INDEX

WHO DID DISCOVER AUSTRALIA?

COLONIAL EXPLORATION


French Exploration: Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne - 1771


In 1769, after Bougainville's triumphant return to France, another French expedition set out for the Pacific. After hearing a rumour that an Englishman had found Terra Australis, the fifth continent and a land of wealth, Jean-François-Marie de Surville left Pondicherry, a French settlement in India, in the "S. Jean-Baptiste", but failed to make any significant discoveries.

Du Fresne (right) sailed from France on the Mascurin in 1771 with the intention of returning Ahu-toru, the Tahitian whom Bougainville had taken to France in 1769. However during Ahu-toru's stay on Mauritius he contracted smallpox and died three weeks out to sea. du Fresne decided to return to the Cape of Good Hope for provisions and then continue on search of the Great Southern Land with his ship the Mascurin and the warship Marquis de Castries. On 22 January, 1772 he discovered the Arid Islands, later to be renamed the Crozet Islands, after du Fresne's second-in-command, Julien Crozet, and on 3 March he sighted Van Diemen's Land. They followed Tasman's route and anchored in what they believed to be Fredrick Henry Bay. However, the coastline at the time had not been fully explored and it is now believed to be Blackman's Bay where they anchored, went ashore and claimed Van Diemen's Land for France. The act of possession took place on 5 March 1772, 14 days before fellow Frenchman St Allouarn took possession of a part of mainland Australia whilst at Shark Bay on the Western Australian coast. Marion du Fresne's party were the first Frenchmen to make contact with the Tasmanian Aboriginesand the first Europeans to set foot there since Tasman. Du Fresne sailed on to New Zealand where he and some crewmen were killed by Maori warriors. The survivors retreated to Mauritius.