ISSN 2981-894X (Online), ISSN 2203-5362 (Print)
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Special Issue
Imagination, Exploration and Memory: Archiving French-Australian Shared Histories
Guest Editors: Jean Fornasiero and John West-Sooby
JEAN FORNASIERO & JOHN WEST-SOOBY, Introduction
ARTICLES
Part One: The Bilateral Archival Agreement between the Interdepartmental Service of the Archives of France and the National Archives of Australia
SIMON FROUDE, Shared Histories and French-Australian Archival Collaboration
An enduring partnership exists between National Archives of Australia and the Archives nationales de France. This article highlights both organisations’ efforts to examine and preserve the intertwined histories of their respective nations. Rooted in migration, exploration and shared wartime experiences, the relationship between these two institutions has evolved over the past two decades through joint archival projects, professional exchanges and cultural initiatives.
Keywords: Australia-France relations, National Archives of Australia, Archives nationales de France, migration, d’Entrecasteaux expedition, archival collaboration, cultural heritage
BRUNO RICARD, The Archives: A Bridge of Memory between France and Australia
Among the 400 odd linear kilometres of archives preserved at the Archives nationales de France, dating from the seventh century to the present, can be found numerous documents relating to the history of other countries. This is notably the case for the archives from the expedition led by d’Entrecasteaux, who scoured the southern seas from 1791 to 1794 in search of La Pérouse, missing since 1788. This exceptional archive contains information on many of the countries located in this vast geographical zone: Australia, South Africa, Tonga, Solomon Islands, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and East Timor. Of particular interest are the documents pertaining to Tasmania and its resident Palawa people, including an extensive Palawa-French vocabulary list previously unpublished in its entirety. In 2023, the Archives nationales de France and National Archives of Australia established a collaborative project aimed at digitising the complete d’Entrecasteaux archive, so as to make these documents accessible to all. A further aim was to transcribe and translate into English those items relating to Tasmania. With the agreement of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, the two archival institutions proposed this documentary corpus for inscription in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register, a proposal which was formally approved in April 2025. In a global context increasingly characterised by memorial frictions between States, or between communities, this collaborative project may serve as a model for other projects that have the potential to contribute to ‘memorial peace’, which is essential for building a shared future.
Keywords: Archives, d’Entrecasteaux, Australia, Tasmania, France
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Part Two: Documenting the Archives
BRIGITTE SCHMAUCH, Documenting France’s Contribution to the Exploration of Australia
French maritime exploration in the Indo-Pacific during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries constitutes one of the more significant chapters in the early history of French-Australian relations. The various expeditions to the region resulted in important collections of natural history and ethnographic objects being taken back to France. They also generated a considerable number of written documents of different types. This article provides a brief history of the collection and preservation of those documents. In so doing, it aims to explain how these archival resources came to be located where they are today, and thus to facilitate the work of those wishing to pursue further research on the subject.
Keywords: France, Australia, maritime exploration, documentation, archival collections
Among the sources preserved by the Archives Service of the French Ministries of Economy and Finance can be found items that document the relations which unite France and Australia. These items are scattered throughout the collections of the various agencies responsible for matters such as trade and industrial strategy, diplomatic representation, support for companies, monitoring of customs policies, and investment. They primarily pertain to the second half of the twentieth century and provide a complementary perspective to that offered by the sources preserved in other French heritage institutions.
Keywords: Economic policy, international relations, international trade, financial archives, SAEF
GRÉGOIRE ELDIN & AGNÈS CHABLAT-BEYLOT, Some Sources of Australian History in the Diplomatic Archives (French Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
The archives produced and maintained by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs speak to the different phases of the history of French-Australian relations: the exploration era, the period of the development of the colony’s economic resources, that of the development of institutional relations between France and a territory advancing towards independence, the world wars, and the tensions of the second half of the twentieth century. The archives of the central administration of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are now preserved in the Paris region, at La Courneuve. Those of the French embassy and consulates in Australia are regularly repatriated to France to ensure their conservation and availability to researchers at the Centre des Archives diplomatiques in Nantes. The resources of the two sites are presented here in turn, following which the particular case of the archives resulting from World War I will be examined.
Keywords: France, Australia, diplomacy, documentation, archival sources
Historically, the central role of trade in French-Australian relations has made it a key source of reporting by French diplomats and other agents based in Australia. Identifying documentary resources on this topic within the French National Archives is, however, a challenge as they are dispersed among various collections. This article provides some insights into these resources, and their location, focusing on consular correspondence and reports preserved in the holdings of central administrative bodies in France. The data and observations they contain regarding Australia’s economic position, market shifts and political circumstances bear witness to the complexities of French-Australian trade relations and thus constitute an important resource for historians. The particular case of the archives resulting from World War I will be examined.
Keywords: French-Australian trade, archival collections, consular reports, Australian politics and economy, market conditions
ANNE-MARIE CONDÉ, France in the National Archives of Australia
This article provides a brief thematic overview of some of the many records held in the National Archives of Australia that document French immigration to Australia and the interactions between French and Australian people since Federation.
Keywords: French immigration, Australia, iconography, National Archives of Australia
Part Three: Reading the Archives
JEAN FORNASIERO & JOHN WEST-SOOBY, New Perspectives for the Archives of the Baudin Expedition
Taking as its case study the scientific voyage of discovery to Australia led by Nicolas Baudin in 1800–1804, this article reviews the history of French- Australian collaboration in the retrieval and dissemination of maritime archives, from the late nineteenth to the early twenty-first centuries. It then considers some of the particular advances in historical debates that have been made possible by the increased visibility of the Baudin expedition’s archives, thereby highlighting the key contribution these sources have made, and continue to make, to the evolution of French as well as Australian—and French-Australian—historiography.
Keywords: French maritime exploration, archival retrieval and dissemination, French-Australian collaboration, historiography
COLIN NETTELBECK, Beyond the Sheep’s Back: World War I and its Aftermath in the Development of Trade Relations between Australia and France
Based on extensive archival research, this article explores the development of French-Australian relations during World War I and in its aftermath, through the lens of bilateral trade. It highlights in particular the role played in that growing economic relationship by a number of key figures, both French and Australian. On the French side, attention is drawn to three social commentators, Ferdinand Journet, Louis Vigouroux and Albert Métin, whose published observations on Australian society proved instrumental in encouraging France’s engagement with Australia and the Pacific. On the Australian side, the discussion focuses on Prime Minister Billy Hughes and the decisive part he played in promoting Australia’s relationship with France. To illustrate his commitment, two initiatives which Hughes championed are examined: the French Economic Mission which toured Australia in 1918–1919; and the appointment of Clive Voss as Australia’s first trade commissioner to France in 1919. It is argued that the accomplishments of Voss during his extended tenure in that position were pivotal in the developing bilateral relationship and are thus worthy of greater recognition.
Keywords: French-Australian relations, bilateral trade, diplomacy, Ferdinand Journet, Louis Vigouroux, Albert Métin, Billy Hughes, Clive Voss
DOCUMENTS AND NOTES
ELAINE LEWIS, Bibliographical Notes