JANE GILMOUR, Foreword

JEAN FORNASIERO AND JOHN WEST-SOOBY, The French Revolution and the Politics of Sea Voyaging

This article provides details on an international research project, bringing together eight researchers from three continents, into State-sponsored French voyages in the Revolutionary era. It seeks to set these voyages within their intellectual and political contexts. The article provides insights into some of the early findings of this research—the similarities and differences in the voyages undertaken between 1789 and 1804, with particular reference to two voyages led by Nicolas Baudin, the first in 1796 and the second departing in 1800.

Keywords: French Revolution, voyages of scientific discovery, Nicolas Baudin, the Belle Angélique, the Géographe

ALEXIS BERGANTZ, The Culture and Politics of Frenchness in Australia (1890–1914): Reflections on a Research Project

This article presents a reflection on the evolution of the author’s research project between 2011 and 2015, as it shifted from a focus on migration to one situated within a transnational frame. The author was able to draw extensively on the archives of the Sydney and Melbourne French consulates, which are housed in France. Through these and other documents he was able to explore the role that France and the French played in the development of Australian culture in the late nineteenth century.

Keywords: migrant history, national identity, New Caledonia, cultural capital, Russel Ward, Archives of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs

VÉRONIQUE DUCHÉ AND DANIEL RUSSO-BATTERHAM, Australians at War: Food Matters

The authors have drawn on the archives of the University of Melbourne to document and analyse Australian soldiers’ experiences and intercultural interactions around food in the First World War. The importance of food in the daily structure of life and in troop morale, the quality of food and the opportunities for experiencing local food are documented and discussed through extracts from personal diaries, articles, letters and other documents. The article is enlivened by the inclusion of a number of cartoons from Aussie, The Australian Soldiers’ Magazine.

Keywords: The First World War, Australian troops in France, the Comforts Fund, Aussie, the Australian Soldiers’ Magazine, The University of Melbourne archives

COLIN NETTELBECK, The National Library of Australia’s French Second World War Collection

This note documents a little-known collection of French material from the Second World War, which was acquired by the National Library of Australia in 1867. The collection consists of many hundreds of documents relating to the political, social, moral and legal aspects of the war and occupation in France. There are broadsides, pamphlets, propaganda leaflets and publications representing all perspectives on this troubled period in French history. The note includes a small number of cartoons/illustrations from these various publications.

Keywords: France during the Second World War, Léon Delarbre, H.P. Kraus Periodicals, The National Library of Australia

WILLIAM A. LAND, The Palmes Académiques in Australia

This note documents the history of the establishment of the Palmes académiques, their current status and the history of the awards in Australia.
A list of Australian recipients of the award was compiled by the author and can be consulted on the ISFAR website under Resources.

Keywords: Palmes académiques, Association des Membres de l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques (AMOPA)

CHRISTINA OLSZEWSKI, COLIN NETTELBECK AND PATRICIA CLANCY, Micheline Giroux (1928–2017)

An obituary of a highly regarded teacher of French, who spent many years in the Department of French at the University of Melbourne and then, after retiring, continued teaching at the Stonnington University of the Third Age.

Keywords: lecteur, University of Melbourne, Melbourne French Theatre

BOOK REVIEW
Flanders in Australia: A Personal History of Wool and War, by Jacqueline Dwyer, reviewed by Edward Duyker

ELAINE LEWIS, French-Australian Bibliographical Notes.