Children’s Activity Trails

JOURNEYS OF ENLIGHTENMENT – FRENCH EXPLORATION OF TERRES AUSTRALES
Adventures in Terres Australes – Children’s Activity Trails
Western Australian Museum – Maritime
Available until October 2009
Trails are available from the WA Museum – Maritime for $1

Follow the activity trail and challenge your investigation skills and explore the Journeys of Enlightenment exhibition.

Can you find the secret clues to the special animals and plants in the Cabinet of Curiosities? Or can you discover the famous stowaway and how she disguised herself on board ship? Perhaps you might locate some shipwrecked treasures?

Follow the amazing voyages of these French explorers and scientists and the story of the discoveries they made in Western Australia and beyond.

Two trails are available
Download the trail suitable for 5 – 8 years here
Download the trail suitable for 8 – 12 years here

Lectures

Batavia Lecture

How France won the scientific race but lost a continent: The race to locate Terra Australis
Lecture by Ms Noelene Bloomfield, Research Fellow, The University of Western Australia
Western Australian Museum - Maritime
6.00pm, Friday 19 June 2009

Most Australians do not realize how close Australia was to having two languages and two cultures, like Canada. The hundreds of French names on the Australian coast are an intriguing puzzle to many, but until recently our history books have largely neglected this fascinating part of Australia’s early history. France sent many scientific expeditions to the southern Oceans and made significant contributions to the fields of anthropology, astronomy, botany, cartography, geography, geology and zoology in this part of the world.

This presentation will clarify why there are so many French names in a country that was eventually settled by the British; and seek to explain why the French did not colonise the continent they wistfully called 'La France Australe'.

Noelene Bloomfield is a former Senior Lecturer and now a Research Fellow in French Studies, at the University of Western Australia. She has travelled extensively in both France and Australia, and accessed archival materials, journals and charts relating to the various French voyages.

Cost: $10 per person
Bookings essential on +61 [0]8 9431 8455

For further information on the upcoming Batavia lecture download a pdf brochure here.

Batavia Lecture

The French contribution to discovering and naming Australian plants: The voyagers, the scientists and the plants
Lecture by Dr Alex George, Botanist and Author
Western Australian Museum - Maritime
6.00pm, Friday 24 July 2009

Between 1771 and 1840 thirteen French expeditions for scientific discovery visited Australian shores, most carried scientists or crew who collected plants. These specimens were taken back to France and studied and many were named as new species. Many of the names commemorate crew members and important people of the day. The specimens are now lodged in a number of herbaria (notably Paris, Florence and Geneva) and remain an important resource for study.

Alex George worked as a botanist with the Western Australian Herbarium for 21 years, then as Executive Editor of the Flora of Australia project in Canberra for 12 years. Since 1993 he has been a freelance botanist, editor and indexer based in Perth.

Alex has published over 150 botanical papers and books, many including data and discussion of the historical background. These include 'William Dampier in New Holland: Australia's First Natural Historian' (1999). He has named some 400 new plants, many being his own discoveries on field work throughout Western Australia.

Cost: $10 per person
Bookings essential on +61 [0]8 9431 8455

For further information on the upcoming Batavia lecture download a pdf brochure here.

Audio

Listen to Henry de Saulses de Freycinet and Peter Woods speaking to Dani Cinnamon from 6EBA.

21.32 minutes (10.4MB)

If the audio player above fails to load, you can download the interview here: Journeys_of_Enlightenment-Henride_Freycinet_and_Peter_Woods.mp3 (10.4MB)


Listen to the interview with 6PR’s Graham Maybury with Vicki Northey, A/Director Exhibition Coordination and Installation New Museum project and Henry de Saulses de Freycinet , direct descendant of Louis-Henri de Saulces de Freycinet. Podcast courtesy of 6PR.

15.47 minutes (5.74MB)

If the audio player above fails to load, you can download the interview here: Journeys_6PR_Interview.mp3 (5.74MB)