Abstract
The voyage led by Nicolas Baudin and its extraordinary scientific achievements are well known to most historians of Australian biology. One of the most expensive and scientifically well-equipped expeditions of discovery, Baudin’s voyage returned to France with a bounty of Australian ethnographic, cartographic and biological material. Over 200,000 specimens and an unparalleled collection of living plants and animals swelled the basements of what is now the Muséum d’histoire naturelle in Paris, as well as the greenhouses of the Empress Josephine.
This exhibition and book continue the process of reviving an all but forgotten part of Australia’s French legacy. It provides an opportunity for a broad audience to connect with the ongoing research that many historians, translators, scientists and historians of science have completed, particularly over the last 20 years, on the French voyages of discovery. And it reminds us too that science and discovery, not just colonization and settlement, is a part of Australia’s European history—and that this scientific vision is breathtakingly beautiful.
This exhibition and book continue the process of reviving an all but forgotten part of Australia’s French legacy. It provides an opportunity for a broad audience to connect with the ongoing research that many historians, translators, scientists and historians of science have completed, particularly over the last 20 years, on the French voyages of discovery. And it reminds us too that science and discovery, not just colonization and settlement, is a part of Australia’s European history—and that this scientific vision is breathtakingly beautiful.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 66-67 |
| Number of pages | 2 |
| Journal | Historical Records of Australian Science |
| Volume | 28 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 8 May 2017 |
Keywords
- Nicolas Baudin
- Science
- Discovery
- Colonization
- Settlement