Jul 25, 2017
Photograph in album, Frenchman's Rock, engraved by [Nicolas] Baudin in 1803, Kangaroo Island, 1900-1930 (MAAS 2013/23/53-33)
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Photograph in album, Frenchman's Rock, engraved by [Nicolas] Baudin in 1803, Kangaroo Island, 1900-1930 (MAAS 2013/23/53-33)
On this day, 30th May 1801, French mariner Nicolas Baudin arrived at Geographe Bay in Western Australia.
This bronze gilt medal commemorates the French expedition of the corvettes "Geographe" and "Naturaliste" commanded by Captain Nicolas Baudin to Australia and the Pacific during 1800-1804. This voyage of Baudin produced some significant charting of the Australian coast and intersected with that of Matthew Flinders. There are several references to the existence of such medals on the expedition. For instance, an English captain went aboard the "Geographe" when it was anchored off the coast of Le Havre. Baudin documented the visit in his journal noting, "upon his departure, I begged him to accept a medal struck to commemorate the voyage, he did with pleasure, and then we parted". See Peter Lane, "The Baudin Medals of King George Sound, Western Australia", Journal of Numismatic Australia Vol. 8, 1995, pp. 21-29. The artist could be the French engraver Jean-Pierre Montagny (1789-1862).
From the collections of the State Library of New South Wales