French Western Australia


French Western Australia 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". The actual claim for French Western Australia on behalf of King Louis XV was made at Baie de Prise de Possession, Dirk Hartog Island on 30 March 1772 by officer Jean Mengaud de la Hage while Louis Aleno de St Aloüarn remained aboard the ship. 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. 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.

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 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; examples by alphabetical order:
  1. Cape Le Grand
  2. Cape Naturaliste
  3. Cape Peron
  4. Capel
  5. Capel River
  6. Shire of Capel
  7. D'Entrecasteaux National Park
  8. Espérance
  9. Francois Peron National Park
  10. Geographe Bay ;
  11. Jurien Bay
  12. Lancelin
  13. Leschenault
  14. Leschenault Estuary
  15. Lesueur National Park
  16. Péron
  17. Point D'Entrecasteaux
  18. Point Samson
  19. Recherche Archipelago
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:

More

Several exhibitions were organised around French Western Australia:
About the 2018–2019 Western Australian Museum exhibition, Diana Jones declared:

General references

In French

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In English

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