Inventory Laperouse Museum Collection 22 February 1988 (valued $233,865)

Laperouse Exhibition 1988

 “LES NAVIGATEURS MODERNES N’ONT POUR OBJECT, EN DECRIVANT LES MOEURS DES PEUPLES NOUVEAUX,  QUE DE COMPLETER L’HISTOIRE DE L’HOMME;  LEUR NAVIGATION DOIT ACHEVER LA RECONNAISSANCE DU GLOBE, ET LES LUMIERES QU’ILS CHERCHENT A REPANDRE, ONT POUR UNIQUE BUT DE RENDRE PLUS HEUREUX LES INSULAIRES QU’ILS VISITENT, ET D’AUGMENTER LEURS MOYENS DE SUBSISTANCE.”

“MODERN NAVIGATORS HAVE NO OTHER PURPOSE IN DESCRIBING THE CUSTOMS OF PREVIOUSLY UNKNOWN PEOPLES THAN TO ADD TO THE HISTORY OF MANKIND;THEIR VOYAGES SHOULD COMPLETE THE SURVEY OF THE GLOBE AND THE ENLIGHTENMENT THEY SEEK TO SPREAD HAS THE ONE AND ONLY AIM OF INCREASING THE HAPPINESS OF THE ISLANDERS THEY VISIT AND ADDING TO THEIR ABILITY TO SUSTAIN THEMSELVES.”

ARTIST’S STATEMENT

The word “anthropology” was first written in July, 1800, a concept of the Society of Observers of Man, in Paris.

For me, this anticipation of the new science is remarkable.  We can only speculate on the interior monologue of these practitioners of the new science, with their ideal of elegance, symmetry, probability and rationality confronted with an established culture in Australia.  Those qualities had alternative and unexpected forms.

From one mode to the other, even now, 200 years beyond, this still requires an extraordinary effort of will.”

Peter Taylor

INSTRUCTIONS OF THE KING TO LAPEROUSE

“The Sieur de Laperouse is to order exact charts to be drawn of the all the coasts and islands he shall visit;  and, if they are already known, he must verify the exactness of the description and of the charts that other navigators have made.”

“The Sieur de Laperouse will chiefly study the climate and the production of the different islands in that ocean on which he shall land, and be acquainted with the manners and customs of the natives, their religion, government, mode of making war, arms, vessels, the unique character of each tribe, what they may have in common with other primitive nations and civilized people, and especially what is peculiar to each.”

“On all occasions, the Sieur de Laperouse will act with great gentleness and humanity towards the different people whom he will visit during the course of his voyage.”

“His Majesty will consider it as one of the happiest events of the expedition if it should end without costing the life of a single man.”

“He will endeavour particularly to survey those parts which have not been seen by Captain Cook, and on which reports of Russian and Spanish navigators have given no information.  He will observe with the greatest care whether, in those parts not yet known, some river and confined gulf exist which, by means of the interior lakes, may open a communication with some part of Hudson’s Bay.”

“He will miss no opportunity that may present itself in his different ports of call, to procure for his crews such refreshments and wholesome food that will counteract the effects of the long use they will be obliged to make of salt provisions.”

 1. Native Plant of Botany Bay

From a drawing by Bessa, engraved by Mougeot

Gift of the Musée national de la Marine, Paris

From left to right, top to bottom:

1. Mast Rigger
2. Support “a la Cardan”, relic
3. Memo on the fur trade from the N-W coast of America
4. Berthoud No 12 Chronometer
5. Inventory
6. Ramsden Sextant
7. Suppoy Vouchers
8. Dellebare Microscope
9. Forecastle

 Gift of the Musée national de la Marine, Paris

The story of European navigation was one of developing instruments to supplement observation.  These were of two principal types:  instruments of direction (compasses) and instruments to measure the angle and distance of the sun and the stars (astrolabe, backstaff and cross-staff evolving into quadrant and sextant) and those used to measure time (chronometers)

While latitude was fairly easy to establish by solar observation, the problem of longitude persisted until the Englishman, John Harrison, perfected the chronometer or marine watch in 1735.  Especially made to compensate for the movement of the ship and changes in termperature and humidity, the chronometer could provide an accurate record of the time in London or Paris and thus allow the navigator to calculate his longitude.  Laperouse had timekeepers by Ferdinand Berthoud, France’s most famous maker, on his expedition.  He checked them constantly against each other and against lunar observations and calculations that were the favoured method of establishing longitude prior to the perfection of the chronometer.

English, 1802.  Wood.  Signed “Newton”.  Globe map printed after Captain Cook’s voyages

Gift of Citra, Groupe Spie Batignolles

Guilded plaster cast, replica

Loan from the Musée national de la Marine, Paris

Replica of the type of baskets used by the naturalists on the Laperouse expedition to transport and store plants on board.

 

THE TOMB OF PERE RECEVEUR

The present altar-like tomb shelters the oldest known European grave in Australia and was commissioned at the same time as the Laperouse Monument when Bougainville visited Botany Bay in 1825.  It replaced the simple grave which by that time was no more than some stones surmounted by a “roughly outline” cross.  The construction of both monuments was completed in 1828 and was supervised by Captain John Piper.  In 1876, at the request of Sir Henry Parkes, iron railings were installed around them.  These were later renewed in 1908 by the French Government.

The present finely worked bronze cross, embossed with the arms of the Franciscan family, was placed there in 1930 by the Franciscans when they were granted authorization to care for the grave.

Since the community of Irish Friars Minor came to Waverely, NSW, in 1879, many masses have been celebrated there, and a special prayer is offered as part of the commemoration ceremony to Laperouse and his men, held each year at La Perouse.

Gift of the Musée national de la Marine, Paris

The trunk’s inscription dates back to the first French official visit to the grave of Father Receveur in March 1824 by Captain Louis Isidore Duperrrey in his ship La Coquille.  The wording of the epitaph was:

Pres de cet arbre reposent

Les restes de Pere L. Receveur

Visites Mars 1824

(Near this tree lie the remains of Father L. Receveur.  Visited March 1824)

The trunk, bearing what remained of the inscription was presented to France by the New South Wales Government on the occasion of the Paris Exhibition in December, 1855.  It was exhiobited in the Musee de la Marine in Paris, until being returned as a gift, in 1988, to the Laperouse Museum and its original site in commemoration of the Australian Bicentenary.

“Long, long ago, his grave was made

Beside the headlands grim;

Though blossom fade, he shall not fade;

There is no death for him.”

From the poem “Pere Louis Receveur” by Roderic Quinn, The Crusader, 1^st June, 1933.

From the original in Musée national de la Marine, Paris

Gift of the Musée national de la Marine, Paris

 This object was found by Peter Dillon on the island of Tikopia in 1826 and provided the first clue to the mystery of Laperouse.

From a drawing by Sainson, artist on the voyage of Dumont d’Urville, engraved by Maurin for the Atlas of the Voyage of the Frigate Astrolabe (Volume II, Plate 177)

Gift of the Musée national de la Marine, Paris

This Prussian friend of Dillon helped him recover the sword guard on Tikopia.

From the original in Musée national de la Marine, Paris

Gift of the Musée national de la Marine, Paris

 Signed “Lennel, aris 1781, this instrument was found in 1885 in the district of Numbo, in the bay of Noumea.  Its presence in New Caledonia can only be explained by concluding that it belonged to Laperouse and was lost accidentally while surveying the island after the expedition’s departure from Botany Bay.

From a lithography by Engelmann Peter Dillon’s journal Narrative and Successful Result of a Voyage in the South Seas, 1829

Gift of the Musée national de la Marine, Paris

Dillon and his friend, Martin Buchert, are depicted fighting against the natives.

French, late 17^th century.  Smooth bore, front loading style, such as would have been carried by Laperouse.

Gift of Pierre Roussel

Discovered on an Aboriginal shell midden by Dr F. Dickson and his wife.  The “prunt” mark identifies the winery as “Balguerie & Cie Bordeaux”, a company which supplied wine to the French navy in the 18^th century.

Loan from the Captain Cook’s Landing Place Museum, Kurnell

Wonder cowrie (Cypraea Hesitata Iredale), NSW and Tasmania

Spindle-shaped volute (Voluta Sowerbyi Kiener), Australia

Loan of Dr M.S. Lefebvre

Relics recovered from the wreck by the Queensland Museum expedition in 1986

Loan from the Queensland Museum

Relics recovered from the wreck by the Queensland Museum expedition in 1986

Loan from the Queensland Museum

Relics recovered from the wreck by the Queensland Museum expedition in 1986

Loan from the Queensland Museum

Relics recovered from the wreck by the Queensland Museum expedition in 1986

Loan from the Queensland Museum

Relics recovered from the wreck by the Queensland Museum expedition in 1986

Loan from the Queensland Museum

 19.  Sting of Glass Beads (various colours)

Relics recovered from the wreck by the Queensland Museum expedition in 1986

Loan from the Queensland Museum

Relics recovered from the wreck by the Queensland Museum expedition in 1986

Loan from the Queensland Museum

Loan from the Queensland Museum

Gift of Lionel and Helen Filewood

Gift of Lionel and Helen Filewood

 24.  Californian Bird

From a watercolour by Prevost

Gift of the Musée national de la Marine, Paris

One of the relics brought back by Captain Dillon in 1827

One of the relics brought back by Captain Dillon in 1827.

It was identified by Viscount de Lesseps as belonging to the Astrolabe. In doing so, he said: “This is the best you have found. We had mills fixed to the quarter-deck to grind our grains.”

Gift of the Musée national de la Marine, Paris

Plaster replica of the original by Rude, ca. 1830 in the Musee de la Marine, Paris

Property of the National Parks & Wildlife Service

Original etching, 1987, by Pamela Griffith

Commissioned by the Laperouse Association for the Australian Bicentenary

Gift of Pamela Griffith

 

Etching after a drawing by Piron, published in La Billardiere’s Atlas for the Relation of the Voyage in Search of Laperouse, 1811 (Plate 26)

Loan from Dr M.S. Lefebvre

(Antwerp, 1571- Christopher Plantin)

Very rare engraved map, long held to be evidence of the pre-Dutch discovery of Australia. It shows the northern coastline of a large land mass emerging from the sea to the south of the East Indies. It is the first map to indicate such a discovery in this form.

Property of and loan from the Australian Bank

Hand-coloured, engraved map showing California as an island and the coastlines of Mexico, Chile and Magellan straight.

Property of and loan from the Australian Bank

 Painted ceiling, 1988, by Francois Olivier Cosnefroy

Commissioned by the Laperouse Association for the Australian Bicentenary

 

 Plaster replica of the original by Houdon, ca. 1810

in the Musee National du Chateau de Versailles

 Original etching, 1987, by Pamela Griffith

Commissioned by the Laperouse Association for the Australian Bicentenary

Gift of Pamela Griffith

from Cook’s First Voyage (French edition)

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

 35.  Battle of Louisbourg, 21^st July 1781

from a painting by Captain de Rossel in the Musee de la Marine, Paris

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

 

from a painting by Thomas Whitcombe in the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich

Gift of the Vancouver Maritime Museum, Canada

H.M.S. Formidable, captured from the French in 1759 at Quiberon Bay, breaks through the French lines.

Fiberglass replica of the anchor recovered from Vanikoro in 1964 and given by the French Navy to the New South Wales Government

Property of the National Parks & Wildlife Service

Original lithograph by Benard and Frey, 1825, after a drawing by Richebois Plate 13 of the Voyage of H. de Bougainville

Gift of Prue Allen.

Hyacinthe de Bougainville (1782-1846), eldest son of the famous French navigator Louis-Antoine de Bougainville, visited Botany Bay in 1825 as commander of the frigate Thetis, while on an expedition in the Pacific. With his second-in-command, Captain du Campier, on the Esperance, he located traces of the stockade which had been erected by Laperouse, then known as “Frenchman’s Garden” and sought permission from Governor Sir Thomas Brisbane to erect a monument in memory of Laperouse on this site.

The colonial architect, Georges Cookney, was instructed to build the monument and Bougainville laid the foundation stone on the 7th September, 1825. The cost of the monument, amounting to 4,000 francs was met jointly by the crew of the French ships and the colonial government. The inscription engraved at the base of the column reads:

‘A Laperouse et a ses compagnons.
Cette terre qu’il visita en 1788 est la derniere d’ou it ait fait parvenir de ses nouvelles. “

“To Laperouse and his companions.
This land which he visited in 1788 is the last one from which he sent news.”

from a lithograph by Lemercier, 1833 after a drawing by Maurin

Gift of the Vancouver Maritime Museum, Canada

Famous for his discovery of the Venus de Milo in Greece in 1821 and second-in-command to Duperrey on the Coquille, Dumont d’Urville was given command of the Astrolabe in 1825. In his instructions, he was ordered to check the reports of an American whaling captain about a cross of St Louis and some medals seen in the hands of natives between New Caledonia and the Louisiades, being perhaps at last a clue to the mystery of the Laperouse expedition.

drawn by d’Urville and Lottin and engraved by Tardieu in 1833 for the Atlas of the Voyage of the Frigate Astrolabe

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

 

Dumont d’Urville left Toulon on 25th April, 1826 with 13 officers and 66 crewmen on board the Astrolabe. Two years later, in Hobart (Tasmania), he heard of and read Dillon’s report about Vanikoro and immediately set off to follow up the lead. He arrived in Vanikoro in February, 1828 and stayed nearly a month on the island. Like Dillon, he questioned the natives and confirmed for himself the fate of Laperouse.

from drawings by Sainson, engraved Holstein and Noel Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

from a drawing by Arago, engraved in 1823

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

43.  Views of the “Astrolabe” of Dumont d’Urville on the Reefs

from drawings by St Aulaire

Plates 67 and 44 of the Atlas of the Voyage of the Frigate Astrolabe

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

From top to bottom:

1. Sydney (Australia).

2. Tonga.

3. Viti Islands.

from drawings engraved by Aubert and Masson

Gift of Mr & Mrs P. Messina (items 1 & 3) Gift of DrA-M. Nisbet,(item 2)

from a drawing by Pibaraud, engraved by Lebreton

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

 46.  Map of the Island of Vanikoro Recorded by Dumont d’Urville

drawn by Gressien in 1828, from the collection of the Service Historique de la Marine, Paris

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

 

The accuracy of this map attests to the progress in navigation and map making. Today, it is still the standard map of the island from which others are made.

47.  Last Letters of Laperouse from Botany Bay

Top: To the Minister for the Navy, on 5th February, 1788

Gift of the Musee de l Emperi, Salon-de-Provence

These two letters written by Laperouse in Botany Bay were sent back to France by the first available English ship. They are the only information we have about the expedition’s activities during the six weeks they spent here.

He reports on the general health of the men, on the camp site and the stockade they built to protect the boats from being burnt by the natives, “very weak and few in number”, who had returned spears for presents received. He does not mention any shots being fired.

He writes of their friendly meetings with several English officers, and the warning he has passed on to Phillip about the treacherous advances to be expected from the Tutuilans, should the fleet venture into those waters.

The English officers recorded the Frenchmen’s activities: Laperouse and his men were well settled on the north side of the bay, had a portable observatory, and had offered stores to help overcome the new colony’s food shortage. By mutual agreement, the convicts who sought to escape and found their way to Botany Bay were given a day’s food supply and sent back to Port Jackson.

from a drawing by Rouargue, engraved for the Atlas of the Voyage of the Frigate Astrolabe

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

This monument was erected by Dumont d’Urville on a small coral cay in the Bay of Manevai. It was made of coral and wood and a lead plaque was affixed to it with the inscription:

‘A la memoire de La Perouse et de ses compagnons
LAstrolabe -14 mars 1828″
“In memory of Laperouse and his companions
The Astrolabe – 14th March, 1828”

The monument collapsed in 1923 but was re-built shortly afterwards by Captain Gaspard. By 1950, it had totally disappeared.

from a drawing by Sabatier published by Goupil in the Atlas Pittoresque of Dumont d’Urville’s Voyage

This is most probably the location where the survivors of the Laperouse expedition built their small boat.

 from a watercolour by Sainson, artist on the voyage of Dumont d’Urville, engraved by Maurin for the Atlas of the Voyage of the Frigate Astrolabe (Volume II, Plate 185)

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

from the French edition of Dillon’s Narrative and Successful Result of a Voyage in the South Seas, 1830

Gift of the Muse de la Marine, Paris

from a watercolour by Pellion in Rose de Freycinet’s journal, West Coast of New Holland

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

53.  Observatory of the “Uranie”, December 1819

from a watercolour by Pellion in Rose de Freycinet’s journal, Port Jackson

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

drawn by La Pierre, voyage of Bougainville

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

from a drawing by Sainson lithographed by Langlume, voyage of Dumont d’Urville

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

from a drawing by Moreau le Jeune, engraved by Friere

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

The Atlas was printed by the Imprimerie de la Republique, Paris, Year V (1797) and published in accordance with the decree of 22nd April, 1791.

 from a miniature, engraved by Alexandre Tardieu in 1793

Gift of the Vancouver Maritime Museum, Canada

This portrait was used as the frontispiece of the first edition of the Journal of the Voyage of Laperouse published in 1797.

 Wood sculpture, 1988 by Peter Taylor

Huon pine, striated antique timber, bronze and aluminium

Gift of the Laperouse Association for the Australian Bicentenary

59.  Hommage a Laperouse

 Tapestry, 1988, hand-woven in Aubusson, France from an original design by John Winch

Gift of Jean Laurent, Tapisseries de France, Aubusson

from a late 19th century etching

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

 from a 19th century lithograph

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

Eldest son of the French navigator Louis-Antoine de Bougainville, he first visited Port Jackson with Baudin’s expedition in 1802. On returning to Botany Bay in 1825 as expedition commander of the ships Thetis and Esperance, still searching for Laperouse, he was given permission to erect on this site the existing monument to the memory of Laperouse.

from a watercolour by G.P. Terry, 1854, in the Musee de la Marine, Paris

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

Gift of Dr Pierre Amalric

64.  Left: Entrance to the Endeavour River – Right: Botany Bay

from Cook’s First Voyage (French edition)

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

from a pastel in private collection

Gift of Vancouver Maritime Museum, Canada

 

Detail from a drawing by Blondela, engraved by Avril for the Atlas of the Voyage of Laperouse, Plate 14

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

 from a painting in private collection

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

An Irishman and a lieutenant in the French Navy, Clonard was second-in-command to Laperouse on the Boussole and replaced Langle on the Astrolabe and helped establish good relations with the officers of the First Fleet while at Botany Bay.

from the watercolour “Sirius and Company going in”

by William Bradley in the Mitchell Library, Sydney

Courtesy of State Library of New South Wales

from a survey by Captain john Hunter. Published by John Stockdale, London 1792

Property of and loan from the Australian Bank

 from a painting Francis Wheatley in the Mitchell Library, Sydney

Courtesy of State Library of New South Wales

 from a painting by William Mineard Bennett in the Dixson Galleries, Sydney Courtesy of State Library of New South Wales

from a watercolour by T.R. Brown in the Dixson Galleries, Sydney

Courtesy of State Library of New South Wales

 

From left to right, top to bottom:

1. Inhabitants of the Darling River

2. Native of Port Jervis -Women of Kangaroo Island

3. Native of Australia – Australian woman

3. Natives of King Georges Port – Natives of Jervis Bay

4. Meal for the inhabitants is of Trinity Bay

5. Native family

6. Native dance

7. Native tomb

Gift of Mr and Mrs P. Messina (items 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 & 7)

Gift of DrA-M. Nisbet (item 2)

 

Etching after a diawing by Piron, published in La Billardiere’s

Atlas for the Relation of the Voyage in Search of Laperouse, 1811 (Plate 4)

Loan from Dr M.S. Lefebvre

Etching, after a drawing by Piron, published in La Billardiere’s

Atlas for the Relation of the Voyage’in Search of Laperouse, 1811 (Plate 7)

Loan from Dr M.S. Lefebvre

Etching after a drawing by Piron published in La Billardiere’s Atlas for the Relation of the Voyage in Search of Laperouse, 1811 (Plate 6)

Loan from Dr M.S. Lefebvre

 Published in 1571 by Christopher Plantin with the “Polyglot Bible”

Property of and loan from the Australian Bank

from the edition published by Porro in 1596

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

Greek astronomer and geographer from Alexandria, Ptolemy (90-168) has been called the father of geography.  The earliest surviving manuscripts of his Geography date back to the 12th – 13th centuries. Brought to Italy, they were translated into Latin in 1406.

The first printed edition with maps was issued in Bologna in 1477.

from a drawing by Gosselin, 1803,

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

Greek geographer and mathematician from Alexandria, Eratosthenes (c. 275-193 B.C.) is known as the founder of scientific geography. He was the first person to measure the circumference of the Earth.

 from a woodcut engraved by de Larmessin

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

Fernao de Magalhaes (called Magellan) was the first navigator to circumnavigate the globe. On the 85ton ship Victoria, he crossed the strait which was to bear his name at the most southern point of the American continent, and on the 28th November, 1520, sailed into the great ocean which he named the Pacific, “a sea so vast, the human mind can scarcely grasp it”. Sailing further west in search of the route to the East Indies, he reached the Far East and finally the Phillipines where he died on the 27th April, 1521.

from an engraving by Jean-Theodore de Bry, C. 1590 in the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

82.  Mar del Sud, Mare Pacifico

Hand-coloured, engraved map showing New Guinea still connected to northern Australia

Property of and loan from the Australian Bank

83.  Polus Antarcticus, by Henricus Hondius

Hand-coloured, engraved map showing the Dutch discoveries on the west and south coasts of New Holland, Tasman’s discovery of Van Diemen’s land and New Zealand (1642). The Australian continent bears the legend “Nova Hollandia detect Anno 1644”.

The remnants of an “Unknown South Land” persist in the southern Atlantic and Indian Oceans while a string of fictitious islands reported by Herman Gallego, chief pilot on Mendana’s first voyage of 1567-8, stretch across the southern Pacific.

Property of and loan from the Australian Bank

 

84.  Magnum Mare del Zur cum Insula California, by Frederick de Wit

Hand-coloured engraved map showing Tasman’s discoveries in Van Diemen’s Land and New Zealand (1642), and along the northern coast of New Holland (1644). The Solomon Islands have been displaced to the centre of the Pacific and the New Hebrides have become a substantial landmass. California is still shown as an island.

Property of and loan from the Australian Bank

Hand-coloured engraved map, drawn with East instead of North at the top, and showing the East Indies, New Guinea and the north and west coasts of New Holland. Cape, York is still considered as a southern extension of New Guinea.

Property of and loan from the Australian Bank

86. Portrait of Louise-Antoine de Bougainville(1729-1811)

From a painting by Franque

Gift of the Musee de la Marine Paris

Commander of the expedition on the ships Boudeuse and Etoile, Bougainville visited Tahiti in 1768 a few months after Wallis, discovered and named the Grandes Cyclades (New Hebrides). He then almost ran onto the Great Barrier Reef off modern Cooktown and turned north.

From left to right, top to bottom:

88.  Navigators

James Cook – engraving by Woes

L. A. de Bougainville – lithograph after Belliard William Dampier – engraving by C. Sherwin Sir Francis Drake – frontispiece of his Voyage

89.  Instruments

Compass – Degaule, c. 1780

Quadrant – Langlois, 1745

Dipping Needle – Lenoir, c. 1800

Quadrant Plate – relic recovered from the wreck site Time Keeper No. 24 – Berthoud, c. 1780

90.  Explorers’ Routes

Cook – first, second & third voyages

Roggeveen, Bering, Wallis, Bougainville

Magellan, Mendana, Drake, Le Maire & Schouten, Tasman

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris and of the Vancouver Maritime Museum, Canada

90.  A Complete Map of the Southern Continent, by Emmanuel Bowen (London 1744)

The first English map devoted entirely to the fifth continent Based on Thevenot’s map of 1663

Property of and loan from the Australian Bank

Engraving, published in Histoire Generale de la Marine

Gift of Mr & Mrs Philippe Messina

Engraved map showing routes of navigators across the Pacific ocean, including those taken by Tasman, Bouvet, Furneaux, Bougainville, Carteret, Quiros, Mendana, Cook

Property of and loan from the Australian Bank

 from an etching by Godefroy, c. 1768 in the Archives Nationales, Paris

Gift of the Musee de la Marine Paris

from an engraved map showing the discoveries of His Majesty’s Ships: Dauphin, Commodore Byron – Tamar, Captain Mouats, 1765 Dauphin, Captain Wallis – Swallow, Captain Carteret, 1767 Endeavour, Lieutenant Cook, 1769

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

from frontispiece of Fastes de la Nation Francaise by Ternissien d’Haudrecourt, edition of 1825

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

96.  Portrait of Captain James Cook (1728-1779)

from a painting in private collection, Holland

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

from the French edition, 1778

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

98.  Cooke’s “Endeavour” under Repair on the Coast of New Holland

from an etching by Duret, issued in 1773 in Cook’s Voyage around the World published by J. Hawkesworth

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

from a drawing by St Sauveur, engraved by Phelipeau

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

Key to identity of the various inhabitants

1. Nootka, N-W Coast of America

2. New Zealand

3. Prince William Entrance

4. Easter Island

5. Norton Bay

6. Sandwich Islands

7. Tanna. New Hebrides

8. Saint Christine, Marquesas

9. Castries Bay, Tartary Coast

10. Lituya Bay, Alaska

11. Maouna, Samoa

12. Macao

13. Langle Bay, Sakhalin Island

14. Concepcion, Chile

15. Manilla Bay

16. Pelew Island

17. Oonolaska

18. Ulietca

19. Marquesas Islands

20. Friendly Island, Tonga

21. New Caledonia

22. Otaiti,

23. Anaamoka

24. Hapaee

Hand-coloured, engraved map with a dotted line joining Tasmania to “Terre du Esprit” (Espirito Santo, Vanuatu) and to the southern coast of Australia. This appears in many French maps of the period.

Property of and loan from the Australian Bank

Drawn by the engineer Laroche in 1778, this plan was dedicated to Cardinal de Bernis, archbishop of Albi and showed the configuration of the town of Albi at the time of Lapdrouse.

Erected in 1848, the statue of Laperouse is flanked by the first anchors recovered from the wreck at Vanikoro.

Courtesy of Association Laperouse Albi-France

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

Jean Francois de Galaup was born in 1741 in this house, 3 km from the city of Albi, famous for its 14th century cathedral. Acquired in 1613 by Claude Galaup, a magistrate of Albi, it was the summer residence of his family who were members of the provincial nobility and still stands today as shown in this

contemporary photograph. The name Laperouse came from an adjacent tenanted farm giving him the title with which he entered the Navy in 1756 at the age of 15.

From left to right:

1. Naval Officer, after a watercolour by Goichon

2. “Always in the arms of death”, after a drawing by Guerard

3. Naval Cadet, after a watercolour by Goichon

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

from a painting-by R. Wright in the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris.

In this battle off the coast of France, the French fleet, under the command of

Mr de Saint Andre on the Fonnidable, was defeated by the British fleet of Admiral Hawke. Laperouse, aged only 18, witnessed the tragic death of 300 comrades, was wounded and spent the next two years as a prisoner.

from a painting by Captain de Rossel in the Muse de la Marine, Paris.

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris.

The battle took place off Cape Breton during the American War of Independence. Laperouse, in command of the frigates Astree and Hermione scattered a convoy of six British ships and claimed a brilliant victory by capturing two of then.

from a pastel in private collection.

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris.

from ornamentation on the family sedan chair in the collection of the Societe de Geographie, Paris.

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris.

from an anonymous painting in private collection

Gift of the Musee de la Marine Paris

Laperouse fell in love with her while based on the Isle de France (now Mauritius) in 1775-76. Before leaving, he promised to marry her against the wishes of his protector Mr de Ternay, acting on instructions from the Galaup family. They were finally married in Paris on the 8th July, 1783.

from a miniature in private collection

Gift of the Musee de la Marine Paris

Born in 1744 into a noble family from Brittany, he was second-in-command to Laperouse on the Hudson Bay expedition and was chosen to command the Astrolabe at the request of Laperouse. He lost his life in the massacre at Tutuila on the 11th December, 1787k

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

This plate was part of a set ordered by Fleuriot de Langle while at Macao in January 1787.

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

This chair was given to the Paris Societe de Geographie in grateful acknowledgment for its contribution the centenary of the death of Laperouse in 1888. It bears the coat of arms of both the Galaup and the Resseguier families, the latter being that of Laperouse’s mother.

from drawings by Nicolas Ozanne, c. 1760, engraved by Le Gouaz

Gift of Dr A-M. Nisbet

From left to right, top to bottom:

1. Brest
2. Marseilles
3. La Rochelle
4. Toulon

from a drawing by Nicolas Ozanne, 1760, dedicated to the Naval Academy, in the Musee de la Marine, Paris

Gift of the Vancouver Maritime Museum, Canada

115.  Wood Carving from the Stern of the “Boussole”

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

Adorned with a “fleur de lis”, it was one of the relics brought back by Captain Dillon in 1827. With great sadness, it was identified by Viscount de Lesseps, the Russian interpreter on the Laperouse expedition who had returned overland from Russia to Paris, as probably belonging to the Boussole, the only ship of the two to bear the arms of France.

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

Translation:

‘I ask Mr Criq to allocate thirty piastres to Mr de Lachaume as an advance on his remuneration.”

from a drawing by Nicolas Ozanne, c. 1760, engraved by Le Gouaz

Gift of Mrs Michele Chaze

from a drawing by Nicolas Ozanne, c. 1760, engraved by Le Gouaz

Gift of Mrs Michele Chaze

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

Drawn in 1781 by chief engineer-builder A. Groignard, this plan details the construction of a storeship similar to the Boussole or the Astrolabe of Laperouse’s expedition. It shows a false deck above the hold; the second level is constituted by the deck itself carrying the battery, with ten port­holes for the canons. The deck is also covered at both ends by a forecastle and a quarter-deck.

from a drawing by Nicolas Ozanne, c. 1780

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

Features are identical to the two storeships which were completely refitted in March, 1785, listed as frigates and renamed Boussole and Astrolabe.

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

This large bell, surmounted by a crucifix and inscribed “Bazin m’a fait” (Bazin made me) was among the relics bought by Captain Dillon from the natives of Vanikoro in October, 1827. On receiving these relics, the British government sent them to King Charles X of France for identification. They provided the long sought clues to the tragic end of Laperouse’s expedition.

from a German lithograph by K.H. Baumgartner, 1842, in private collection

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

Some of the scurvy symptoms are clearly shown: haemorrhages on the forearm and swelling under the eyelids.

from a watercolour by Prevost Fils in the Musee de la Marine, Paris

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

from a watercolour by Duche de Vancy, 1780, in the collection of the Bibliotheque Mazarine, Paris

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

These baskets were used for transporting the trees and shrubs taken on board by Collignon, gardener on the expedition.

from a watercolour by Duche de Vancy, 1780, in the collection of the Bibliotheque Mazarine, Paris

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

Illustrates the method of packing the various plants taken on board by Collignon, gardener on the expedition.

Showing the route taken by Laperouse’s ships Boussole and Astrolabe (1785-1788), this map was first issued as plate 1 of the Atlas of the Voyage of Laperouse

Property of and loan from the Australian Bank

 from a painting by Antoine Callet in the Musee National du Chateau de Versailles

Gift from the Vancouver Maritime Museum, Canada

Uniformes de la Marine Francaise an XVIIIe Si~cle

From left to right:

1. Capitaine des Gardes, by Vasse

2. Capitaine d’Armes et Sergent, by Rochefort

3. Soldats des Compagnies Franches

4. Capitaine d’Infanterie

5. Bombardier, by Rochefort

6. Tambour des Gardes, by Vasse

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

from a drawing by Derveaux, 1756

Gift of DrA-M. Nisbet

Copy of a painting by Nicolas-Andre Monsiau, 1817 in the Musee National du Chateau de Versailles

Loan from the State Library of New South Wales

The scene took place in the Chateau de Versailles on the 29th June, 1785. The King is seated and behind him stands the Marechal de Castries, Minister for the Navy. Facing him stands Laperouse, with his second-in-command and friend Fleuriot de Langle and probably Claret de Fleurieu who organised the preparation of the voyage. In the dark area on the left is the bust of Henry IV. Four of these persons were to meet tragic deaths within the space of a few years.

 from a painting inrivate collection

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

Count Claret de Fleurieu, as Director of Ports and Naval Arsenals, was responsible for the preparation of the voyage.

from a painting by Thomas Whitcombe in the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich

Gift of the Vancouver Maritime Museum, Canada

H.M.S. Formidable, captured from the French in 1759 at Quiberon Bay, breaks through the French lines

from a painting by Pierre Patel, in the Muse National du Chateau de Versailles

Gift of the Vancouver Maritime Museum, Canada

from a painting by Jean-Francois Hue, early 1790’s

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

Despite the tricolour flag and the revolutionary atmosphere, this picture gives a good idea of the port from which Laperouse departed on 1st August, 1785, for his long voyage around the globe.

from a drawing by Duch e de Vancy, engraved by Thomas Plate 5 of the Atlas of the Voyage of Laperouse

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

“The dress of the women consists of a pleated skirt made of those old fashioned fabrics formerly manufactured in Lyon; these skirts, which are reserved for gala days, can be exchanged within a family like diamonds and passed on from grandmothers to grand-daughters. However, such dresses are afforded by only a few women, the rest wearing hardly enough to cover themselves.”

from a drawing by Duche de Vancy, engraved by Le Pagelet Plate 2 of the Atlas of the Voyage of Laperouse

Gift of the Musie de la Marine, Paris

from drawings by Prevost, engraved by Choffard Plates 6 and 8 of the Atlas of the Voyage of Laperouse

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

from drawings by La Martiniere and Prevost, engraved by Choffard and Hulk Plates 20 and 63 of the Atlas of the Voyage of Laperouse

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

from a drawing by Blondela; engraved by Masquelier Plate 61 of the Atlas of the Voyage of Laperouse

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

from observations made by Laperouse and Captain Cook, showing the route of the French frigates

Plate 13 of the Atlas of the Voyage of Laperouse

Gift of the Vancouver Maritime Museum, Canada

from a drawing by Duche de Vancy, engraved by Godefroy Plate 11 of the Atlas of the Voyage of Laperouse

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

from a drawing by Bernizet, engraved by Hulk Plate 12 of the Atlas of the Voyage of Laperouse

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

drawn in April, 1786, by Bernizet for the voyage of Laperouse

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

In this bay, the expedition had their first encounter with native people of the Pacific.

from drawings by Prevost, engraved by Le Pagelet and Hulk Plates 27 and 28 of the Atlas of the Voyage of Laperouse

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

from a watercolour by Prevost in the collection of the Service Historique de la Marine, Paris

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

from a watercolour by Prevost in the collection of the Service Historique de la Marine, Paris

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

from a drawing by Blondela, engraved by Le Grand Plate 21 of the Atlas of the Voyage of Laperouse

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

from a drawing by Duche de Vancy, engraved by Langlois le Jeune Plate 23 of the Atlas of the Voyage of Laperouse

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

In the collection of the Archives Nationales, Paris

Gift of the Vancouver Maritime Museum, Canada

drawn by Blondela, in the collection of the Archives Nationales, Paris

Gift of the Vancouver Maritime Museum, Canada

from a painting by Louis-Phillipe Crepin (1772-185 1), commissioned by the Marquis Jean-Joseph de la Borde to commemorate the loss of his two sons in the disaster. Private collection, Madrid

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

The tragedy took place on 13th July, 1786 when 21 officers and crewmen drowned after their longboats were swamped at sea in treacherous currents. Laperouse erected a monument in memory of his comrades on a small island in the bay, which was renamed “Cenotaph Island”.

Plate 34 of the Atlas of the Voyage of Laperouse

Gift of the Vancouver Maritime Museum, Canada

from a drawing by Duche de Vancy in the collection of the Service Historique de la Marine, Paris

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

The Boussole of Laperouse is on the right and flies the broad pennant of the commander. On the left is the Astrolabe of Langle. Natives in small canoes surround the frigates, seeking trade with the visitors.

from a 1791 watercolour by Tomas de Suria, artist with the Malaspina expedition, after a drawing by Duche de Vancy left at the mission, in the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

from a drawing by Duche de Vancy, engraved by Masquelier Plate 40 of the Atlas of the Voyage of Laperouse

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

“This city has a very pleasant appearance; several superb houses, rented to the managers of various companies who are forced to spend the winter in Macao, remain as proof of its former opulence.”

from drawings by Duche de Vancy, engraved by Simonet and Dupreel Plates 41 and 42 of the Atlas of the Voyage of Laperouse

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

from drawings by Blondela, engraved by Le Pagelet Plates 59 and 60 of the Atlas of the Voyage of Laperouse

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

from drawings by Duche de Vancy, engraved by Cathelin and Dennel Plates 50 and 54 of the Atlas of the Voyage of Laperouse

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

Top: A stout Laperouse is standing at the centre. Lavaux, the surgeon from the Astrolabe is questioning two elders: he is compiling a dictionary of the natives’ language.

from the original map in the collection of the Archives Nationales, Paris

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

from drawings by Blondela and Duche de Vancy, engraved by Masquelier Plates 56 and 53 of the Atlas of the Voyage of Laperouse

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

 161.  Portrait of Barthelemy de Lesseps

 from a drawing included in the book of his voyage

Gift of the University of New South Wales

At the age of 19, the young Lesseps arrived in Versailles with messages from Russia where his father was consul-general m St Petersburg. His fluent Russian made him the obvious choice as interpreter for the expedition. Carrying records and despatches, Lesseps set out for France from Petropavlosk in September 1787. His journey overland took more than a year and he arrived back in Versailles on 17th October, 1788. He was subsequently called to identify the objects brought back from Vanikoro by Captain Dillon in 1827.

from drawings by Blondela and Duche de Vancy, engraved by Le Pagelet and Simonet Plates 62 and 55 of the Atlas of the Voyage of Laperouse

Gift of the Musee de la Marine Paris

 Original etching, 1987, by Pamela Griffith

Commissioned by the Laperouse Association for the Australian Bicentenary

Gift of Pamela Griffith

from a drawing by Ozanne, engraved by Dequevauviller Plate 66 of the Atlas of the Voyage of Laperouse

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

The tragedy occurred on the 11th December, 1787 when Langle decided to take a party ashore to replenish the Astrolabe’s water supply. Laperouse felt the trip unnecessary but finally allowed it to proceed. Clearly sensing no danger until it was too late, Langle allowed his two small boats to be stranded by the outgoing tide. A thousand islanders attacked the visitors, killing 12 men including Langle and Lamanon and wounding 20 others. Devastated, Laperouse wrote:

“It was most distressing for me to tear myself away from this fated place and leave behind the bodies of our murdered companions. I had lost an old friend, a man of great understanding judgement and knowledge and one of the best officers of the French Navy.”

Gift of the Vancouver Maritime Museum, Canada

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

166. Top : Portrait of d’Entrecasteaux (1737-1793) Bottom: Cover of the “Atlas of the Voyage of d Entrecasteaux”

Top : from a lithograph by Lemercier, 1837, after a drawing by Maurin Bottom: from an engraving of 1807

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

Gift of the Vancouver Maritime Museum, Canada

Having shown intense interest in the planning of the voyage, the king was kept fully informed on all reports that came back to France and personally spoke at length with Lesseps in the autumn of 1788. His concern was not diminished by the Revolution which engulfed the nation in the summer of 1789 nor by the trauma of his imprisonment which followed when he failed to flee France. As the unhappy man climbed the steps to the guillotine in the Place de la Concorde, he enquired once more: ‘At leash is there any news of Monsieur de Laperouse?”

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

National concern was mounting for the safety of Lap6rouse, whose ships were long overdue in the Be de France (Mauritius) harbour. By mid 1790, Fleurieu, now appointed Minister for the Navy, was drawing up a report on the known facts and some initial plans for a search. On a formal appeal from the Academie des Sciences and the Societe d’Histoire Naturelle, the National Assembly voted in early 1791 a sum large enough to fit out a major search expedition. It sailed in September, 1791 under the command of Bruni d’Entrecasteaux, France’s most experienced officer in Far Eastern navigation.

 from a watercolour by Frederic Roux, 1850, in the Musee de la Marine, Paris

Gift of the Vancouver Maritime Museum, Canada

D’Entrecasteaux sailed from Brest on 29th September, 1791 in search of Laperouse in these two 500ton refitted storeships with. 219 officers, scientists and crewmen. 89 of them died during the expedition which disintegrated in the Dutch East Indies in 1794 amid bitterness, recrimination and an open clash between royalists and republicans. By that time, d’Entrecasteaux and his second-in­command had died from scurvy and tropical disease, the futile search had been abandoned and survival had become the order of the day.

Drawn by J.D. Barbie du Bocage, engraved by d’Houdan and published in La Billardiere’s Atlas for the Relation of the Voyage in Search of Laperouse, 1811

Loan from Dr M.S Lefebvre

D’Entrecasteaux circumnavigated Australia almost twice in the years 1792-93. The collapse of the expedition and its failure to find Laperouse over-shadowed some real achievements, particularly the detailed explorations of Tasmania, the south-west coast of Australia, New Caledonia and the Solomon Islands, with their provision of charts, accounts of native life and natural history observations.

The expedition even sighted the island of Vanikoro, ironically naming it “Ile de la Recherche” (Search Island), but another 34 years were to pass before the wrecks would be located.

 171.  Views of Van Diemen’s Land from the Voyage of d’Entrecasteaux

from drawings by Piron, 1793

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

From top to bottom:

1. D’Entrecasteaux Channel – Canal de dEntrecasteaux.

2. Search Bay – Baie de la Recherche.

3. Rocks Bay or South Port – Baie des Roches ou Port du Sud.

Etching after a drawing by Piron, published in La Billardiere’s

Atlas for the Relation of the Voyage in Search of Laperouse, 1811 (Plate 8)

Loan from Dr M.S. Lefebvre

from an engraving, 1833 in the Musee de la Marine, Paris

 Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

174.  Views of New Holland from the Voyage of Baudin

from drawings by C.A. Lesueur, 1802, engraved by Pillement and Cloquet

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

175.  Views of New Holland from the Voyage of Baudin

from drawings by C.A. Lesueur 1802-3, engraved by Pillement and Fortier

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris

Having been refused embarcation on the expedition of d’Entrecasteaux, Dupetit-Thouars, a naval lieutenant, decided in 1791 to organise his own expedition in search of Lapdrouse. To raise funds, he issued shares, obtained a small subsidy from the National Assembly and invested all his family’s ressources in the project. He managed to buy the ship Diligent, enlist a small crew of about 20, and set sail on 22nd August, 1792.

He reached the island of Fernando de Norona, off the North-East coast of Brazil but was taken prisoner by the Portuguese, who sent him back to Lisbon. Freed by the intervention of the French Minister for the Navy, he was given the command of the Franklin and the Tonnant on board which he was killed at Aboukir on 1st August, 1798.

from drawings by de Sainson and Sauvergnes

Gift of the Musee de la Marine, Paris