Explorations – No 39 Dec 2005

(issued June 2006)

IVAN BARKO, Foreword

KENNETH R. DUTTON, A Colonial Entrepreneur: François Girard (1792?-1859)

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

EDWARD DUYKER, Uncovering Jean Piron: In Search of d’Entrecasteaux’s Artist

Edward Duyker’s study of Jean Piron, the artist with d’Entrecasteaux’s expedition in the closing decade of the eighteenth century, follows his biography of the naturalist Labillardiere. This article will appear almost simultaneously with Francois Péron — An Impetuous Life: Naturalist and Voyager, an important and much-awaited study for the Miegunyah Press of one of the senior figures of the Baudin expedition. The Piron article is a valuable contribution to our knowledge of the life and achievements of an artist who is insufficiently known as well as an object lesson in archival research.

Keywords: Jean Piron, d’Entrecasteaux expedition, Labillardière, Baudin expedition, eighteenth century.

BOOK REVIEWS

Kerry Greenwood, Murder in Montparnasse, reviewed by John Ramslan

Explorations – No 37 Dec 2004

(issued October 2005)

IVAN BARKO, Foreword

EDWARD DUYKER, A French Garden in Tasmania: the Legacy of Felix Delahaye (1767-1829)

This special issue of Explorations is devoted to the debate around the recent discovery of what is believed
to be the vestiges of the garden planted in Recherche Bay, Tasmania, in 1792 by Felix Delahaye, the gardener of the d’Entrecasteaux expedition. This article is the backbone of the issue. It focuses on Felix Delahaye, the gardener, his role in the expedition and his relationship with the botanist Labillardiere, to whom Dr Duyker has recently devoted a major biographical study.

Keywords: Felix Delahaye, d’Entrecasteaux expedition, Recherche Bay, Botany, Labillardiere

EDWARD DUYKER, Introductory Comments…

This text provides information about the proposal to log parts of Recherche Bay in Tasmania, and the 2003
discovery of the presumed site of a garden planted during the first visit of d’Entrecasteaux’s expedition in 1792 and Delahaye’s account of the trip.

Keywords: Logging, Felix Delahaye, d’Entrecasteaux expedition, Recherche Bay, botany.

MARYSE DUYKER, Transcription du journal de Félix Delahaye en Terre de Van Diemen (Tasmanie) 1792 et l793

MARYSE DUYKER, Translation of Félix Delahaye’s 1792 and 1793 Journals in Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania)