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 texts; French notions of Terra australis, in particular, research on the writing of Abbé Paulmier (1663-4), to the end of the eighteenth century; and the Baudin Expedition to Australia (1800 to 1804). She has edited or co-edited several books, and co-translated into English The Anthropological Structures of the Imaginary by Gilbert Durand. Her experience in the field of editing has led her to theorise on the nature of editing, breaking new ground in the conceptualisation of the editorial process.
She was also one of the key collaborators in the Baudin Legacy Project.
Professor Jean Fornasiero and Associate Professor John West-Sooby
Jean Fornasiero and John West-Sooby are both researchers in nineteenth-century history and literature within the Discipline of French Studies at the University of Adelaide. Jean is Professor of French Studies and Head of the School of Humanities, and John West-Sooby is Associate Professor and Head of French Studies. Each has published separately on the historiography, the personalities, the artwork and the anthropology of the Baudin expedition. Together, they are the authors, with Peter Monteath, of Encountering Terra Australis: The Australian Voyages of Nicolas Baudin and Matthew Flinders, 1800-1803, a comparative study first published in 2004, which was awarded the Frank Broeze Maritime History Prize in 2005 and republished in 2010. They are chief investigators in the Baudin Legacy project, under the leadership of Margaret Sankey, and have collaborated on many aspects of the history of the Baudin expedition, including its cartographic achievements and controversies. They are joint authors of a critical edition shortly to be published on the project first conceived in 1803 by the expedition’s naturalist, François Péron, for the French invasion of New South Wales.
Dr Wolf Mayer
Dr Wolf Mayer is a Visiting Fellow in the Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University.Hehas taught geology and held a number of academic positions at the University of Canberra and at the Australian National University. He is currently a Visiting Fellow in the Research School of Earth Sciences at the Australian National University. He has researched and written on aspects of the early scientific exploration of Australia by both resident and visiting naturalists, including members of the Baudin expedition. He is presently engaged in researching the progress and scientific discoveries of other early voyages.
Greg Eccleston
Greg Eccleston(B.Surv. (Melb.), Grad.Dip.Ed. (Melb.), M.A. (Monash), L.S., F.R.I.C.S., F.R.G.S., M.S.S.S.I.) is a Chartered Surveyor, Past President of the Australian Map Circle and Honorary Member of the Australia and New Zealand Map Society. He has intensively researched the exploration and mapping of the Victorian coast. Greg had a major role in the preparation of the map “Early Navigators of Bass Strait 1770 – 1803”, recently published by the Office of the Surveyor-General of Victoria.
Henry de Freycinet
Henry de Freycinet was formerly a French naval office and is now engaged in a career in international business. He has been engaged in extensively researching the de Freycinet family history.
Peter Reynders and Rupert Gerritsen
Peter Reyndersis a practising Town Planner and journalist, and was co-founder of ‘Australia on the Map: 1606 – 2006’. He is currently Secretary of its successor organisation, the ‘Australia on the Map Division of the Australasian Hydrographic Society’. He has a strong interest in early Australian maritime contact history, historical cartography and art history.
Rupert Gerritsen is an independent scholar who has published extensively in history, historical ethnography, historical linguistics, archaeology and maritime archaeology. He was co-founder of ‘Australia on the Map: 1606 – 2006’, and is currently Chair of its successor organisation, the ‘Australia on the Map Division of the Australasian Hydrographic Society.’