Message from the president
Dear ISFAR friends and colleagues,
This September edition of the newsletter brings some welcome (slightly!) warmer weather with its round up of ISFAR news, events and various activities. We open with details of the latest issue of The French Australian Review (FAR) which centres around the official bilateral agreement between the National Archives of Australia and the Interdepartmental Service of the Archives of France signed in 2016 with a selection of papers presented at an international seminar held in Paris in 2018. We are extremely grateful to guest editors, Jean Fornasiero and John West-Sooby, for their initiative and tireless work in publishing such an important record of this agreement.
John and Jean’s well-timed efforts meant that FAR Co-Editor extraordinaire, Elaine Lewis, was able to enjoy a little less time on editing this issue and more time enjoying her 90th birthday (yes, you read that correctly). We greatly appreciate former French Australian Review Co-Editor Ivan Barko’s tribute to Elaine and echo his sentiments entirely. Elaine is an inspiration to us all and a treasured and integral member of ISFAR. [Elaine will be talking about her life, with Kerry Mullan, in an AALITRA (Australian Association for Literary Translation) event entitled ‘Je ne regrette rien’ on Wednesday 17 September from 6:30-7:15pm at the Linkway Meeting Room, Level 4, John Medley Building, University of Melbourne. The event will be hybrid. Please register here if you would like to attend.]
We continue our series of Reflections on 40 years of ISFAR, this time hearing from Dr Dianne Reilly AM FRHSV, founding member and now honorary life member of ISFAR. These personal reflections are as fascinating and informative as they are important historical records of our committee members and ISFAR’s activities over the years. They also remind us that committee members have always given generously of their time over the years and continue to do so. The success of ISFAR is founded on all of its members – both committee and otherwise; your continued interest in, and support for, French-Australian relations is fundamental. Here’s to the next 40 years of ISFAR!
The French Australian Review
Guest edited by longstanding ISFAR members Jean Fornasiero and John West-Sooby, The French Australian Review, number 78 was published in August 2025 and all members should by now have received their copies. This issue will be of special interest to researchers, students and others interested in knowing where and how to access archival material relating to French-Australian connections in both the French and Australian Archives and may even inspire further studies.
This issue of the review celebrates the official bilateral agreement signed in 2016 between the National Archives of Australia and the Interdepartmental Service of the Archives of France and publishes updated versions of the papers presented by French and Australian scholars and archivists at an international seminar held at the Picasso Museum in Paris in 2018.
Of particular interest is the article by Bruno Ricard, who was the Director of the National Archives of France from 2019 to 2025 and is now Head of the Interdepartmental Service of the Archives of France. Ricard highlights both the value of the bilateral agreement in its own right and the significance of research in the French-Australian field more generally. In his article, titled ‘The Archives: Bridge of Memory between France and Australia’, Ricard describes the collaborative project, initiated by the French Embassy in Canberra under the aegis of the bilateral archival agreement, which led to the digitisation of the d’Entrecasteaux archives.
The d’Entrecasteaux archives contained documents pertaining to Tasmania and the Palawa people, including a Palawa-French vocabulary list. These were transcribed and translated into English and were subsequently inscribed in the UNESCO Memory of the World register. A copy of twenty-seven thousand digitised pages was presented on 4 December 2023, by the French Minister for Foreign Affairs, Catherine Colonna, to the Director of the National Archives of Australia and the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS).
Bruno Ricard’s article can be accessed free of charge on the ISFAR website. Other articles, as well as the complete issue, can also be accessed via the website, on payment of a small fee. Journals 1 to 75 may be read free of charge.
The editors of The French Australian Review thank Jean Fornasiero and John West-Sooby, (both of the University of Adelaide), for proposing this special issue and agreeing to be guest editors.
The next issue of the Journal will also be a special issue. It will celebrate the fortieth year of ISFAR and will publish material from the Symposium held in May 2025, ‘Cultures Croisées: French-Australian Cultural Connections: Exploring the Dynamics of Intercultural Exchange’ as well as some general documents and the usual Bibliographical Notes.
Tribute to Elaine Lewis, Co-Editor of The French Australian Review
This year, Elaine celebrated her ninetieth birthday. It seemed the ideal occasion to celebrate too her dedication to ISFAR and the invaluable roles she has played within it, especially in recent years in developing The French Australian Review into the widely recognised, peer-reviewed journal it is today. This tribute to her has been written by ISFAR life member and former Co-Editor of The French Australian Review (formerly known as Explorations), Professor Ivan Barko.
All of us connected with Explorations, The French Australian Review, and indeed ISFAR, have been exceptionally lucky to enjoy the privilege of working with Elaine Lewis.
Elaine exudes a sense of friendship and warmth, and her judgment, firm and fair, is expressed with compassion and understanding. When interpersonal relations become difficult, we seek her help and advice, knowing that she will achieve the best outcome.
Her great Paris adventure in the final decade of the twentieth century was the physical incarnation of her desire and indeed her need to bring together French and Australian cultures: the Australian Bookshop in Paris (see below) was the peak, the crowning point of her vocation as a mediator. That Bookshop was not merely a place where books were sold: it was a cultural centre, promoting Australian writing and bringing together writers and readers, Australian and French.
When circumstances put a premature end to that wonderful undertaking, Elaine returned to Australia and continued to sponsor French-Australian activities here, making good use of her gifts as a cultural mediator, with a deep understanding of language, poetry and music. She continued to travel between Australia and France, engaging in projects on both sides of the planet, and visiting friends and family.
She soon became involved with ISFAR and the journal Explorations was exceptionally lucky to secure her commitment: it did not take long for those of us who were involved at the time to discover her qualities as a cultural leader. Since 2012, Elaine has been Co-Editor of the journal, now The French Australian Review, and has been instrumental in maintaining its high quality both in terms of content and presentation. Her knowledge of the field, prodigious memory and unerring judgment have been critical as new people have become involved with the organisation and its publication. Arguably her most distinctive contribution has been the invention and the running since 2008 of the ‘French-Australian Bibliographical Notes’. This unique scholarly tool, included in each issue, documents the publication of a wide range of books and other cultural creations connecting Australia and francophone culture. Its value is long-lasting: it will provide a permanent bibliographical record of those links.
Elaine has never sought honours, nor recognition. She has acted always selflessly, out of her desire to deepen understanding and knowledge of the historic and cultural relations that link France and Australia. The recognition of her contribution by the awarding of the Palmes académiques in 2017 was highly deserved.
Our sincere thanks go to Elaine, and we hope that she will continue to inspire us for many years to come.
Elaine’s account of the Franco-Australian cultural centre she founded in Paris Left Bank Waltz: The Australian Bookshop in Paris (Random House, 2006) is highly recommended.
Reflections on 40 years of ISFAR
Following the article by Professor Ivan Barko in the last newsletter, life member Dr Dianne Reilly writes the next in our series reflecting on 40 years of ISFAR.
It is an immense pleasure to be invited to contribute a personal reflection on the history of ISFAR in this 40th anniversary year.
ISFAR was founded in 1985 at Monash University by Dr Colin Nettelbeck and Dr Dennis Davison – Colin at that time a Senior Lecturer in the French Department, and Dennis a Senior Lecturer in the English Department – with the vital participation of Dr Wallace Kirsop, then a Senior Lecturer in the French Department, who was Founding Editor of the Institute’s journal Explorations, a role he fulfilled until 2008.
The original purpose of ISFAR was to act as a forum of discussion and collaboration for those from academia and the wider community, francophone and francophile, with an interest in French-Australian matters. Just as importantly, it was to serve as a research and resource centre in all areas of French-Australian relations, historical and current, in the humanities as well as in the sciences and technology. The continued and developing success of the Institute in these spheres is testament to the dedication of successive members over the last four decades. Of course, the quality of the Institute’s journal Explorations and the continuing excellence of its successor, the peer-reviewed The French Australian Review, are a great contribution to scholarship in the field.
John Drury and I were founding members of ISFAR, along with numerous students, independent historians and a variety of writers, actors and artists with an interest in France and French culture. I was fortunate to be a student of Dennis Davison at the time, working on my Master’s thesis which focused on the life and work of French photographer, writer and gold miner Antoine Fauchery. John Drury was also working with Dennis on the early stages of his well-received biography of French artist and teacher Berthe Mouchette.
With Dennis Davison’s flair for the theatrical, he organized frequent forums after academic hours and inveigled many of us among the early cohort of members with well-disguised acting talents to read our work aloud, and to appear on stage in various French comedies and the occasional tragedy. It was all great fun, enjoyed and valued by us all in those early years!
Over many years, committee meetings were convened at the homes of members, the University of Melbourne now providing a meeting place. Activities have not only been of an educational nature. Close relationships have been cultivated with successive French Consuls in Melbourne, and with various French Ambassadors whose interest in the work of ISFAR has resulted in financial assistance to the Institute. One of the first examples of this was the provision of funding for the restoration of the grave site at the Melbourne General Cemetery of the Comte de Chabrillan, the first French Consul in Victoria. This diplomatic liaison was continued when John Drury identified and arranged the restoration of the neglected graves of other French official representatives who had died in Melbourne, including the Comte de Castelnau, Consul-General from 1864, and Nicolas Emile Mouchette, Chancelier and Acting Consul, 1881–84.
Following 32 years as members of the committee, John and I were very proud to have been made Honorary Life Members of ISFAR in 2017. It has been gratifying to be associated with an organisation that, throughout its 40 years’ history, has reflected so well on the close cultural links between Australia and France, and continues to promote them through scholarship. Long may it continue!
President’s note: Two French Sisters in Australia 1881 – 1922 Berthe Mouchette and Marie Lion Artists and Teachers by John Drury is also highly recommended.
Recent events
Celebrating 15 years of the Melbourne Salon, Screening France in Australia, was held at the new Alliance Française de Melbourne French Hub on Thursday 24 July. Two “self-avowed cinéphiles”, James Hewison and Andrew McGregor, discussed the impact of French cinema on Australian audiences, critics, filmmakers, actors and crews over more than a century of screenings of French films in Australia. From the first exhibition of the Lumière brothers’ revolutionary cinématographe at the turn of the twentieth century, through the birth of auteur cinema during the French New Wave of the late 1950s and early 1960s, to the continuing popularity of the Alliance Française French Film Festival, the largest French film festival in the world outside France, James and Andrew discussed some of the key moments in the history of French cinema in Australia, as well as some of the many fascinating collaborations between the French and Australian film industries over the years. They also explored how France represents itself through film, how the French industry sees itself as a defender of cinema, and what lessons can be learned for the future of the Australian film industry. Approximately 40 people attended.
Andrew McGregor and James Hewison at the Melbourne Salon
Credit: Lucie Brocard, Alliance Française de Melbourne
Two webinars were held for ISFAR members in August. On Wednesday 20 August, the History department at the University of Sydney invited ISFAR members to join the seminar given by Dr Ekaterina Heath on ‘Napoleon in Australia: Collections, Memory, and Living Monuments’. The first section of her presentation examined the long‑neglected Napoleonic collection assembled by Dame Mabel Brookes, and discussed why such a rich collection, once a vehicle for international diplomacy and local heritage‑making, has been largely forgotten. The second section adopted a novel approach to reading history through botany, focusing on the so-called ‘Napoleon’s willows’ that now grow across Australia and are widely classified as a weed. Brought here by nineteenth‑century travellers who took cuttings from the site of Napoleon’s tomb, they were often planted in places of civic pride, political symbolism, and private commemoration.
On Friday 29 August a webinar was held on ‘Re/Framing AI Across Cultures: French-Australian Perspectives on Creative AI Implementation and Industry Innovation’. The webinar was organised jointly with AFRAN, a collaboration that we hope will lead to other shared events in the future. Dr Daniel Binns, Senior Lecturer in the School of Media & Communication at RMIT University (and ISFAR committee member) and Professor Everardo Reyes, Professor of Information and Communication Sciences in the Faculty of Sciences and Technologies at Université Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis, gave many illustrations of their own work in this field, and explored some of the issues, challenges and perhaps promises held out by this recent leap in computing. The slides from their presentation can be viewed here: Re.framing AI across cultures – French Australian perspectives 2025-Aug. Around 20 people attended the seminar.
Future events: Dr Alexis Bergantz, co-chair of the Research Committee, was awarded an NLA (National Library of Australia) fellowship this semester to study their archives relating to the founding and evolution of the South Pacific Commission (now the Pacific Community). He will be giving a presentation on his research on 6 November at a hybrid seminar that will be open to ISFAR members. More details soon.
News from our members
Professor Véronique Duché, A.R Chisholm Professor of French at the University of Melbourne (and ISFAR Vice-President), presented a paper at the 64th SAES Congress held in Toulouse in June 2025. The title of her paper was ‘Theatre from a land Down-Under’. SAES is the Société des Anglicistes de l’Enseignement Supérieur.
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Dr Daniel Binns, Senior Lecturer in Media at RMIT University (and ISFAR committee member) was an invited contributor to this report on AI and People back in February 2025. He reported on his teaching and ongoing critical-creative work with generative AI.
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Melbourne French Theatre – 50th anniversary commemorative book – seeking potential writers
Melbourne French Theatre Inc. was founded in 1977 and will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2027. Plans are well underway for a book to commemorate this anniversary and the 50 years of the unique history of Melbourne French Theatre. We are aiming to have the book ready for publication in the third quarter of 2028.
A detailed structure for the book has been developed and will take the form of thematic chapters focusing on, among other topics: the plays and playwrights; the actors, directors and creatives; the theatre’s touring history in Australia and the Pacific; the theatre’s innovative surtitling; and its deep connections with the Melbourne local, tertiary, French and Francophone community and partners. A detailed list of proposed chapter titles is available on request. We envisage that chapters would be around 5,000 words maximum in length and written for a general audience.
Melbourne French Theatre is keen to hear from writers/researchers (ideally with French reading skills) who would have an interest in writing one or more chapters. Writers would have access to the substantial records (hard copy, electronic, videos, artwork, etc) held in the Melbourne French Theatre office in Carlton, as well as interviews and ongoing liaison with Michel Bula. Expressions of interest with CV should be sent to Michel Bula at the following email productions@mft.org.
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Australian Football in Europe – Amsterdam, Euro Cup, July 2025 – France wins the men’s final, defeating Wales in the Grand Final
Stephen Alomes reports that after several years of Ireland winning the Euro Cup, the French proved to be more than pretenders, a theatrical presence at international tournaments – often defeated by Irish skill and speed or by stronger German bodies.
Following is the CNFA (French footy association) Facebook report on the game.
🇫🇷 CHAMPIONS D’EUROPE ! 🏆🌍
Historique ! Pour la première fois de son histoire, l’équipe de France remporte le l’Euro Cup ! 🔥
Après une 5e place en 2023 et une finale atteinte en 2013, les Coqs franchissent enfin la dernière marche !
Une journée intense à Amsterdam :
🇩🇪 Victoire en poule contre l’Allemagne
🇦🇹 Victoire contre l’Autriche
🇮🇱 1/4 de finale : victoire contre Israël
🇮🇪 1/2 finale : succès face à l’Irlande (seulement notre 2e victoire en 9 confrontations !)
🏴Finale : triomphe contre le Pays de Galles pour décrocher le titre !
Un immense bravo à tous les joueurs et le staff qui ont porté haut les couleurs tricolores.
V 🔵⚪🔴 🇫🇷 🇫🇷 🇫🇷
Festschrift in honour of John West-Sooby
The latest issue of the Australian Journal of French Studies is a Festschrift in honour of longstanding ISFAR member (and guest co-editor of The French Australian Review 78), John West-Sooby. John is Emeritus Professor of French at the University of Adelaide, where he was an integral member of the Department of French for over twenty years.
Following is the table of contents:
Natalie Edwards and Alistair Rolls, “Editors’ Preface”.
Jean Fornasiero, “A Romantic Road to Utopia: Balzac and Ballanche in the Grande Chartreuse”.
Ben McCann, “Lang and Godard: The Dinosaur and the Baby”.
Natalie Edwards, “Vernon Subutex and Julien Sorel: Urban Trajectories and Contemporary Realisms”.
Greg Hainge, “Terra Nullius Times Two: Reading d’Agata after Lesueur and vice versa”.
Hannah Doyle, “La mise en scène de la dédicace dans la poésie de Marceline Desbordes-Valmore”.
Alistair Rolls and Clara Sitbon, “Habeas Corpus: Carter Brown and the Production of The Body”.
Jean-Luc Chappey, “Construire la Terreur par les martyrologies de savants (1794–1796)”
Cédric Crémière, “Object matter(s), ou John West-Sooby et la « pensée pragmatique »”.
New book by Jayne Tuttle
We congratulate Jayne Tuttle on the recent publication of the third book in her Paris trilogy, The Sea in the Metro.
Jayne is the author of Paris or Die and My Sweet Guillotine. She lived and worked in France for over 15 years, as an actor, translator and copywriter. She now co-owns The Bookshop at Queenscliff in coastal Victoria. The book is available from Hardie Grant.
Eloquence Art Prize
As part of our ongoing collaboration with Culture Plus, ISFAR is delighted to be supporting the 2025 Culture Plus Eloquence Art prize. This year’s Awards night will be held at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney on 18 September, and you are warmly invited to attend.
Seeking guidance on opportunities in France–Australia relations and policy
My name is Marc Pajares, and I am an International Studies student at RMIT, majoring in Global Politics with minors in French and Spanish. Having grown up in diverse cultural and urban environments, I developed a strong interest in international affairs, urban development and sustainability, while also strengthening my fluency in Spanish, French and Filipino alongside English. My experiences include an academic exchange in Madrid, volunteering as a Student Sustainability Ambassador at RMIT, participating in the New Colombo Plan Public Health Study Tour in Indonesia, and volunteering in sustainable initiatives for B-Alternative enterprise.
I am now seeking opportunities to gain experience in French-Australian relations, diplomacy, and sustainable policy, particularly within embassies, cultural or professional organisations, and international institutions. My long-term goal is to build a career that connects Australia, France and broader international contexts through working in urban development, climate policy and international cooperation.
Thank you for reading! I’m always excited to connect with fellow students, professionals and organisations in international affairs, diplomacy, and sustainability. Feel free to reach out via marcpajares02@gmail.com or connect with me on linkedin.com/in/marc-pajares-9662b5240.
Current exhibitions
The Melbourne Winter Masterpieces Exhibition 2025 – French Impressionism – at the National Gallery of Victoria closes on 5 October. This is a major exhibition developed by the Museum of Fine Arts Boston in partnership with the NGV, drawing on MFA Boston’s rich collection of Impressionist masterworks, with over 100 paintings from key figures including Monet, Manet, Degas, Renoir and Pisarro.Fr
Recent articles and items of interest
Chair of the ISFAR Advisory Board Emeritus Professor Robert Aldrich recently wrote about the Bougavil Accord and the challenges and opportunities facing New Caledonia in an article published by the Australia Academy of the Humanities.
See also the article by Pierre-Christophe Pantz in The Conversation France for an update on the Bougival Accord and its reception by the FLNKS.
The Age published a story about two longstanding ISFAR members, Marie-Louise and Paul Thornton-Smith who met and fell in love while attending French classes at the Alliance Française de Melbourne. The story also reported on the recent opening of the Alliance’s new Melbourne CBD headquarters.
Dr Rachel Orzech (who presented at the ISFAR 40th Anniversary Symposium in May) has won the Australian Academy of the Humanities 2025 McCredie Musicological Award with her research on the music of 19th century German composer Richard Wagner and the surprising, complex and little-known role it played in French cultural history and identity in the years surrounding World War II.
Contact us at ISFAR
ISFAR: isfarinc@gmail.com
The French Australian Review: french.australian.review@gmail.com
ISFAR Research Committee co-chairs: alexis.bergantz@rmit.edu.au;elizabeth.rechniewski@sydney.edu.au
Join ISFAR or renew your ISFAR membership. Membership includes subscription to The French Australian Review journal.
Follow us
Facebook: www.facebook.com/FrenchAustralianRelations
Twitter: https://twitter.com/theISFAR
Useful links
Alliance Française de Melbourne www.afmelbourne.com.au
Association of French Teachers in Victoria (AFTV) www.aftv.vic.edu.au
Australian-French Association for Research and Innovation (AFRAN) www.afran.org.au
Australian Historical Association www.theaha.org.au
Bastille Day French Festival Melbourne www.bastilledaymelbourne.com
French Assist Melbourne www.frenchassistmelbourne.org.au
French Australian Chamber of Commerce www.facci.com.au
ISFAR resources
ISFAR provides resources to researchers in the field of French-Australian studies, with the support of the authors or contributors who give their approval to publish this material. Access all ISFAR resources www.isfar.org.au/resources.