Category Archives: Members

Sacre bleu! French invasion plan for Sydney

11 Tuesday Dec 2012

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Sacre bleu! French invasion plan for Sydney

 

ABC PM By Rebecca Brice

VIDEO: James Hancock reports on how Sydney Cove could have looked very different (7pm TV News SA)

More has emerged about a little-known French proposal to invade the British colony at Sydney Cove more than two centuries ago.

Historians have often speculated that until Nelson defeated Napoleon’s navy at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, France had plans to invade Sydney.

Now researchers from Adelaide University say they have proof.

For the first time they have translated into English a confidential report from one of the explorers on the Nicholas Baudin expedition of the early 1800s.

Francois Peron, the chief zoologist and intellectual leader of the expedition, authored the draft report in 1802, 14 years after Port Jackson was established.

But until now, only sections have been translated into English.

Associate Professor John West-Sooby heads the Discipline of French Studies at Adelaide University and went to France to see the document. Continue reading →

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Annual General Meeting

27 Saturday Oct 2012

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The Annual General Meeting of the Friends of the Laperouse Museum will be held in the Museum on Sunday 18 November 2012 at 11.00AM

The President, Dr William Land AM, will submit his Annual Report on the day and Hon. Treasurer Theo Arfaras the Financial Report.

Following the formal meeting, members are invited as guests of Randwick City Council for a light lunch and refreshments when the guest of honour, patron and newly elected Mayor of Randwick City, Councillor Tony Bowen, will officially unveil the replica of the Altar Stone from La Boussole.

(Photos: L: Reproduction; R: Original photographed in Museum - sent to France in 2008)

Sydney’s Forgotten French Connection

23 Tuesday Oct 2007

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Southern Courier, 4th September 2007, Tim Martin

There’s a little spot in Botany Bay that holds a treasure chest of Australia’s early history. It’s unknown to many residents of south-east Sydney, but impassioned locals are bringing the Laperouse Museum back into the fold.

Described by the Friends of the Laperouse Museum (FOTLM) as “a hall of artefacts and history”, the little building encircled by Anzac Parade details the journey of the French navigator Jean-Francois de Galaup, Comte de La Perouse and how he came to land in Botany Bay, only days after the First Fleet arrived in 1788. Continue reading →