Explorations – No 41 Dec 2006

(issued June 2008)

IVAN BARKO, Foreword

KENNETH R. DUTTON, Early Colonial Attitudes towards France and the French

This article surveys the attitudes of early colonialists, particularly governors, to the French as well as their knowledge of the French language, and indeed of its literature. The article draws on various sources to give examples, including court records and the autobiography of Lieutenant Colonel Charles George Gray.

Keywords: French explorers and naturalists, Captain Philip King, François Girard, Francis Barrallier, Francis Nicholas Rossi, Lieutenant Colonel Charles George Gray

PATRICIA HAMOU, De l’usage pseudo-scientifique de la taxinomie dans les thèses du racialisme français au XIXème siècle

This study traces the origins of racialist theories in France as they developed from the beginning of the nineteenth century. The emphasis is mainly on documents portraying Australian Aborigines: journals, memoirs, scientific publications and also literary essays.

Keywords: modern anthropology, racial hierarchy, taxonomic approach, Auguste Comte, Gobineau, Renan, Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, ‘spectacles ethnologiques’, Carl Lumholtz, John Fraser, perversion of science for political purposes

IVAN BARKO, The Case Against the Allegation that Lapérouse’s Men Killed 20 Aborigines on 26 January 1788

This article refutes a statement made firstly in a book published in 1995 and then in a NSW Government draft report that the crew of Lapérouse’s ships had killed a number of Aborigines on 26 January 1788. The refutation is based on a more careful reading of the original source.

Keywords: The Myth of terra nullius – Invasion and Resistance: the early days, New South Wales Department of Environment and Conservation, Lapérouse, Newton Fowell, Sirius Letters, Samoa

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