1824 LESUEUR, C-A. / PERON, F. - Nouvelle-Hollande: Ile King. - L'Eléphant -marin ou Phoque à trompe. [plate XXXII]

Plate illustrating seals by Lesueur, from Voyage de découvertes aux terres Australes by François Péron, 1824.
The French expedition under Nicolas Baudin, was commissioned to chart the coastline of Australia, sailed into Sydney in 1802. On board was Charles Alexandre Lesueur (1778-1846), draftsman/naturalist.

More about François Péron and Louis de Freycinet [+]

François Péron (1775-1810)

Although Matthew Flinders was the first person to circumnavigate Australia in Her Majesty’s ship the Investigator between 1801 and 1803, ironically, the French laid claim to publishing the first complete map of the Australian continent.
Freycinet’s map was published in France in 1811, three years before Flinders’ own chart, and appeared in the official account of the 1801-1804 French voyage to Australia commanded by Nicolas Baudin.

Nicolas Baudin (1754-1803) was given command of two ships Le Geographe and Le Naturaliste (under Captain Hamelin), with a large group of civilian scientists, including François Péron. Following detailed instructions from the French Ministry of Marine, Baudin led the expedition to the coast of New Holland [Western Australia] to chart it and collect specimens. 
After resupply in Timor, the ships sailed to Van Diemen's Land [Tasmania] to conduct further studies there.

Finally, in March 1802, they sailed for the 'unknown coast' and named it Terre Napoleon, after the French Emperor. The French met the Flinders' expedition off Encounter Bay on 8-9 April 1802.

Baudin’s exploits in Australia commenced some seven months before Flinders arrived from Spithead in the Investigator. Rather than head for the uncharted southeast coast, Baudin instead sailed north up the west coast of Australia, occasionally landing at points previously uncharted by the earlier 17th-century Dutch navigators, finally arriving at Timor.

Meanwhile, Flinders had set out from Cape Leeuwin in an easterly direction, with the intention of circumnavigating the continent. When Baudin eventually reached the southern coast of Australia, Flinders had already charted much of the previously uncharted south-eastern coast.
The two parties finally crossed paths at Encounter Bay (east of Adelaide) on 8 April 1802. Baudin had charted only a small 200-mile section of the coast west of Wilson’s Promontory.

Following detailed instructions from the French Ministry of Marine, Baudin led the expedition to the coast of New Holland [Western Australia] to chart it and collect specimens. After resupply in Timor, the ships sailed to Van Diemen's Land [Tasmania] to conduct further studies. Finally, in March 1802, they sailed for the 'unknown coast', naming it Terre Napoleon, after the French Emperor. The French met the Flinders' expedition off Encounter Bay on 8-9 April 1802.

After spending 5 months recuperating in Sydney, Baudin led his expedition back to South Australian waters to complete the charting of Terre Napoleon. After further work there and on the Western Australian coast, he sailed to Timor for resupply. His health failing and with many of his crew ill as well, Baudin sailed for Ile de France [Mauritius], abandoning the rest of his exploration of Australia. He died of tuberculosis on the Île de France on 16 September 1803. Le Geographe returned to France in 1804, and François Péron and Louis de Freycinet wrote the account of the expedition.

Although France was at war with England at the time, Flinders had been promised safe passage back to England. On his return, however, he was imprisoned by the French on Mauritius and held captive there for six and a half years.

Meanwhile, the Baudin expedition had returned to France, and Peron published the subsequent account of the voyage from 1807 onwards. In 1810, Peron died, and Freycinet took over completing the account. In 1811, Freycinet released the second part of the atlas, which contained this general chart of Australia. Flinders, by contrast, had to wait until 1814 to publish his own general Australian map.

Nicolas Baudin's expedition to Australia, the great French voyage, rivaled Flinders's achievements. The expedition was commanded by Baudin for the Institute of France in 1800 and was charged with making a full and minute examination of the Australian coasts, particularly the southern coast "where there is supposed to be a strait communicating with the Gulf of Carpentaria and which consequently would divide New Holland into two large and almost equal islands."

Baudin discovered some two hundred miles of coast between Encounter Bay and Cape Banks, thus completing the discovery of the unknown south coast begun by Flinders and Grant, and also reported in detail on Tasmania, Western Australia, and Sydney.

Of further importance was the very large and excellent zoological collection prepared by Péron, a naturalist on the voyage. The atlas plates to the historical narrative are by expedition artists Nicholas Petit and Charles Leseueur, and Petit's depictions of the aborigines are said to be "fairly true representations of his subjects." Vol. II of the historical narrative was completed by Freycinet after Péron's early death. The maps are superbly engraved, including a large general map of Australia with a finely illustrated cartouche. Freycinet continued and completed the work in Partie Navigation et Géographie (1812).