Voyages to the South Seas
In Search of Terres Australes
Voyages to the South Seas recounts the epic journeys of French explorers to Australia and encompasses a remarkable period of French and Australian history--when Australia was France's Mars and marsupials were her aliens.
Awards
Winner of the 2007 Victorian Premier's Nettie Palmer Prize
Opinion
Clode's finely researched work has several strengths but of particular appeal is her preparedness to develop a vibrant thesis. French explorations did not have "any serious intentions to colonise new Holland", she suggests, but were "driven by a passion for discovery"
Christopher Bantick, Weekend Australian, 3.2.2007
'As readers have come to expect of the Miegunyah Press, the production values are very high and entirely appropriate to the subject matter.'-Canberra Times 3/2/2007
Packed with French romance and swashbuckling explorers, Danielle Clode's new adventure book has all the ingredients for a heady novel -- but this tale is true.
-- Diamond Valley Leader, Nillumbik, 7/3/07
About this Title
Voyages to the South Seas recounts the epic journeys of French explorers to Australia and encompasses a remarkable period of French and Australian history--when Australia was France's Mars and marsupials were her aliens. Australia may have been colonised by England, but for many years, by sheer weight of specimens and scientific documentation, Australia's biodiversity belonged to France.
Tracing the often-tragic voyages of Bougainville, Lapérouse, D'Entrecasteaux, Baudin, Freycinet, d'Urville and others to Australia from 1768 to 1828, Voyages to the South Seas brings to life the changing society that launched these ambitious endeavours and the scientific discoveries they made. It is the story of noble men impoverished by their passion, and nobodies who made their names through physical courage and intellectual achievement. It is the story of the young men who risked their lives for adventure and excitement but, above all, in the pursuit of scientific knowledge.
About the Author
Dr Danielle Clode is a science writer fascinated by scientific history. Her love of the Australian landscape, and exploration, was born from a childhood spent sailing along the east coast with her parents on a gaff-rigged yawl. Danielle researched Voyages to the South Seas while a Creative Fellow at the State Library of Victoria. She has previously been the Thomas Ramsay Science and Humanities Fellow at Museum Victoria and a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford where she completed her DPhil in zoology. Her other books include Killers in Eden (now an ABC TV documentary), the environmental history, As if for a Thousand Years, and Continent of Curiosities: A Voyage through Australian Natural History.
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