The Freycinet map was published in Paris in 1811, and was the first map to be published which showed the full outline of Australia as such, preceding Matthew Flinders’ map ‘Terra Australis or Australia’ by three years. The Freycinet map was the product of centuries of the charting of Australia’s coasts by Dutch, English and French[…]
Emeritus Professor Margaret Sankey Professor Margaret Sankey’s research career in French Studies has been devoted to the study of the history of ideas and mentalités in France, with particular reference to the early modern period and the scientific revolution. She has published extensively in key areas of interest: Cyrano de Bergerac’s novels and the transmission of[…]
His Excellency M. Michel Filhol Clausewitz said that “war was politics by other means.” Hydrography too, at least at the turn of the 19th century, was politics by other means. The case of Freycinet/Flinders is a perfect illustration. Today, the echoes are muffled. Muffled but not totally silenced, so that we can imagine the vivacity of[…]
Vice Admiral Chris Ritchie AO RANR Today’s symposium to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the publication of the first map of Australia has been arranged through the good offices of the French Embassy here in Canberra, the National Library of Australia and the Australia on the Map Division of the Australasian Hydrographic Society. We are[…]
By: Margaret Sankey The initiative of Rupert Gerritsen, Chairman of the Australia on the Map division of the Australasian Hydrographic Society, in organising this symposium to celebrate the bicentenary of the publication of Louis Freycinet’s 1811 map of New Holland underscores the too often unrecognized contribution made by the French to the early exploration of[…]
Jean Fornasiero and John West-Sooby Every picture tells a story, and this is no less true of maps and charts than it is of other types of images. As pictorial representations, maps and charts are in fact particularly strong sources of narrative since their common functions include reproducing the itinerary of a journey or illustrating[…]
olf Mayer Introduction The second half of the eighteens century and the early decades of the nineteenth saw an heightened interest by European governments, particularly those of France and Great Britain, in the wider Pacific region, including Australia. More than a dozen expeditions, commanded by outstanding navigators that included James Cook, Antoine de Bruni d’Entrecasteaux,[…]
Gregory C. Eccleston Monsieur l’ambassadeur de France. Mesdames, mesdemoiselles, messieurs… Bonjour !!!!!! Si nous sommes reunis aujourd’hui dans cette salle, ce n’est pas pour célèbrer l’union de deux êtres, mais belle est bien pour célèbrer le bicentenaire de la première publication de la carte de l’Australie. Je m’appelle Greg ECCLESTON. This is a brief story[…]
The Freycinets’ Australian connections Henry de Saulses de Freycinet When the French are spoken of, in or around Australia, the first name that comes to mind is “La Pérouse” or “d’Entrecasteaux”. This shows that there is a large gap in knowledge of French expeditions and involvement in the Australian history, in my view. Indeed[…]
Peter Reynders and Rupert Gerritsen The Freycinet map of Nouvelle Hollande is generally recognised as the first full map of Australia to be published. But was it the first and was it published in 1811 making this year, 2011, the bicentenary of its publication. In historical context the map is the culmination of a[…]
Dr Martin Woods, Curator of Maps, National Library of Australia The National Library of Australia is fortunate to have an extensive collection of printed and manuscript material, cartography, correspondence, drawings and other works produced as a result or in the course of many of the French Asia-Pacific voyages of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth[…]