(issued September 1997)
WALLACE KIRSOP, Foreword
WALLACE KIRSOP, Dennis Davison
A reflection on the contribution of Dennis Davison to Australian cultural life, as a writer, an academic, mentor and participant. He was an Associate Editor of Explorations.
EDWARD DUYKER, With a French Accent in the National Library
An introduction to the holdings of French material in the National Library, inspired by the author’s search for material relating to the French officer Marc-Joseph Marion Dufresne. The article provides details of Dufresne’s maritime exploits, together with those of later French explorers, referring to relevant documents held in the Library.
Keywords: Marion Dufresne, French exploration of Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific, National Library of Australia.
WALLACE KIRSOP, Sir William à Beckett in France
William à Beckett was Victoria’s first Chief Justice. This article discusses his account of his 1853-54 grand tour of Europe in Out of Harness, published in 1854 by J.J. Guillaume in London. The article contains a long excerpt (pp. 92-96 of the book) narrating the French leg of his journey.
Keywords: travel in France in the 1850s, Paris, shops and boulevards.
EDWARD DUYKER, Mauritius and Family History at the National Library
Another overview of the collections in the National Library, this time relating to Mauritius, including genealogical and family history sources as well as other material of a more general interest.
Keywords: Mauritius, National Library of Australia, colonial history of the Indian Ocean.
The House in Robe Street: Addenda
Brief addenda to the article that appeared in Issue No 15
Alexander Massov and Lena Govor, Rossiiskie moryaki i puteshestvenniki v Avstralii [Russian Sailors and Travellers in Australia], reviewed by Edward Duyker
R. E. R. Banks, B. Elliott, J. G. Hawkes, et al., Sir Joseph Banks: A Global Perspective, reviewed by Edward Duyker
Muséum d’histoire naturelle du Havre, Les Velins de Charles-Alexandre Lesueur, Exposition du 4 mai au 2 juin 1996 a l’Espace Claude Monet, reviewed by Edward Duyker
Colin Forster, France and Botany Bay: The Lure of a Penal Colony, reviewed by Edward Duyker