The French Australian Review – No 70 Australian Winter 2021

ELAINE LEWIS, JANE GILMOUR, Foreword

ROBERT ALDRICH, Keynote Speech: ISFAR 2021 35th Anniversary Symposium, From the French East Indies Company to the French in the “Indo-Pacific”

Robert Aldrich gives a concise overview of four centuries of the French presence in the Indo-Pacific region. The political and commercial idea of an ‘Indo-Pacific’, it seems, came to attention with a statement by the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2007, then was taken up by US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton in 2010. In 2013, the idea appeared in the Australian Defence White Paper. In the words of Prime Minister Scott Morrison, at the virtual meeting of the Quadrilateral group of powers of the region—Australia, the United States, Japan and India, though not including France—held in March 2021: ‘It is the Indo-Pacific that will now shape the destiny of our world in the 21st Century.

Keywords: Indo-Pacific, French presence in Indo-Pacific, 21st Century, Australia and France in a Regional and Global Context

ANDREW MONTANA, ‘Virtue and Sentiment: Madame Mouchette’s Art and Teaching in Melbourne 1881–1892’
WINNER OF THE 2021 IVAN BARKO AWARD

Australia in the early 1880s welcomed the professional artist and art teacher Berthe Mouchette from France, accompanied by her husband and her sister. Mouchette’s artistic and cultural influence was strong for well over a decade in Melbourne but she is absent from Australian art history, which has prioritised modernism and shunned flower painting, history painting and portraiture, subject genres in which Mouchette excelled.  This article provides a feminist perspective of Mouchette’s work and her contemporary impact. It reveals her French teaching methods and highlights her social networks to promote French culture and language. It shows how she fostered an appreciation of women’s art through her own example, and her student exhibitions, and how she expanded the public sphere in which women operated in an evolving society in Melbourne, prior to her departure for Adelaide due to the depression of the early 1890s.

Keywords: Berthe Mouchette, Australian art in the nineteenth century, Alliance Française de Melbourne

LYNN EVERETT AND RUSSELL CHEEK, ‘The Influence of the Lecoq School on Australian Theatre’

Lecoq School devotees in Australia have created popular and visually rich theatre that has widened the scope of audience appeal to include and embrace new spectators, taking theatre to people who would not ordinarily attend mainstream theatre performances. Through the acting, teaching, directing and devising work of its former students working in Australian theatre, the École Jacques Lecoq continues to influence theatre training and practice in this country.

Keywords : Lecoq School, L’École internationale de théâtre Jacques Lecoq, influence of Lecoq school, Australian theatre

NATALIE EDWARDS AND CHRISTOPHER HOGARTH, ‘The Teaching Research Nexus: French-Australian Migrant Literature in the First-Year French Classroom’

 This article details the ways in which the authors bring their research into their pedagogical practise. Their research project is entitled ‘Transnational Selves: French Narratives of Migration to Australia’ and aims to discover, analyse and disseminate texts written by migrants in the French language from the nineteenth century to the present day. In this article, they discuss how they incorporate this important French-Australian cultural element into a beginner level language course, reminding students of the history and persistence of French-Australian cultural connections.

Keywords: Pedagogy, first-year language learning, literature in language teaching, migrant writing, travel writing, transnational literature

DOCUMENTS, NOTES AND REVIEWS

JANET LILLEY, French-Australian Encounters Number 6

The story of Janet Lilley’s meeting with Pâquerette (Totte) Feisselthe French translator of Mrs Jeannie Gunn’s classic book, The Little Black Princess.

DOCUMENT, Australian Theatre in France: 1994 and 2021

A brief account of two occasions when Australian playwrights were invited to France for readings and translations.

ELIZABETH RECHNIEWSKI AND ALEXIS BERGANTZ, The ISFAR Research Committee Report: ISFAR Research Committee Report on the ISFAR @ 35 Symposium, ‘Australia and France in a Regional and Global Context, Past Engagements and Future Research

ELIZABETH RECHNIEWSKI AND ALEXIS BERGANTZ, Travel Scholarship in Honour of Professor Colin Nettelbeck

KERRY MULLAN, Winner of the 2020 Ivan Barko Prize: Irene Rogers

LAUREN SADOW AND KERRY MULLAN, Obituary: A Tribute to Bert Peeters (1960–2021)

BOOK REVIEWS
PHOEBE WESTON-EVANS, Book Review: Crossed Lines by Marie Darrieussecq, translated by Penny Hueston

KIRSTY CARPENTER, Book Review: New Zealand Journal of French Studies

NICOLE STARBUCK, Book Review: Dumont d’Urville : L’homme et la mer by Edward Duyker

ELIZABETH RECHNIEWSKI, Book Review: Paris Savages by Katherine Johnson

BOOK NOTES, Paris Savages, Cast Among Strangers, a Paris auction and L’Exposition coloniale de 1931, Paris

ELAINE LEWIS, French-Australian Bibliographical Notes

A NOTE FROM LE HAVRE

From June 5 to November 7, 2021, the City of Le Havre celebrates Australian life and culture with the event ‘Le Havre, Australian stopover’

Explorations – No 47 Dec 2009

JANA VERHOEVEN, Foreword

FABRICE DAUCHEZ & JACQUELINE DUTTON, Ambiguous Australian Stereotypes in French Literature: The Case of Nullarbor by David Fauquemberg

The authors investigate the use and significance of stereotypes in David Fauquemberg’s Nullarbor. Dauchez and Dutton situate this recently published book in the tradition of French travel writing about the antipodes and examine how Fauquemberg negotiates the conflicting tendencies between exotic stereotypes on the one hand and authentic, original observation and narration on the other in his representations of Australia and its people.

Keywords: travel writing, Percy G. Adams, Travelers and Travel Liars, indigenous Australians, exoticism, stereotyping, landscape

CHLOE PATTON, ‘New Piety’ and Women’s Agency: A Critique of Bronwyn Winter’s Atheist Feminism

An exploration of the issue of the religiosity of young Muslim women in Western societies and their capacity to make free and autonomous choices. The article discusses Hijab and the Republic: Uncovering the French Headscarf by Australian feminist Bronwyn Winter. Placing Winter’s book in the context of recent scholarship on the topic, particularly of anthropological studies on the so-called ‘new piety’, Patton argues that feminist scholars need to pay closer attention to the agency of young women who wear the hijab.

Keywords: human rights, racism, secularism, hijab, freedom of conscience, oppression of women, women’s agency

WILLIAM LAND, Correcting the Record: The Founding of the Lapérouse Museum in Sydney

The author is President of the Friends of the Lapérouse Museum Association. He argues that the recent NSW government publication Challenges in the Landscape overlooks the role played by the French government, the French-Australian business and artistic community and the Lapérouse Association for the Australian Bicentenary in the creation of the Lapérouse Museum in Sydney.

Keywords: Lapérouse Museum, Sydney, Pierre Roussel, Dr Anne-Marie Nisbet

LAURENCE MOREUX, Discourse at the ‘LC Salon’: French and Australian Conversational Styles—A Study in Cross-Cultural Misunderstandings

The author gives an account of a recent meeting organised by the ‘LC Salons Association’ in Sydney where the language researcher Kerry Mullan and the author of Almost French Sarah Turnbull led a discussion on the cultural differences between Australian and French ways of communicating.

Keywords: Lycée Condorcet International French School in Sydney, Sophie Boland, Kerry MUllan, Sarah Tunrbull, Christophe Hoareau

LIA HILLS, Marie Darrieussecq in Melbourne

Lia Hills is the translator of Marie Darrieussecq’s latest novel, Breathing Underwater. She gives a brief account of Darrieussecq’s participation in the 2009 Melbourne Writers’ Festival.

Keywords: Marie Darrieussecq, Melbourne Writers’ Festival 2009

BOOK REVIEWS AND BOOK NOTES

Jean-François Vernay, Panorama du roman australien des origines à nos jours, reviewed by Maurice Blackman

Xavier Pons Messengers of Eros: Representations of Sex in Australian Writing, reviewed by Hélène Jaccomard

La cuisinière républicaine, Paris, Mérigot jeune, An III [1794-1795]. Reprinted Luzarches, Morcrette, with a short historical essay by Daniel Morcrette, 1976, reviewed by Juliet Flesch

Colin Dyer, The French Explorers and Sydney, reviewed by Margaret Sankey

Charles Sowerwine, France since 1870: Culture, Society and the Making of the Republic, reviewed by Robert Aldrich

Ann Galbally, A Remarkable Friendship: Vincent Van Gogh and John Peter Russell, reviewed by Patricia Clancy

Book Notes, by Elaine Lewis
Aileen La Tourette, Late Connections
Pierre Grundmann, L’instinct de la tueuse

ELAINE LEWIS, French-Australian Bibliographical Notes

Explorations No 10 – Jun 1991

WALLACE KIRSOP, Foreword

C.B. THORNTON-SMITH, Two Adaptations of S.T. Gill by Gustave Doré

This article examines the adaptation by Gustave Doré of two of S.T. Gill’s drawings, for publication in the French magazine Le Tour du monde. These drawings were meant to illustrate a pseudo-travelogue (“De Sydney à Adélaïde”) which the author argues was not, as claimed by the editors, the text of private correspondence but the translation and adaptation of published material.

Keywords: travel writing, S.T. Gill, Gustave Doré, Le Tour du monde, Rambles in the Antipodes, Dr Edward Wilson, Hubert de Castella, Les Squatters australiens

JOHN HOLROYD, The Grand Bibliopole: William LeGrand

William Legrand was an eccentric but erudite bookseller who arrived in Tasmania in 1855 at the age of approximately 39. Little is known of his background except that he was thought to be of French descent. Apart from antiquarian books, Legrand was also an expert in conchology and in 1871 he published a treatise on “Tasmanian land shells”. Legrand died in 1902, aged 86. When due to his illness the business was closed down, approximately 80,000 items (books, manuscripts, memorabilia, artworks, etc.) were disposed of, mostly through a second-hand general dealer.

Keywords: William Legrand, antiquarian bookseller, Hobart, conchology

ROGER LONDON, French-Australian Relations in War Time

Roger London writes of his personal experiences as a French man living in Australia and mobilised at the beginning of the war. He served in Indochina, Japan and Australia between 1940 and 1943. After the war he joined the diplomatic corps and after various postings was appointed head of the French Consulate in Melbourne.

Keywords: Roger London, WWII, mobilisation, Free French Committee in Australia, ABC French language broadcast, Admiral d’Argenlieu

STEPHEN ALOMES, Taking Liberties: a Tale of Two Bicentennials

The two bicentennials of the title are the celebrations of the arrival of the First Fleet in Botany Bay in 1788 and the fall of the Bastille in 1789. Alternating between the two events, the author highlights the parallels and the contrasts between them. One of the main common themes is what the article refers to as “consumer patriotism”. Other similarities are examined.

Keywords: Bicentennial celebrations, consumerism, political exploitation

J.S. RYAN, Patrick White’s Study of French at Cambridge

Patrick White studied French literature at the University of Cambridge (King’s College) between 1932 and 1935, where he read for the Tripos in Modern Languages (French and German). The article lists the various subject areas and set texts attached to them which were on the syllabus during White’s years at Cambridge, the emphasis being, apart from some medieval and 16th century material, on 17th, 18th and 19th century topics.

Keywords: Patrick White, Cambridge University, 1930s, French literature syllabus

BOOK REVIEWS

National Library of Australia, Australian Historic Records Register, reviewed by Edward Duyker

Lynne Strahan, Private and Public Memory: A History of the city of Malvern, reviewed by Edward Duyker

Francoise Lionnet, Autobiographical Voices: Race, Gender, Self-Portraiture, reviewed by Edward Duyker

Bernard Gildas, Guide des recherches sur l’histoire des familles, reviewed by Edward Duyker

Australian Dictionary of Biography, volume 12:1891-1939, reviewed by Edward Duyker

Joseph Lo Bianco & Alain Monteil, French in Australia: New Prospects, reviewed by Edward Duyker

Explorations No 3 – Jul 1986

WALLACE KIRSOP, Foreword

ROBERT TRUMBLE, Vincent d’Indy – musicien français – an account of a significant French/Australian link

This article sketches the career of composer Vincent d’Indy, a pupil of César Franck, and his undeserved eclipse since his death in 1931. The Australian connection was first established by Bernard Heinze, later Sir Bernard, when, at the end of the first World War, he enrolled in Vincent d’Indy’s Schola Cantorum in Paris, and it was nurtured by Louise Dyer, the founder of Éditions l’Oiseau-Lyre. The author describes his own efforts to promote Vincent d’Indy’s music and memory, and his association with Guy de Lioncourt, d’Indy’s nephew and successor at Schola Cantorum.

Keywords: Vincent d’Indy, César Franck, Sir Bernard Heinze, Louise, Dyer, Schola Cantorum, Guy de Lioncourt

DIANNE REILLY, Melbourne through French Eyes: Antoine Fauchery

The author describes Fauchery’s early life in Paris, his vocation as a writer and friendships with other writers and celebrities, and then his first period in Victoria from 1852-1856. It draws on his account of his time in Australia, Lettres d’un mineur en Australie, which was published in serial form in a Paris newspaper in 1857. It refers also to his unsuccessful commercial venture, the establishment of a Café Estaminet Français in Melbourne.

Keywords: Antoine Fauchery, 1850s gold rush, Ballarat, Nadar, Banville, Baudelaire, A.R. Chisholm, Eureka Stockade

JACQUES H. POLLET DE SAINT-FERJEUX, Paul Merruau’s Les convicts en Australie (Paris, Hachette, 1853)

This “fictional travel book” written for the Bibliothèque des Chemins de fer by an author who never visited Australia alternates between philosophical reflections on punishment and second-hand descriptions of the country. The author of the article claims that, despite these contradictions and flaws, Merruau’s talent as a journalist, his ability to evoke an atmosphere and the quality of his mind make this book worth reading.

Keywords: convicts, Sydney, travel writing, Paul Merruau, Les convicts en Australie

MILES LEWIS, The French Disconnection

In this detailed study of French influences in pre-World War 1 Australian architecture, the author distinguishes between stylistic features of French origin and building techniques and materials originating in France. Examples of both are given.

Keywords: pise de terre, Marseilles tiles, reinforced concrete, mansard roof, wallpapers, Viollet-le-Duc

CAROL SANDERS, France in Australia and the Pacific

A brief presentation of an Australian National University project aimed at developing teaching and more specifically reading comprehension materials focussed on France in the Pacific and in Australia.

Keywords: Australian National University, production of language-teaching units, France in Australia and the Pacific

COLIN NETTELBECK, In and out tune: an Improvisation

This is the text of a talk with musical illustrations delivered at the colloquium on the “France –Victoria Connection” held in 1985. The author tells the story of his discovery of France and French culture, and, more broadly, of the world and of ideas, through French songs. The written version of these light-hearted and ironic reminiscences requires readers to be familiar with the songs cited.

B. LEDUN, Closing Remarks