We see that javascript is disabled or not supported by your browser - javascript is needed for important actions on the site. Read more

What's New - Home - Login

Member $avings: $81,536,762.95 | Books Available: 801,100 | Members Online: 146

Swap Used Books - Buy New Books at Great Prices!

How To Swap Books Sign Up Search submenu

PBS Market (New Books)

Gift Buying Guide

Book Browser Advanced Search Books Posted Today Member Book Reviews Award Winning Books NYT Best Sellers Amazon Best Sellers Most Traveled Copies Club Wish List

Discussion Forums Book Lists

Club Lists My Book Lists My Watched Lists Create a List

Blog Donations

School Donation Program In Memory of... Military Donation Program Friends of PBS

Box-O-Books Maps The Eclectic Pen Fun Stuff

20 Questions Sudoku Bookmark Creator

Top 100

Requests Posts Swappers Referrers Reviewers

Pulse of PBS Spread The Word

Invite Friends Bookmarks Facebook Page Facebook App More Ways...

Photo Gallery Recipes Club Tag Cloud Member Testimonials

Help Center submenu

How To Swap Books Browse Help Docs Ask the Librarian PBS Member Icons Live Help

Kiosk

PBS Market (New Books) Go Shopping Buy Credits Buy PBS Money Upgrade Membership Gift Certificates Transfer Credits

Need Help?

Search - French Explorers and Aboriginal Australians

French Explorers and Aboriginal Australians
Author: Colin Dyer

?[The Aboriginal Tasmanians] seem to offer the most perfect image of pristine society ? Their open and smiling expression reveals a happiness that has never been troubled by intrusive thoughts and unattainable desires.? Bruny d?Entrecasteaux (1793)?In comparing what we had now seen with what had before happened in [D?Entrecasteaux Channel] we d... more »erived ? that it is not prudent to go among these people without sufficient means of defence against their attacks.? Francois Peron (1802)?In order to humour them in everything we showed them our chests ? but only the doctor?s gave rise to astonishment. Being hairless, it caused great exclamations and even greater shouts of laughter. After satisfying themselves in this region, they passed on to our legs ? they would very much have liked to see something else, but we did not think it advisable to show them.? Nicolas Baudin (1802)This highly readable account opens a fascinating window ? and a fresh perspective ?on the early European exploration of Australia. These French explorers and scientists kept journals, many of which, until very recently, remained obscure and untranslated. Their cultural insights are invaluable, sometimes shocking and always engaging.Here are to be found detailed descriptions of the Aboriginal peoples? physical appearances, their clothing, nutrition, dwellings, fires, canoes and utensils along with attempts to understand their character and language. The Aboriginal observers, however, displayed an equally keen anthropological interest in these strange apparitions arriving on their shores. Turning the cultural telescope around, this volume provides an unexpected and revealing glimpse of the French travellers through Aboriginal eyes.This book, and its illustrations, have drawn extensively on the collections of Fryer Library at the University of Queensland.Review excerpts It is a valuable compendium of French descriptions and impressions of Aborigines nad a useful chronicle of ten extraordinary expeditions. Importantly, it includes uncited material, some of which Dyerhas translated himself. This arduous task is of immense value for fellow historians and interested readers, and the effort that has gone into it is evident in his 'Note on Vocabulary'. The illustrations that have been chosen are also admirable. Francois Peron's detailed sketches, Nicolas Petit's Tasmanian pictures and Jacques Arago's illustrations of Aboriginal traditional life are beautifully reprinted. ? Tiffany Shellam, Australian National University in Aboriginal History 2005, Vol 29

ISBN-13: 9780702235122
ISBN-10: 0702235121
Publication Date: 4/1/2005
Pages: 272
Rating:

0 stars, based on 0 rating

Publisher: University of Queensland Press
Book Type: Paperback
Members Wishing: 0
Reviews: Amazon | Write a Review

Genres:

History >> Europe >> France >> General
History >> World >> Expeditions & Discoveries
Nonfiction >> Social Sciences >> Anthropology >> Cultural
Nonfiction >> Social Sciences >> Sociology >> General

Back to the Top ↑

Search - French Explorers and Aboriginal Australians

Loading...