In 1791 Admiral Bruny d'Entrecasteaux sailed with two ships from Revolutionary France to search for his compatriot, the explorer La Perouse, who was missing in the Pacific.
Over a period of nearly two years he had held his ideologically divided expedition together. Without his exceptional maritime skills his men (and one cross-dressing woman!) might all have dieda??or played out the destructive fury of the Revolution on the quarterdeck before reaching Java.
More than two centuries later, d'Entrecasteaux's account of his voyage remains a profound affirmation of his achievements. His humane, sensitive and even joyful encounters with the peoples of Australia and the Pacific make this a remarkably appealing book.
Although d'Entrecasteaux failed to discover the fate of La Perouse, and perished in the attempt, his voyage was more than a mere rescue mission.
Between 1791 and 1793 the expedition discovered the Derwent estuary and the D'Entrecasteaux Channel between Bruny Island and mainland Tasmania, and Esperance Bay and the Archipelago of the Recherche in Western Australia.
D'Entrecasteaux's voyage also recorded some of the earliest observations of the Aboriginal people of Tasmania and south-western Australia, and detailed accounts of the islands and peoples of the Pacific, including New Zealand, Tonga, New Caledonia, the Solomon Islands and New Guinea.
D'Entrecasteaux died suddenly off the coast of New Guinea, reportedly afflicted by symptoms of scurvy in July 1793.
Sprache
Verlagsort
Verlagsgruppe
Melbourne University Press
Zielgruppe
Für höhere Schule und Studium
Produkt-Hinweis
Maße
Höhe: 235 mm
Breite: 163 mm
Dicke: 26 mm
Gewicht
ISBN-13
978-0-522-85232-5 (9780522852325)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Klassifikation
Dr Edward Duyker is an independent historian, and the author of fifteen books. He is a fellow of the Linnean Society of London and the Royal Historical Society, and an Honorary Senior Lecturer in the Department of French Studies, University of Sydney. In 2000 he was made a Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Palmes Academiques by the French government. His most recent work, Citizen Labillardiere, was the winner of the 2004 New South Wales Premier's General History Prize. In 2004 he was also awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia.
Maryse Duyker has worked as a French translator and has published three books. She was born on the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius which was once governed by Bruny d'Entrecasteaux. In 1950 she emigrated to Australia, where she married and raised eight children. She has worked as a French translator and contributed to the collection The Discovery of Tasmania (1992) edited by her eldest son Edward.
