Book review: Jean Fornasiero and John West-Sooby, eds., French Designs on Colonial New South Wales: François Péron’s Memoir on the English Settlements in New Holland, Van Diemen’s Land and the Archipelagos of the Great Pacific Ocean. (original) (raw)

Skilfully set within its historical context by Fornasiero and West-Sooby, Péron’s Memoir provides us with a wider perspective into the history of Australia’s colonization by Europeans, as well as a window into the codes of seafaring during the volatile post-revolutionary period. Péron’s insights stretch our picture of events and motivations to encompass more than just official British perspectives. The Memoir reveals the intensity of competition between European powers for access to trading ports and the tactical considerations lying at the heart of the diplomatic codes of civility governing relations at sea and in far-flung settlements. Reading the account, one cannot help but be struck by the contrast between the belligerent language Péron uses throughout and the civility that is said to characterize encounters between French and British. Adhering to the script of diplomatic interaction was crucial not only for ensuring a smooth passage through areas controlled by foreign powers, but also in the interests of assembling the most reliable information on those places which could then be used against them. Tensions were high and overseas possessions jealously guarded and enviously coveted. Nothing on the surface during the visit of the Baudin expedition pointed to any overt ambitions of the French to gazump the British in their takeover of lands in the antipodes.