Baudin the Forgotten Explorer

BAUDIN'S CONTRIBUTION TO AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION IN FLINDERS' RACE WITH FRANCE

by Professor Leslie R. Marchant, Chevalier Ordre National du Mérite, FRGS.

At the end of the 18th Century, European scientists who prided themselves on scientific achievements and discoveries made in the Great Age of Enlightenment, realised there was one major unfinished task. No reliable article about the Fifth Continent in the New World had appeared in Diderot's great encyclopedia that summed up human knowledge, because no one knew its shape, or even if it was one continent.

The record of research was not good. Early Dutch explorations by Tasman and others who had sailed around Australia, showed it lay as a separate area of land in the southern hemisphere, isolated from all the other continents. Explorers had sketched in three and a bit sides, mostly seen from a distance. The southern coast from near Ceduna, where Nuyts ended his 1627 survey, to the Pacific, remained a mystery.

Cartographers had sketched in a whole shape. But the discovery off Bass Strait where maps drawn after James Cook's survey showed a straight coastline, revealed that in 1800, the map of the Fifth Continent was made up of bits of survey information, joined together with imaginative lines. Something had to be done to leave a better impression for the new century.

France, which had contributed regularly and much to Australian discovery, took the initiative. Their scientists, the survivors of the French Revolution and Reign of Terror, organised a new expedition to complete the task France had arranged to share with Britain after James Cook indicated the task of charting was big enough to be shared. Certainly when France equipped the largest scientific expedition ever to leave Europe, and picked the experienced Baudin to lead it, they aimed at winning back the prestige France possessed when it led Europe in the scientific Enlightenment, and lost in the turmoil of revolution. But France was primarily moved by the idealistic spirit of the Enlightenment which viewed scientists as a special international body of intellectuals who worked to improve human knowledge and the human condition, although not all of the new scientists toed that old line as the clash between the supporters of Baudin and Flinders reveals.

Nicolas Thomas Baudin departed from France on 19 October 1800, with two naval ships, the Geographe and Naturaliste with some 22 civilian scientists and artists, and 3 medical doctors and a pharmacist, and the appropriate passports needed for scientists to travel and explore in British and other waters in wartime. The aim was to scientifically chart Australia, and make known its natural history contents.

When Britain got wind of the move, it despatched Flinders on the Investigator. He left on 18 July 1801, with a scientific staff of 6 plus 2 doctors, equipped with the appropriate permits for French territories, thus beginning a race of which Baudin was unaware until the two met at Encounter Bay on 8 April 1802.

It is not being historical and is out of keeping with the times to judge the worth of the two explorers who cannot be separated, by seeing who won, as has happened too often in the Australian bicentenary celebrations. That only rekindles the national feelings that caused divisions in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. The only way to make an accurate and fair judgment is to thoroughly examine the scientific records of the voyages, and see if both explorers achieved what they set out to achieve, and see what contributions each made to human knowledge when they sought to achieve those aims, and the quality of the contribution by comparing how that advanced existing knowledge, bearing in mind that the explorations were made in wartime by nations that were fighting for their existence.

The aims of the two exploring parties were as different as French and English cheese. The French aimed to complete the work of La Perouse and D'Entrcasteaux by charting the coastline, and examining the natural history contents of the lands and seas. Flinders main aim was to see if the places marked on the map as New Holland and New South Wales formed one continent, or an archipelago with separating straits, like Indonesia, as William Dampier suspected. Flinders raced to Australia, surveyed the south coast and the Gulf of Carpentaria and found Australia was a continent, thus achieving his aim. He did not circumnavigate the continent as is claimed. He saw little of the north coast and none of the west. But he should not be judged harshly for this. There was no need for him to do that. He had proved his point, producing excellent charts of the coast he saw. The French, he knew, were charting the west, where they had been concentrating their effort since 1772. The French outline is included on Flinders' chart of the continent.

Although Baudin discovered less, he examined more of the Australian coastline than Flinders. The final result, for a variety of reasons, including the loss of key personnel, is not of the quality of Flinders' charts that can still be used for navigation. But Baudin's expedition made distinctive contributions to knowledge for which he has yet to be credited.

There are five landmarks:

• Baudin pinpointed the two Capes that mark the limits of the Western Australian coast- North West Cape and Cape Leeuwin, throwing in Cape Naturaliste as well. This was essential to do to make way points on the routes being opened for Pacific trade. Flinders named Cape Leeuwin, but his is of little navigational significance except when sailing from west to east. The turning points are Cape Hamelin and the next is Point Nuyts on the South-Eastern coast, near the town of Walpole. Cape Leeuwin itself is probably the whole of Leeuwinland which takes some sailing around like the Cape of Good Hope. Baudin was more perceptive than Flinders in that regard.
• Baudin proved, contrary to traditional beliefs based on the West Wind theory, that sailing ships could sail west along the south coast of the continent. The course he followed on his survey could well be dubbed the Baudin route or passage.
• Baudin's survey maps of the Bass Strait Islands are superior to any then existing, including Flinders'.
• Although Baudin's natural history studies are confined to the few places where he anchored, they advanced knowledge about Australia's environment and wildlife in those regions. But the real worthwhile study was in the marine sciences, as the illustrations in the scientific collections reveal.
• It was on Baudin's expedition that the transparency was invented and developed to show flowers and the like on a see through background that make them stand out when illuminated. This paved the way for the illustrations later made of wild-life in America.

Professor Leslie Marchant has recently been given the single honour of writing the biographies of the French explorers, scientists and artists in Australia, for the new edition of the French Dictionary of National Biography, and recently completed a study of the route Baudin followed in Australia, and his survey sites. He is currently conducting a project with the Aboriginal Culture and Language Centre (with the possible sponsorship of a 'Foundation' to further advance this research) to produce a comprehensive study of "The French exploration of the Wadandi region and its natural history"

A brief resume of his recent achievements are:

• Created Chevalier in the Ordre National du Mérite by decree of the President of France, for his contribution to French researches and literature.
• Literary judge, Todhunter Literary Award (Australasian Regional). Director, Charting the Southern Coast of Australia Project.
• Mapping Sciences Institute Medal for the best article in the journal 'Cartography'
• Director, Centre of the Study of the Southland
• Professor (history), University of Notre Dame Australia, then resident Professor
• Resident Scholar, Noongar Aboriginal Language and Culture Centre.
• Foreign Member of Acad'emie des Sciences d'Outre-mer (part of French Academy of Sciences in Paris).
• Battye Library ‘Gem of Time’ Award Recipient 2003

We acknowledge Professor Leslie Marchant's contribution to the launch of 'The Baudin Collection' and recommend his latest book 'France Australe' the definitive book about the French contribution to Australian exploration and discovery, the result of 30 years researches in French and other European archives and galleries.

Professor Leslie Marchant sadly passed away in March of 2004 after a long battle with Motor Neurone disease. We are deeply in debt to his counsel and encyclopaedic knowledge of the French explorers who came to our shores in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Professor Leslie Marchant before his passing was awarded an AM by the Australian Government and will be sorely missed.