WEST AUSTRALIANA Maritime Aboriginal Exploration

First Edition. A study of French explorations and attempts to found a penal colony and strategic base in south western Australia, 1503-1826. Based on previously unused naval and other archival records in France, it tells the story of French exploration and plans to colonize western Australia in the pre-British period from 1503 until 1826. Commencing during the reign of Louis XII when the first French exploratory mission went out to challenge the monopoly of Spain and Portugal, the story continues through the years of the ancien regime, the revolutionary and Napoleonic periods and the Bourbon restoration period down to 1826 when Britain annexed western Australia, putting an end to French opportunities there.
Detailed account of all French expeditions to W.A. based on contemporary accounts and documents; includes numerous references to contact with Aborigines with reproductions of many sketches and paintings of Aboriginal camps and activities. First Edition. Signed by Author. (inscription) #0817R/0619/0220/1020/#040423/270823/240224

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xvi, 384 p., 8 p. of col. plates : ill., facsims., maps, ports. ; 25 cm.
Western Australia. Coastal regions. French exploration, to 1826. | Settlement and contacts – Explorers – European. | Habitation – Camps. | Settlement and contacts – Explorers. | Colonisation. | Western Australia — Discovery and exploration — French. | Western Australia — Discovery and exploration. | Western Australia (WA)