The French Australian Review – No 72 Australian Winter 2022


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Foreword

KERRY MULLAN, Preface

IVAN BARKO, Tribute to Colin Nettelbeck

ALEXIS BERGANTZ AND ELIZABETH RECHNIEWSKI, ISFAR@35: Australia and France in a Regional Global Context: Past Engagements and Future Research Directions

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The authors review the work of ISFAR, The French Australian Review and The ISFAR Research Committee in the light of recent political events. Since Australia’s geographical position affords ISFAR a close window onto its Pacific neighbourhood, ISFAR and FAR are uniquely placed to play a crucial role in providing the historical and contemporary perspectives from which to evaluate and document French Australian relations in this region.

Keywords: French-Australian relations, Indo-Pacific and France, New Caledonia, French Polynesia.

BARBARA SANTICH, ISFAR Research Project: French-Australian Exchanges in Viticulture and Winemaking

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British colonists very quickly saw the potential in Australia for growing grapes and making wine, and naturally looked to France as their model. Early vignerons, such as Gregory Blaxland and William Macarthur, visited France to study vineyards and winemaking practices, and often returned with cuttings of French vines. In the second half of the century French vignerons, such as Camille Réau and Jean-Pierre Trouette, established vineyards in Australia. In view of their significance, ISFAR has initiated a project to produce entries for the FADB and a book highlighting the significance of these exchanges. This paper gives an outline of the aims and scope of the project, together with potted biographies of several of the more influential individuals.

Keywords: ISFAR, Australia, France, wine viticulture, William Macarthur, Louis Edouard Bourbaud, Bill Hardy.

Elizabeth Rechniewski, Beatrice Grimshaw: Traveller, Writer and Advocate for Australian Imperialism in the South Pacific

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The author argues that Beatrice Grimshaw was not only a traveller but a prolific writer, of novels, pamphlets and cruise brochures, newspaper and magazine articles that were highly influential in forming the contemporary public’s representations of the Pacific islands and their inhabitants. She also sought to intervene in the political affairs of the nascent Australian nation, encouraging and seeking to facilitate through her writings and her contacts with leading Australian politicians its imperialistic ambitions over the neighbouring islands, including those partly or wholly claimed by France, the New Hebrides and New Caledonia.

Keywords: Beatrice Grimshaw, France, New Hebrides, New Caledonia, Alfred Deakin.

Nicole Townsend, ‘Kangaroos’ and ‘Froggies’: Australian-French Relations and the Allied Invasion of Lebanon and Syria, 1941

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This article focuses on Australia’s war with France during the Second World War, when Australian troops partook in the invasion of the Vichy French mandates of Lebanon and Syria in June 1941. It uses various sources, including oral history interviews, memoirs, diaries, and unit histories, to elucidate how Australian troops negotiated relations with the French, who were both friend and foe. In doing so, it sheds light on a lesser-known period in the Australian-French relationship.

Keywords: Australian-French relations, Operation Exporter, Syria, Lebanon, Second World War, Vichy France, Free France. 

Chantal Crozet, Convergence and Divergence on Gender Inclusive Language in France and Australia

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This article aims to reveal some rich points of ideological divergence and convergence of gender inclusive language (hereafter GIL) between France and Australia as found in scholarly literature and the written press. French and Australian societies are both being challenged by the push for more gender inclusive language. However, linguistic challenges to achieve gender inclusivity in French are much more complex and extensive than they are in English. This explains in part the much more intense level of public debate on GIL in France than in Australia, a point of divergence between the two countries.

Keywords: Gender inclusive language, inclusive writing, The Académie Française.

Kerry Mullan, French-Australian Relations: Une Entente Glaciale Revisited

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In light of last year’s deterioration in French-Australian relations, this article will examine the AUKUS exchanges between former Prime Minister Scott Morrison and President Emmanuel Macron, with a particular focus on the underlying French and Australian English cultural values and assumptions which influenced their communications. It will be argued that these different ways of seeing the world were largely responsible for the decline in relations between the two leaders. The author comments that some benefits of multilingualism, such as better understanding of other worldviews (and one’s own), intercultural communication skills, connection with others, and access to more knowledge, are often considered secondary—and yet, they are indispensable.

Keywords: French-Australian relations, cultural values, interactional style, AUKUS, multilingualism

DOCUMENTS, NOTES AND REVIEWS

Danielle Clode, Book Review: Jean Fornasiero and John West-Sooby (eds), Roaming Freely Throughout the Universe: Nicolas Baudin’s Voyage to Australia and the Pursuit of Science

This book focuses on science and the role of François Péron in Nicolas Baudin’s voyage to Australia and its lasting effects. Péron was one of only three scientists to complete the journey out of the fourteen who originally embarked. There are four sections: the first on the scientific context of voyaging, the second on Péron himself, the third on the scientific records from the voyage and the fourth which, initially, seems to be about participants who were not Péron. In the reviewer’s opinion, the book is ‘not simply a collection of essays’ because the essays have been skilfully situated to foreshadow later developments, gradually layering and revealing detail, nuance and complexity and giving the collection an unexpected narrative structure that is, at times, positively thrilling’.

Keywords: Baudin, Péron, Le Havre Museum, Malmaison, Naturaliste, Géographe.

Andrew Montana, Book Review: John Drury, Two French Sisters in Australia: 1888–1922: Berthe Mouchette and Marie Lion, Artists and Teachers

John Drury’s tribute to the two French sisters, Berthe Mouchette and Marie Lyon reinforces their contributions to French-Australian relations through both their teaching and their cultural activities in both Melbourne and Adelaide. Drury’s meticulous research adds depth to our knowledge of their work, especially of their artistic practices and Lion’s writing. They are also remembered for their post-war charitable work and the ongoing connections with Dernancourt and the Somme.

Keywords: Berthe Mouchette. Marie Lion, Oberwyl, Lady Loch, Annie Besant, Theosophy Adelaide.

Edward Duyker, Book Review: Suzanne Falkiner, Rose: The Extraordinary Voyage of Rose de Freycinet

Suzanne Falkiner’s Rose is an engaging account of the life of Rose de Freycinet, née Pinon (1794–1832). The book is also a biography of Rose’s husband Louis Claude de Saulces de Freycinet (1779–1842) on whose Uranie expedition 1817–1820 she was secreted, in male guise, at the age of twenty-two. Falkiner has used Rose’s manuscripts and the various edited and published versions of her journals and letters (and those of her husband and fellow voyagers) with discernment and skill.

Keywords: Rose de Freycinet, Uranie, Louis de Freycinet, Académie des Sciences.

Briony Nielson, Book Review: Andréas Pfersmann, La littérature irradiée : Les essais nucléaires en Polynésie française au prisme de l’écriture

In La littérature irradiée: Les essais nucléaires en Polynésie française au prisme de l’écriture, Andréas Pfersmann, a literature academic at the Université de la Polynésie française, explores the interplay of issues relating to France’s nuclear testing in the Pacific, as reflected in the work of literary writers in French Polynesia, as well as in metropolitan France and in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Keywords: littérature irradiée, nuclear tests Pacific, Pfersmann, French Polynesian literature.

Edward Duyker, Book Review: Margaret Cameron-Ash, Beating France to Botany Bay: The Race to Found Australia

Reviewer Edward Duyker argues that the idea that Lapérouse was engaged in a race with Arthur Phillip and had secret orders to establish a French colony at Botany Bay, in 1788, is not based on available research.

Keywords: Lapérouse, Arthur Phillip, Botany Bay, French in Australia.

Elaine Lewis, French-Australian Bibliographical Notes

The French Australian Review – No 63 Australian Summer 2017-2018

ELAINE LEWIS, Foreword

THIERRY VINCENT, An Exploration of the Fate of the Australian and Tasmanian Ethnographic Collections brought back by the Baudin Expedition, following the 1804 French Scientific Voyage to Australia [Australian and Tasmanian objects deposited at the Château de Malmaison]

Explorer Nicolas Baudin was entrusted with assembling a collection of plants and animals for the Empress Josephine, some of which were delivered to the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle and the rest to her château at Malmaison. However, on 29 May 1804 some Australian and Tasmanian objects were delivered to Malmaison to join the collection of other objects already stored there. This article explores the fate of these collections and suggests a new approach to determine the quality and importance of the ethnographic objects deposited at Malmaison, where they were kept during Josephine’s life-time and what may have happened to them after 1819 when many were sold to ‘enlightened and passionate amateurs’.

Keywords: Baudin expedition, Empress Josephine, Malmaison, ethnographic objects, Musée des Antiquités

YANNICK LAGEAT and LES HETHERINGTON, The Adventurous Life of Juliette Lopès-Rastoul-Henry

Juliette Henry was born in Laon, France in 1840 in poor circumstances. She died in Sydney, Australia in 1898 and in her lifetime was successively the companion of two figures from the Paris Commune, was once suspected of threatening the peace of the Colony of New Caledonia and late in life felt justified in appealing to the President of the French Public to intervene on her behalf. In 1898 she was described as ‘one of the most large-hearted and intellectual women in Australia’.

Keywords: Juliette Lopès-Rastoul-Henry, Lucien Henry artist, French Commune, New Caledonia, Henri Rochefort, Cercle Littéraire Français, Victor Hugo

TRANSCRIBED BY IVAN BARKO, Excerpts from ‘Behind the Scenes at SBS French Radio’: Danièle Ney-Kemp at the Melbourne Salon

SBS broadcaster Danièle Ney-Kemp in conversation with Christophe Mallet and Jean-Noël Ducasse, chaired by Kerry Mullen at The Melbourne Salon Wednesday October 1 2014. A glimpse behind the scenes at SBS French Radio. Daniele Kemp joined SBS in 1986 and was Executive Producer of SBS French Radio when she retired in 2011. She has received the prestigious decorations of Officer of the French Order of Merit and Chevalier of the French Legion of Honour for her services to the French-speaking community.

Keywords: Danièle Ney-Kemp, Christophe Mallet, Jean-Noël Ducasse, SBS French Radio, Executive Producer of SBS French Radio

MEAGHAN MORRIS, Introducing Ross Chambers

A reprint of Meaghan Morris’s outstanding tribute to Ross Chambers first published in Cultural Studies Review, volume 20 no 1, March 2014.

Keywords: Ross Chambers, Meaghan Morris, Untimely Interventions, Professor of French, University of Sydney, University of Michigan, Atmospherics of the City

MARGARET SANKEY, Obituary: Ross Chambers (1932–2017)

An obituary of Ross Chambers Distinguished Marvin Felheim Professor of French and Comparative Literature Emeritus at the University of Michigan. An inspired educator, working in the areas of French Studies, Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies. He received the French award of Officier dans l’Ordre des Palmes academiques.

Keywords: Ross Chambers, Marvin Felheim Professor of French, French Studies, Comparative Literature, Cultural Studies

CHARLES SOWERWINE, Obituary: Jacques Adler (1927–2017)

Jacque Adler was a member of the Jewish Communist underground in Paris and was active during the second World War. He was involved in the Resistance takeover of the offices of the UGIF (Union générale des Israélites de France) and it was to the UGIF records he would return when writing his PhD thesis at Melbourne University in the early eighties. A version of his thesis was published by Calmann-Lévy in France and another by OUP, The Jews of Paris and the Final Solution. His research was ongoing.

Keywords: Jacques Adler (1927–2017), UGIF (Union générale des Israélites de France), The Jews of Paris and the Final Solution

JAMES GRIEVE, Obituary: Jacqueline Mayrhofer (1936–2017)

Jacqueline Laure Georgette Lécorcher, known to students and teachers of the ANU as Jacqueline Mayrhofer, was born in Troyes, Champagne. She spent most of her life in Australia and taught for decades at ANU. A highly-regarded teacher who inspired the teaching of Introductory French at university level and published the text and tapes, À vous maintenant (River Seine, 1984).

Keywords: Jacqueline Mayrhofer (1936–2017), ANU French Department, À vous maintenant

JULIET FLESCH, Obituary: Olive Wykes Mence (1921–2016)

Olive Wykes, Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur taught French in the Faculty of Education at Melbourne University. Her survey, Foreign Language Teaching in the Australian Universities: a report prepared by Olive Wykes, with recommendations by the Sub-Committee on Foreign Languages was published by the Australian Humanities Research Council in 1963 and in 1968 she and M. G. King published Teaching of Foreign Languages in Australia with the Australian Council for Educational Research.

Keywords: Olive Wykes, Foreign Language Teaching in the Australian Universities, Teaching of Foreign Languages in Australia

KERRY MULLAN, Melbourne Salon and ISFAR events 2017

Melbourne Salons 2017: (1) Mobilities and Migrations in the Bordeaux Wine Trade: From Regional Rivalries to International Icons by Jacqueline Dutton; (2) Flanders in Australia: A Personal History of Wool and War by Jacqueline Dwyer; (3) Les masculinités de la Révolution : L’hercule jacobin, le muscadin, la femme virile by Jean-Marie Roulin.

The first presentation of French and Australian Dialogues, Alliance Française de Sydney, Fraught or Friendly Relations: New Perspectives on Australia and New Caledonia.

Award of Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques to Elaine Lewis, French Consulate General Melbourne.

Bastille Day 2017, Diggers and Poilus: Shared Memories from the First World War by Pauline Georgelin.

Keywords: Kerry Mullan, Jacqueline Dutton, Jacqueline Dwyer, Jean-Marie Roulin, Alliance Française de Sydney, French and Australian Dialogues, Pauline Georgelin, Elaine Lewis

BOOK REVIEWS

ELAINE LEWIS, French-Australian Bibliographical Notes