French Western Australia Explained

French Western Australia (French: Australie-Occidentale française) was a French territorial claim in modern-day Western Australia. It was made at Dirk Hartog Island by an expedition under French explorer Louis Aleno de St Aloüarn in 1772.

History

French expedition

On 28 March 1772, the French navigator Louis Aleno de St Aloüarn landed on Dirk Hartog Island "and became the first European to claim possession of Western Australia".^[1] The actual claim for French Western Australia on behalf of King Louis XV was made at French: Baie de Prise de Possession (literally, 'Bay of taking Possession'; later Turtle Bay), Dirk Hartog Island on 30 March 1772 by officer Jean Mengaud de la Hage while Louis Aleno de St Aloüarn remained aboard the ship.^{[2] [3]} Members of Mengaud's ceremonial team raised the royal flag on the island and buried a bottle containing a document stating what had occurred, alongside two silver écu coins, worth six Livres tournois (Francs).^[3] This occurred in sight of Cape Inscription, where in 1696 the Dutch mariner Willem de Vlamingh had also left a commemorative plate recording his visit and that of Dirk Hartog in 1616.^[4]

Later discoveries

An 18th century bottle was recorded, containing an annexation document and a coin. In 1998, a lead bottle cap with a shield coin set into it was discovered at Turtle Bay by a team led by Philippe Godard and Max Cramer. This triggered a wider search by a team from the Western Australian Museum led by Myra Stanbury, with Bob Sheppard, Bob Creasy and Michael McCarthy. On 1 April 1998, an intact bottle bearing a lead cap identical to the one found earlier, also with an French: écu coin in it, was unearthed. This led to a ceremony on 30 March 1999, during which several bottles were buried on the island.

Places

About 260 places in Western Australia bear French names today;^[5] examples by alphabetical order:

1. Cape Le Grand
2. Cape Naturaliste
3. Cape Peron (French: Cap Péron, or French: Pointe Péron, southern outskirts of Perth)
4. Capel
5. Capel River (French: rivière Capel)
6. Shire of Capel
7. D'Entrecasteaux National Park
8. Espérance
9. Francois Peron National Park
10. Geographe Bay (French: Baie du Géographe);
11. Jurien Bay (French: Baie Jurien)
12. Lancelin
13. Leschenault
14. Leschenault Estuary (French: estuaire Leschenault)
15. Lesueur National Park
16. Péron
17. Point D'Entrecasteaux
18. Point Samson
19. Recherche Archipelago (French: Archipel de la Recherche)
20. Recherche Bay (French: Baie de la Recherche)

Moreover, Western Australian historian and university researcher Noelene Bloomfield explains, in her book Almost a French Australia, that most of the so-called dutch-sounding names in Western-Australia were in fact given by French explorers.

Zoologist Danielle Clode wrote in her documentary French Voyages of Discovery to Australia:^{[6] [7]}

More

Several exhibitions were organised around French Western Australia:

• Canberra, National Museum of Australia: 15 March 201811 June 2018^[8]
• Perth, Western Australian Museum: 12 September 201812 February 2019^[9]
• Le Havre, Musée d'histoire naturelle: 5 June 202107 November 2021^[10]

About the 2018–2019 Western Australian Museum exhibition, Diana Jones (its executive director of collections and research) declared:^[11]

See also

• History of Australia, European maritime exploration of Australia
• Binot Paulmier de Gonneville (-), potential discoverer of Terra Australis, around 1504
• Theory of the Portuguese discovery of Australia (1522)
• Jave la Grande
  • Dieppe maps Botany Bay, La Pérouse expedition (1788)

General references

In French

• Book: Duigou, Serge . L'Australie oubliée de Saint-Allouarn . éditions Ressac . 1989 . Quimper . fr.
• Book: Godard . Philippe . Louis de Saint Aloüarn, lieutenant des vaisseaux du Roy . Kerros . Tugdual de . éditions des Portes du Large . 2002 . 2-914612-08-7 . Rennes . 364 . fr.
• Book: Delacroix, Gérard . Le Gros Ventre . éditions ANCRE . 2003 . 2-9527406-0-7 . Paris . 135 . fr.

In English

• Book: Dunmore, John . French Explorers in the Pacific . . 1965 . I . Oxford . en.
• Godard . Philippe . 1999 . The Saint Alouarn discoveries . Quarterly Newsletter: The Australian Association for Maritime History . en . 77 . 6 July 2010.
  • • Book: McCarthy, Mike . Disturbances at the French Annexation site on Dirk Hartog Island . Fremantle, Western Australian Maritime Museum . 2006 . en . 6 July 2010 .

Notes and References

1. Web site: Dirk Hartog Island National Park . 2024 . Shark Bay World Heritage Discovery and Visitor Centre . 2024-07-22 .
2. The Saint Alouarn discoveries . https://web.archive.org/web/20110219093853/http://www.aamh.asn.au/news/0077.pdf . 19 February 2011 . Philippe . Godard . Quarterly Newsletter: The Australian Association for Maritime History . 77 . December 1999 . 6 July 2010.
3. Web site: France And Australia: The "Prise De Possession" . https://web.archive.org/web/20091219194152/http://www.museum.wa.gov.au/collections/maritime/march/dirkhartog.asp . 19 December 2009 . Myra . Stanbury . . June 1998 . 2024-07-22.
4. Web site: Cape Inscription - Dirk Hartog Island . 2010-10-06 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110721184029/http://wamuseum.com.au/collections/maritime/march/DHI-site/index.html . 2011-07-21 .
5. Web site: Histoire – Comment l'Australie aurait pu être française . History - How Australia could have been French . fr . Le Petit Journal . 2017-01-24 . 2024-06-22 .
6. Web site: French Voyages of Discovery to Australia . Clode . Danielle . Danielle Clode . Danielle Clode . 2024-07-22 .
7. Book: Clode, Danielle . Danielle Clode . Voyages to the South Seas . 2007 . Ligature Press . 978-1-761280-90-0 .
8. Web site: Museum exhibition's fascinating French depictions of colonial Australia . 7 May 2018 .
9. Web site: French Explorers in Western Australia | Western Australian Museum .
10. Web site: Exposition, Australie-Le Havre: l'Intimité d'un lien - artsixMic .
11. News: Historical documents offer rare insight into Napoleon's plans for Western Australia . ABC News . 12 September 2018 .