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PUBLIC LECTURE: Friends of the Library Speaker

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Today's date is Tuesday, March 19, 2024
Friends of the Library Speaker : Almost a French Australia Other events...
French-British Rivalry in the Southern Oceans

Australia was very nearly a nation divided, like Canada, with two languages and cultures, nevertheless Australian history books neglected these early chapters of our nation’s history for almost two centuries.

In a strategic battle with her rival across the English Channel in the 18th and early 19th centuries, France sent numerous scientific and commercial expeditions to the Indian and Pacific Oceans, attempting to solve the mysteries of the legendary Terra Australis Incognita, and hoping to locate suitable ports for commercial ventures below the Equator. However, because of shipwreck or illness, many French captains and officers perished, and could not report their exciting discoveries directly to their King or Emperor. With the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789 and its subsequent mayhem meant that France was not politically or financially stable enough to develop colonies in the southern oceans until the mid 19th century.

Therefore France, despite having claimed the western side of this country, and making many thousands of important scientific discoveries in this region, eventually withdrew from Australia, allowing the British carte blanche to develop this nation and effectively block the French from both Australia and New Zealand.

Noelene Bloomfield, BA (Hons), MA, CertT, Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques, who is currently a Research Fellow in European Languages and Studies at The University of Western Australia, taught French in NSW before lecturing at the University of Oregon in the USA in the 1960s. She then joined the staff of French Studies at The University of Western Australia, from 1968 till 2002.

Noelene has published a textbook entitled Voyage de Découverte and produced a DVD and a CD-ROM on the extensive French exploration in Australian waters. She also created an exhibition entitled A French Australia? Almost!, which was displayed in Australia and overseas, including a French version currently touring in France. Last year Noelene co-authored a book on the first 100 years of the Alliance Française association in Perth, Western Australia. Her forthcoming book, entitled Almost a French Australia: French-British Rivalry in the Southern Oceans, will be released by Halstead Press in September this year.

Free parking is available via Entrance 1, Car Park No.3.

If glass door is unmanned, please enter via spiral staircase to 1st floor, then go down the stairs to the ground floor meeting room.

Refreshments 7:00pm, Presentation at 7:30pm

Member: Free, Non Members $5 donation
Speaker(s) Noelene Bloomfield, Honorary Research Fellow European Languages and Studies UWA
Location Reid Library ground floor meeting room (Enter via glass sliding staff door - ground floor - facing car park)
Contact Susan O'Connor <[email protected]> : 6488 2354
Start Tue, 14 Aug 2012 19:00
End Tue, 14 Aug 2012 21:00
Submitted by Susan O'Connor <[email protected]>
Last Updated Thu, 09 Aug 2012 18:42
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