ISSN 2981-894X (Online), ISSN 2203-5362 (Print)
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JANE GILMOUR & ELAINE LEWIS, Forward
ARTICLES
BARBARA SANTICH, French Restaurants in Nineteenth-century Australia: A Preliminary Review, Part 1
French restaurants in Australian colonies in the nineteenth century were established in an attempt to offer an alternative to traditional English forms of hospitality by transferring a model developed in eighteenth-century Paris. Liquor licensing regulations initially imposed some limitations but the introduction of colonial wine licences helped promote both the French tradition of serving wine with meals and the consumption of colonial wine. Early restaurant ventures in New South Wales were often ambitious though ultimately unsuccessful, but in the second half of the century restaurateurs such as Timothie Cheval, Octave Desneux and Gaston Liévain succeeded in promoting an authentic French style of hospitality, though menus were often obliged to make concessions to English tastes.
Keywords: Australia, New South Wales, French restaurants, restaurants, cafes, liquor licensing
KATRINA PROUST, Georges Proust and Family: Two Years as ‘Colons Feillet’ in New Caledonia Before a New Life in Australia
In 1898 Georges Proust, his wife Berthe and their three sons, arrived in Noumea from Bordeaux, France. They were among the free settlers who became known as ‘colons Feillet’. They took up a concession to grow coffee in the Amoa Valley along with others who arrived in 1898. Life as a colonist was difficult, arising from social isolation, environmental conditions, and lack of agricultural experience. After two years the Proust family left New Caledonia for Australia. In the new century they became part of the French community in Sydney, where Georges worked for Le Courrier Australien. In this article I describe the family’s experiences based on the account written by Alfred Proust in 1978. Their experience as settler-colonists in turn-of-the-century New Caledonia provides insights into the history of this failed experiment.
Keywords: New Caledonia, ‘colons Feillet’, coffee growing, Sydney
KATRINA KELL, Chloé: How A French Nude Painting Inspired an Australian Novel
The painting Chloé (1875), by French academician and artist Jules Joseph Lefebvre, was the muse and inspiration for my eponymous historical novel Chloé (2024). Who was the ‘voiceless’ woman Lefebvre once painted so masterfully, an enigma whose lived experience remained locked in the ‘great dark book’ of history? Since the painting, Chloe , arrived in the Australian colonies in the late-nineteenth century, it has captivated the imagination of its viewers. Chloé won awards and incited scandals and, since 1909, has been a star attraction and curiosity at Young and Jackson’s Hotel in Melbourne. The academic nude painting’s unusual location in an Australian pub has elevated its notoriety, and the male gaze of hotel patrons may have contributed to the myths and presumed identities imposed on Chloé’s model. Analysis of a diverse range of textual artifacts offered valuable insights into the Parisian world of both Lefebvre and Chloé’s model, revealing intriguing echoes between the warfare associated with the painting’s history and Chloé’s manifestation as a ‘mythic war maiden’ to generations of Australian servicemen. Ultimately, this fusion of historical research and the intuitive remaking of Chloé narratives in a work of historical fiction offers fresh insights and interpretations of a celebrated Melbourne cultural icon.
Keywords: Chloé (1875), Jules Joseph Lefebvre, artists models, Franco-Australian art history, literature
DOCUMENTS, NOTES AND REVIEWS
Elizabeth Rechniewski, Interview: Dr Cédric Crémière, Curator of the Exhibition ‘Voir l’Invisible : un voyage au cœur des cultures traditionnelles d’Australie’, Musée d’Angoulême, June 2023–January 2024
Edward Duyker, Olive Wright, Teacher and Translator (1886–1975): A Biographical Note
Lucy Sussex, French-Australian Encounters Number 10: A Passage in Europe (Roland Thomas Sussex
1909–2006)
Rachel Orzech, Nation-building through Twentieth-century Franco-Australian Cultural Exchange: Research Report
Ivan Barko, Book Note: Éric Berti, ed., Français d’Australie : 1788–1988
Jane Gilmour, Book Review: Katrina Kell, Chloé: Revolution, Art and Intrigue in Bohemian Paris
Elaine Lewis, Bibliographical Notes