New Perspectives for the Archives of the Baudin Expedition

Authors: JEAN FORNASIERO AND JOHN WEST-SOOBY
The French Australian Review No 78 (Australian Winter 2025): 78–98.
https://doi.org/10.62586/WDGF1143

Taking as its case study the scientific voyage of discovery to Australia led by Nicolas Baudin in 1800–1804, this article reviews the history of French- Australian collaboration in the retrieval and dissemination of maritime archives, from the late nineteenth to the early twenty-first centuries. It then considers some of the particular advances in historical debates that have been made possible by the increased visibility of the Baudin expedition’s archives, thereby highlighting the key contribution these sources have made, and continue to make, to the evolution of French as well as Australian—and French-Australian—historiography.

Keywords: French maritime exploration, archival retrieval and dissemination, French- Australian collaboration, historiography