1801 (1811) FREYCINET – North Western Australia – Pl 28

With a handful of voyages to the South Pacific and Australasian regions already under their belt, the French embarked on their greatest maritime venture to date. Under the command of Nicolas Baudin and sanctioned by Napoleon Bonaparte, a substantial scientific voyage was planned with the clear view of ascertaining the viability of establishing a significant French presence in the South Sea. The French were acutely aware of the frailty of Britain’s defence in the newly established colony at Sydney Cove and were keen to test the possibility of establishing outposts in the rapidly developing region.Baudin’s expedition left France in the ‘Geographe’ and ‘Naturaliste’ in 1800 arriving on Australia’s southwest coast at Cape Leeuwin on 30 May 1801 at what is now ‘Geographe Bay’. From here the two boats sailed north along the Western Australian coastline, charting parts of the coast not previously recorded by the Dutch. In the process, the French were the first to make a detailed chart of the Swan River and the current location of Perth as well as providing the first exhaustive survey of Shark’s Bay. Dampier in 1699 had previously surveyed the bay, but not to the extent that we see here on Freycinet’s map.Although Baudin’s voyage was not the success the French hoped it would be, the resulting journals and atlases have left us with a legacy of comprehensive recording of Australian coastlines, natural history and indigenous life.Tooley Ref649