and Flinders would have belonged to him and to France instead. The ships anchored once more in 'Recherche Bay' and spent five weeks in the area, taking water on board, refreshing the crews. Apart from surveys, they also made explorations in natural history. Beautemps-Beaupré and the officers surveyed Storm Bay and found that its western extension was the mouth of a river. They called it Rivière du Nord, but the next visitor a few months later was British and renamed it the Derwent River, as it remains to this day, surrounded by the city of Hobart. This naming and re naming of landmarks appears to have been rather common practice, partly due to the fact that explorers sometimes followed each other closely, but unaware of the previous party, so they kept naming landmarks as they went. I'm also certain there was quite limited communication between explorers of the different nations: if one nation found a particularly good location, they would have tried to keep it between themselves, lest the others decide to settle it. The French lost out to the British several times when the latter forestalled any plans they may have had, by moving their plans forward and making their official British settlements first (as occurred in Tasmania and Melbourne, to name two examples). On February 28, D'Entrecasteaux continued the vain search for La Pérouse. His world expedition was considered an important one, however it had an unhappy end. Kermadec died in one of the harbours they reached, and not long afterwards, D'Entrecasteaux himself succumbed to Scurvy, on July 21, 1793. Commands were rearranged, with two new leaders, D'Auribeau and De Rossel. When they reached Surabaya, they learned that a republic had been proclaimed in France. D'Auribeau died not much later, and eventually in 1795 De Rossel sailed from Java toward home, but was captured by the British. It was not until after the Peace of Amiens in 1802 that all the papers of the expedition were returned, so finally De Rossel was able to publish a narrative of the entire expedition.
Chapter 6 - Nicolas Baudin
Baudin 1750 - 1803. Born in the Ile de Ré, off La Rochelle (Charente-Maritime). Entered the merchant service as a boy, and later gained a good reputation as a navigator. His early world voyages were largely concerned with Natural History and the collecting of specimens, and upon his return, he received much praise for his collections from the scientific authorities in France. In 1786 he was commissioned Lieutenant in the French Navy.
When the "Institut de France" was planning its scheme for the mapping of New Holland, they proposed to Napoleon that Baudin was the best choice of commander for the expedition. The ships set out from Le Havre on October 19, 1800. Baudin's ship, Le Géographe, was accompanied by Le Naturaliste, with Captain Emanuel Hamelin in command. Napoleon had directed that the expedition be thoroughly equipped, so the team was also made up of many scientists, including a Naturalist, Botanist, and an Astronomer. Baudin had been directed to begin work in Van Diemen's Land, then chart Bass Strait and onwards to Cape Leeuwin and beyond. The intention of the directions was to complete the mapping of the Australian mainland and of southern New Guinea in the regions explored earlier by the Dutch, allegedly with the plan that good points for settlement might also be discovered. There has been debate and documented evidence put forward and published in certain Australian history books which leans strongly toward the idea of definite secret French political agendas with regard to early settlement of the Australian continent. Despite their suspicions, the British Government did instruct the authorities at Sydney to treat Baudin hospitably. In March 1801, the English expedition of Commander Matthew Flinders set out from England in The Investigator. As Britain and France were at war, Flinders was given a passport in French detailing his peaceful mission in case he encountered French war ships. At Kangaroo Island (South Australia), Flinders encountered the French expedition. Flinders had known that the French Government had one in Australian waters at the time. Friendly conversations between Baudin and Flinders were held and their meeting is commemorated in the name Encounter Bay ("La Baie de la Rencontre") on Kangaroo Island.
The Encounter between Flinders and Baudin, March 1802,
by John Ford
In Victoria, it is recorded that in 1802, Baudin was the first recorded explorer to visit the Lady Bay, where the seaside city of Warrnambool was first begun in the early 1840's. He also visited another significant bay near the coast of South Australia, where present day Portland stands today. From many recorded and second hand accounts, the Baudin expedition was rather mismanaged. The two ships were separated for much of the voyage, Le Géographe having deserted Le Naturaliste at one point. Captain Hamelin appears to have made more careful and detailed studies than Baudin of the coastline they were meant to be exploring.
The exploration was certainly fraught with many problems, including calms, storms, abandonment of crew, desertions of crew and scientific staff, scurvy and scarcity of provisions. At Timor, tropical dysentery was added to their woes. Several of the scientists died there, and Baudin himself was seriously ill. In April 1802, the expedition reached Sydney. By this stage only a few of the men on board were still fit for service, and a boat's crew had to be sent out at Port Jackson to bring Le Géographe into harbour. The ships spent several months in Sydney, where Governor King treated the French with much hospitality. As Baudin's instructions had still not been fulfilled, especially with regard to exploring Van Diemen's land and its environs, he bought himself a 30 ton schooner, the Casuarina, and put Louis de Freycinet in command of her. Le Naturaliste was to sail for France with the natural history collections and the sick men along with the crew, while Le Géographe and the Casuarina could complete their survey.
The Naturaliste, the Géographe and the Casuarina in Australian Waters,
by John Ford
In November 1802 the French ships departed Port Jackson for Bass Strait. Not long after Baudin had departed, a rumour reached Governor King that some French officers had boasted that France would establish a colony in Van Diemen's Land, and Baudin's job was to spy out the land in advance. The Governor sent one of his officers, Charles Robbins, to catch up with Baudin at King Island and warn him that Van Diemen's Land was British property. He also directed Robbins to hoist the flag wherever he thought best. Reportedly eager and tactless, Robbins didn't give Baudin the message until (it's said with unintentional comedy that he hoisted the flag upside down) he had hoisted the flag hastily over the French tents, saluted it and solemnly annexed King Island all over again, even though it had been officially British for two years already. Baudin, annoyed but polite, put it in writing to King that he not only had no political ideas, but also did not believe in 'annexing' lands already occupied by savage races. Afterward, Le Géographe spent three weeks at Kangaroo Island while Louis de Freycinet explored the gulfs. Baudin then sailed for the western coast. In August he once again reached Mauritius, but by this time he had been ill again for some time, and he died there on September 16, 1803. After the Baudin voyage, the French referred to Australia's southern coastline as "Terre Napoléon" (Terre Napoléon, partie méridionale de la Nouvelle Hollande). Baudin's crew's criticisms of his mismanagement of the voyage was the only version which was in publication (at the time of this information, 1963). Baudin's own journal was kept in manuscript in the French 'Archives Nationales'. The story of Flinders, continued.....Meanwhile, some time later on the Flinders voyage (c 1803), the ship was in rather bad condition. Flinders had to be given another ship to sail back to England in, but it was leaking and he had to call into port more often than he liked. When he started taking on much more water, he was forced to run for Mauritius, where he was held by the French and remained there in detention for over 6 years. Flinders finally arrived back in England in October 1810. He began at once to prepare his charts and logs for publication, though some had been lost and the last volume of his journal was kept by the French. During Flinders long incarceration on Mauritius, Péron and De Freycinet, the geographers of Baudin's voyage, had been able to publish their results first, and they had renamed every feature they noted, quote "without the slightest regard for the work of previous explorers". In 1814 Flinders "A Voyage to Terra Australis" was finally published, but Flinders himself, who through illness had aged so much that it is reported that at 39 he looked like a man of 70, died just before the first copy was delivered to him.
Chapter 7 - Louis De Freycinet (1779 - 1842)
Louis Claude de Saulces de Freycinet was a French naval officer and navigator. Not much is known of his early life, but when a junior Lieutenant, he was appointed to accompany Le Naturaliste under the command of Captain Hamelin, the other vessel in the expedition of Nicolas Baudin. He assisted Hamelin in explorations in Western Australia, Tasmania and Bass Strait. In 1802, Louis de Freycinet was given command of a small colonial vessel named the Casuarina, which had been purchased for inshore explorations, travelling with Baudin's Le Géographe. The St Vincent and Spencer gulfs were explored, along with areas of north western Australia. Henri de Freycinet, Louis' older brother, was also a member of Baudin's expedition. From 1804-17, Louis de Freycinet did mainly cartographic work, as he had definite artistic talents. He also wrote, along with François Peron, the narrative of Baudin's Voyage. In 1814 Louis de Freycinet married Rose Marie de Pinon, who was 20 years old at the time. In 1817, he was given command of L'Uranie to carry out a round the world voyage to take observations and make surveys. Freycinet had wanted to take his young wife on the world voyage with him, but the Minister for the Navy denied him permission. Nevertheless, she went on board dressed as a man just before the vessel sailed from France and kept a record of the voyage which has been described as 'lively'. (It was published in Paris in 1927 under the title "Journal de Madame Rose de Saulces de Freycinet".) The expedition visited Shark Bay, W.A. in September 1818. Nearby, on Dirk Hartog Island, Freycinet removed the plate erected in 1697 by the Dutch navigator Vlamingh which had fallen off its post and was now half buried in sand. After visiting many more countries and Islands, the ship reached Sydney in November 1819. Astronomical and magnetic observations were made here and a party of the ship's men made a journey over the mountains to Bathurst. In February 1820, the ship was wrecked in the Falkland Islands and an American Whaler was purchased and renamed "La Physicienne". The expedition used it to return home to France, arriving in November 1820. Fortunately the scientific information and specimens had been able to be saved from L'Uranie. A narrative of the voyage written by the artist on board, Jacques Estienne Victoire Arago; entitled "Promenade autour du Monde" was published in 1822. Between 1825 and 1844, the observations of the expedition and official account of the voyage by Louis de Freycinet and his scientists, was published as "Voyage Autour du Monde" (Travel around the world) in 13 volumes and 4 Atlases. Tasmania's Freycinet Peninsula, a rocky headland in the central east coast, was named after Louis de Freycinet.
Chapter 8 - La Pérouse
Botany Bay, 1785. In this year, the King of France, Louis XVI despatched Jean François de Galaup, Comte de la Pérouse (known as La Pérouse) to the Pacific in his ships La Boussole and L'Astrolabe.
He arrived in Botany Bay only five days after the arrival of the first fleet in 1788, after the tragic loss of one of his boats and its crew. The French remained in Botany Bay for six weeks while a new boat was built. While there, there were two more deaths in the expedition, that of a priest and a scientist named Claude De Receveur (1757-1788), whose grave was marked with an imposing stone, and continued to be tended afterward. On March 10, 1788, La Pérouse sailed away and was never seen or heard from again. It wasn't until 1826-27 that an English captain-adventurer by the name of Peter Dillon uncovered evidence that the ships had been near Vanikoro, in the Santa Cruz Islands, New Hebrides (now Solomon Islands).
In 1828 a French explorer named Dumont D'Urville (1790-1842) did actually sight the wreckage near Vanikoro.
He learned from the islanders that approximately 30 men from the two ships had been killed on shore, but others, who were well armed, had managed to escape....and it seems that their fate remains a mystery.
Since 1981, French undersea expeditions have been exploring the wrecks of L'astrolabe and La Boussole.
Part of Sydney could have been French...
The Grolier Encyclopedia of 1963 also states that it has long been a general belief that the area of Sydney which contains the Catholic grave of La Pérouse's scientist, Claude de Receveur, was ceded to France. It quotes: "Actually, Captain Mathieu of the French navy tried to purchase it in 1880, but without success and at a later period a Premier of New South Wales, W.A. Holman failed in an attempt to present the area to the French nation"... Records in the Premier's department show that in 1917, legislation was drafted to grant France a fee simple of slightly more than 5 acres at La Pérouse, but this grant was not made. It is presumed that Crown Law authorities opposed it on the grounds that legal difficulties might arise from the "ceding of Australian territory to France"… From time to time, in the days of colonisation, apart from the Baudin Expedition in 1802, there were other fears that the French intended to compete with the British for possession of portions of Australia. These 'scares' led to the British establishing forts in the areas they feared could come under attack, but of course, as we know, nothing ever happened. In summary, what these articles have really been about is that apart from the all-famous English, lesser known Dutch and French explorers also made important discoveries in Australia's early history, but for lack of interest from their home countries (and a lack of support from authorities in charge of finances), their achievements were not transmuted into action. Either Holland or France could easily have seized the opportunity to establish settlements for themselves in Australia many decades prior to 1788, but their hesitations and often indecisiveness made them lose. More modern French connections... Some of the strongest contacts between Australia and France were forged during World War I, from 1916 - 1918, when thousands of Australian troops were stationed on French soil. In the French village of Villers-Bretonneux in the region of the Somme district of Northern France, where many British, French, New Zealand and Australian troops fought and died (Villers-Bretonneux, Pozières, Beaumont-Hamel roads…), one of the village schools has been called « Victoria School » for over 30 years. The school motto, displayed in the playground, bears the words « Never forget Australia » (« N'oubliez jamais l'Australie ») along with Australian flags. Some streets of this village bear Australian names, such as 'Melbourne Street', 'Victoria Street' (Rue de Melbourne, Rue de Victoria…). There is even an Australian souvenir shop and an Australian Library in the village. There is also a respectful Anzac Museum and an Australian permanent exhibition in the Victoria School. Just outside the town on a quiet road, is a small area which was once a battle front. Some burials of WWI dead were carried out here. Some Australian soldiers were buried where they had fallen when they defended the village (More than 1 000 Australian soldiers died in the streets and in the countryside around the city: Monument Wood, Abbey Wood). This isolated place bears the name "Adelaide Cemetery" (Cimetière Adelaide). There is a memorial book at the entrance where names of those known casualties buried in the cemetery are listed. The Australian WWI Memorial ("Le Mémorial Australien de la Première Guerre mondiale") was founded by the French Government on the other side of the village, called Mametz. French people have helped Australian and British visitors in re-discovering graves of their lost ones here and in other French battlegrounds like this one. Many other Australian unidentified soldiers were buried in Le Hamel at the "British War Memorial" (73,000 names from England, Scotland, Ireland, Australia, Canada…). Many Australian battalions were led by a Victorian General, John Monash in 1918, who had a special love for France and Belgium. He later went on to write the first Australian book about his military experience of the WWI. Part of that book was published in 1919. On a general note, it has been guessed that the old Australian phrase for goodbye 'toot-a-loo' actually comes from the French "A tout à l'heure" ('See you soon') and was adopted by Australians in this wartime period, who brought it home and spread the use of it nation-wide. Bi-centenary of Baudin's southern Australian voyage. In 2002, two members of the Ballarat Alliance Française (Victoria) spent several days sailing as part of the crew on board one of two replica wooden ships journeying in South Australian waters. They took part in the Adelaide to Kangaroo Island sector of Baudin's historic journey. The meeting between Baudin and Flinders was commemorated in a ceremony held on Kangaroo Island, featuring uniformed French sailors.
Myths, Legends...and reality?…
THE DIEPPE MAPS
Long before any explorers first sighted the coastline of Australia, the Dutch, British, Portuguese and French navigators and explorers were already out searching for it. Why? Part of this appears to be due to legends from several different cultures: it is said that even the Incas told of rich lands lying west of South America. These stories may have helped spur later Spanish exploration towards the region.
World Map by Martin Waldseemueller, 1507
Dieppe Map by Pierre Descellier, 1546,
World Map, "...La-Terre-Australle...",
presented to his King, the Dauphin Henri II
Dieppe Map by Pierre Descellier, 1550,
World Map, "...Terre Australle...",
many details of Queensland and New Zealand
presented to his King, the Dauphin Henri II
Added to this is another motivating legend, that of the supposed discovery of a Great Southern Land during a voyage in 1504 by a French explorer, one Binot Paulmier de Gonneville. The story has "apparently" never been proven (even from the 1530's some European maps showed a northward peninsula jutting out of Antarctica, with the inscription "Terra Australis recenter inventa 1499". ie. 'Australia discovered 1499' or 'Antarctica discovered 1499' !!!...) Through my research, what appears to have influenced explorers more than legend though, is the following: Some early 16th century cartographers believed in a theory which had been made by Greek scientists in antiquity, who had proposed that a southern continent must exist as a counter balance to the weight of the Northern Hemisphere in the known world. Otherwise, the world would tip over, they claimed. Thus, world globes in the early 1520's began to depict a vast, imaginary continent centred around Antarctica, and a counterbalance to present day North America as well, which was referred to as " Brasilie Regio ". Oronce Finé (Orontius Fineus ; Briançon 1494 - Paris 1555), a famous French cartographer, incorporated the imaginary continent into his beautifully made World Map of 1531.
TERRA AUSTRALIS, by Oronce Finé, Paris, 1531
From the Finé's Map of 1531,
by Abraham Ortelius, 1589
The Globe, Paris, France, 1534
"Maris Pacifici"From the Finé's Map of 1531
by Abraham Ortelius,
France and Netherlands, 1589
It appears to have been Oronce Finé who first gave this southern continent the name " Terra Australis " - Land of the South. This mapping example was followed by other - but not all - cartographers over the next 100 years, but all of these maps, as yet, were still a figment of the imagination or hearsay. Then there is also the matter of what are known as the Dieppe Maps; World Maps made in France between 1536 and 1566. Each map, though slightly different, shows a large land mass extending southwards from Java. They were said to be extremely accurate, and were given much credibility, compared to their imaginary counterparts. The suggestion has been put forward by historians that these Dieppe Maps did indeed constitute evidence that there really was a French voyage of discovery to Australia before 1536. In 1542, one of the Dieppe map makers, Jean Rotz, was taken into the service of the English King Henry VIII. He presented a "Book of Hydrography" to the King which included a World Map embodying the latest in French ideas. Because Rotz' cartography was considered careful and exact, his depiction of 'Land of Java' was, in a later century, put forward as evidence of the pre-discovery of 'Terra Australis' by French and Portuguese Explorers.
"Mappe Monde", World Map
by H. Jainot,
France, 1694
New Map of the World,
According to Marcator's projection, 1699,
showing the Course of Captain Cowley's Voyage Round it,
details of Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand
One of the Dieppe Maps was presented to the British Museum in 1790. A few years earlier, a verbal attack had been made on Captain Cook, claiming that this map gave proof of discovery of the eastern coastline of Australia by the Portuguese which pre dated the journey of Cook. Why Portuguese? Because the now famous Rotz Atlas included maps that were known to have been stolen from the Portuguese. This in turn brings us to the fascinating legend of the Mahogany ship.
The Mahogany Ship
On Victoria's Great Ocean Road, near the city of Warrnambool, is said to lie the wreck of a Mahogany Ship, buried beneath tonnes of sand. It was seen by many witnesses through several decades from the 1830's, but its location has been lost since around the 1880's, despite extensive searches - including private - and even reward money being offered by the Australian Government. There have been several hypothesis put forward about the ship, including one by historians which claims Portuguese explorers were in Victorian waters around the 1520's and that a flotilla of three caravels under the command of Cristovao de Mendoca mapped the coastline from the east. One of the ships is believed never to have returned home. Mendoca was indeed commissioned by King Manoel to seek out the Great South Land. The Mendoca map is said to be authenticated, beginning at the northern tip of Australia and leading all the way south, then west to present day Melbourne. The map line continues west for over 400 kilometres, taking in all of the Great Ocean Road, and ends abruptly and somewhat unexpectedly near Portland, close to the present day South Australian border. It is believed that upon returning home, Mendoca hid his maps because they showed he had explored territory forbidden to the Portuguese by Pope Alexander VI (who had divided the exploration of the world in half between the Spanish and the Portuguese). This theory must be very widely accepted indeed, because it was recorded in text books and taught as part of the curriculum in my school over two decades ago when I was a young child. The legend has captured the imagination of many people, including do-it-yourself treasure hunters. There are so many unanswered questions, asked by many: Why did the map end so abruptly? Are the maps which were made on the Mendoca journey and the Dieppe Maps one and the same? Is the ship which vanished beneath the sand dunes really the Mahogany Ship, or one of scores of others which were wrecked in later centuries along the coast of the Great Ocean Road? Before the ship vanished, its location had been carefully pinpointed, even mapped, but all searches to date, even using modern technology, have been unsuccessful. If found, the Mahogany ship could re write the history of Australia as we know it. Kathryn M.E. Bibliography - Grolier Encyclopedia of Australia, 1963, Volumes 1,3,4,6.
- Mahogany Ship, The - Loney, Jack, Marine History Publications, Geelong. Victoria, 5th Edition, 1982.
- The Ballarat Courier Newspaper, January 13, 2000.
- Archives Nationales de France.
- Dictionnaire encyclopédique de l'histoire de France, 1960-1964.
- FranceDownUnder, Le Portail des Francophones d'Australie, French Community in Australia.
- The State Library of Victoria, Australia.
- Fédération des Alliances Françaises en Australie.
- Australian History resources, 2000-2004.
- Website: Pacificwrecks.com (Santa Cruz).
- Bibliothèque Nationale de France.
- "Voyage autour du monde" par Louis de Freycinet, 1825 et 1844.
- Larousse Illustré.
- Histoire de la France en Australie.
- Website: Enchantedlearning.com/explorers (La Pérouse).
- Encyclopaedia Britannica CD Rom, 94-98.
- Hobart Maritime Museum.
- Bibliothèque historique de Paris.
- Website: New Zealand History.
- Yale University Library
- Exploration of Australia, The. Cannon, Michael, Readers Digest Services Pty Ltd, Surrey Hills NSW 2001.
- The Monash exhibition, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, ACT & and The Sydney Jewish Museum, NSW 2001.
- Australian WWI Memorial & Anzac Museum, Villers-Bretonneux, Somme, France.
- Muséum de la ville du Havre.
- Bibliothèque de Versailles, "Australian History".
- Archives privées Marc Jérusalmi, France, Australia.
- Lettres d'un Mineur en Australie, par Antoine Fauchery, Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, Paris, 1857.
- Letters from a Miner in Australia, translated from the French by A.R. Chisholm, Georgian House, Melbourne, 1965. Images - Credit: John Ford, Net Marine, Musée Naval de la Marine, Archives Nationales de France, ABC Australia, Ville d'Aix-en-Provence, Alliance Française de Melbourne, Terra Australis, Australian Embassy in Paris, SBS Television, Ambassade de France à Canberra, Ville du Havre, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Ministère de la Culture, France Télévision, National Library of Australia, Dr Edward Duyker, Bulletin de la Société de Géographie de 1894, Rex Nan Kivell Collection, Pictorial Collection, Yale University, Villes d'Albi et de Toulon, New Zealand History, University of Cambridge, Archives de Bretagne, Association Française de philatélie.
Many thanks to my friend Marc Jérusalmi
© Kathryn M.E. February 2004 - Creswick, Victoria, Australia.
Vous pouvez contacter Kathryn M.E. en vous rendant directement sur son site web australien :
Kate-Me's Homepage
ou en lui envoyant un courrier sur l'Email de notre groupe franco-victorien à :
creswickfriends@optusnet.com.au
© Agora French Club - February 2004
|
