A Colonial Entrepreneur: François Girard (1792?-1859)

Author: KENNETH R. DUTTON
Explorations No 39 (Dec 2005): 3-36
https://doi.org/10.62586/UKAI8175

Kenneth Dutton’s substantial paper is devoted to the life of François Girard, an early French settler and successful businessman in New South Wales. His activities centered on Sydney and the Northern Rivers. As was the case with so many of his contemporaries, Girard’s business career was not without tribulations, thus illustrating the volatility of conditions in the young colony. The Girard story was going to be told jointly by Professor Dutton and Harry Morris, a descendant of François Girard, who at the time was working on a family history, but sadly Harry Morris passed away early during the project and so this study is dedicated to his memory.

Keywords: François Girard, French settler, New South Wales, colony, Harry Morris