Page 7 - eMuse Vol.9 No.08

First ever printed map of the whole of Australia published 1811
by Louis de Freycinet from information recorded by Nicolas Baudin.
The scientific expedition proved a great success, with more than In 1815 de Feycinet’s Patie navigation et geographie, which
2500 new species discovered. The French also met with Aboriginal dealt with technical aspects of the surveys, was released. The fol-
people and treated them with great respect. lowing year, Volume II of the voyage was published. The second
At that time, Matthew Flinders in the Investigator was also busy edition of Voyage de decouvertes aux Terres Australes was pub-
mapping the Australian coast. In April 1802, the two explorers met lished in 1824, and in this edition the French authorities recognised
in what is now called Encounter Bay in South Australia. The meet- Flinders’ discoveries on the southern coastline.
ing was amicable and both captains exchanged information about Peron’s and de Freycinet’s published works were printed well be-
places they had charted. fore Matthew Flinders works on the subject. For a time this was the
Baudin then went to the British colony, Sydney for supplies, and definitive authority on the subject. France and England were at war
from there he sent the Naturaliste home, carrying all of the speci- and Flinders was held in captivity at Mauritius from 1803 to 1810.
mens that had been collected by both ships up to that time. He returned to England in poor health initially unable to publish his
Because the Géographe could not venture into some of the shal- journal of his discoveries, A Voyage to Terra Australis. It was eventu-
low waters along the Australian coast Baudin bought a new ship — ally published in 1814.
Casuarina — named after the wood it was made from. He placed Baudin may have been underestimated in his homeland but he is
it under the command of Louis de Freycinet, who would 15 years remembered here in Australia. Like Flinders, his name and places he
later make his own circumnavigation in the corvette l’Uranie. named are on our maps today:
Baudin headed back to Tasmania, before continuing along the Baudin Beach on Kangaroo Island,
southern and western coasts of Australia to Timor, mapping as he Baudin Rocks,
went. Due to his failing health, Baudin turned for home. En route, Nicolas Baudin Island on the west coast of Eyre Peninsula.
on 16 September 1803, he died at age 49 years of tuberculosis at Cape Adieu
Mauritius. D’Anville Bay
Publication of the account and charts of the voyage was under- Cape Bouguer
taken by Francois Peron, the expedition’s naturalist, who was an- Carpenter Rocks
tagonistic towards the commander. A number of monuments honouring Baudin have been estab-
The first publication of Voyage de decouvertes aux Terres Aus- lished around Australia, including eight at various locations around
trales and Volume I of Atlas, which included plates, was released in Western Australia. Six animals are named in his honour:
1807, and the text reflects Peron’s personal clash with Baudin - no Calyptorhynchus baudinii, Baudin’s black cockatoo
mention is made of the commander of the expedition. As a result, Smilisca baudinii common Mexican tree frog
recognition of Baudin’s role in the epic voyage to the southern con- Emoia baudini, Baudin’s emo skink
tinent has been largely ignored until more recent times. Pseudemoia baudini, Bight Coast skink
After Peron’s death in 1810, cartographer Louis de Freycinet con- Zanclea baudini, a jellyfish
tinued to edit the voyage’s account, and in 1811 he published the Baudin pig – a once feral landrace on Kangaroo Island
second part of Atlas, which featured the charts of the expedition.
August 2020 eMuse 7