#EntenteCordiale at Encounter Bay!
On 8 April 1802, east-bound Matthew Flinders in INVESTIGATOR met west-bound Nicolas Baudin in GEOGRAPHE when both were racing to find the southern mouth of the fabled #NorthSouthPassage to the #GulfofCarpentaria .
#FamousMeetings France in Australia 🇫🇷 🇪🇺

Happy b’day #ententecordiale

In Feb 1788, #ArthurPhillip sent horses to #BotanyBay to bring the French envoys to #Sydney for a musical feast
#JFGLaperouse wrote: Des Européens sont tous compatriotes à cette distance de leurs pays

France in Australia 🇫🇷 🇪🇺 Weight of the Past in Franco-British Relations FrancoBritishSociety

On 30 March 1772, the French naval officer and explorer, Louis Aleno de St Aloüarn, claimed possession of the western half of Australia (Australie-Occidentale française) for the French king, Louis XV.

Thomas Jefferson's fears for America's west coast triggered a sudden shift in the Indo-Pacific historyreclaimed.co.uk/thomas-jeffers…

With his 11 ships secure in #SydneyHarbour , #ArthurPhillip & friends raised a glass in thanks for a safe voyage & for beating their European neighbours
“It was a near-run thing”
There were songs, but no proclamation on the 26th.
#AustraliaDay #LouisXVI #JFGLaperouse #AncienRégime

Two days before #AustraliaDay , the weather was not like this!
An electric storm raged for 48 hours, preventing the French ships from entering Botany Bay, and the British from leaving it.
#ArthurPhillip wanted the #FirstFleet to get around to #SydneyHarbour before the French did.

Three days before #AustraliaDay 1788 there was (almost) the Great Anglo-French Naval Collision.
While two big French ships sail south past #SydneyHeads bound for Botany Bay, 3 little British survey boats exit #SydneyHarbour to fetch the First Fleet up from Botany Bay.
They missed

The date of Australia Day, 26 January, has become symbolic of the British arrival.
Still, the only ship arrivals on that day in 1788, were French.

Welcome! Do the recce Cook did in 1770🔭

From Frenchmans Bay his party took the Aboriginal track over the ridge separating Botany Bay from Sydney Harbour & found Britain’s best naval asset in the Pacific & Far East🇨🇳

Cook kept it secret, but told the Admiralty⚓️
The Rest Is History

Welcome! Do the recce Cook did in 1770🔭
From Frenchmans Bay, his party took the Aboriginal track over the ridge separating Botany Bay from Sydney Harbour & found Britain’s best naval asset in the Pacific & Far East🇨🇳
Cook kept it secret, but told the Admiralty⚓️
The Rest Is History

On his Second Voyage, Captain Cook circumnavigated the long-imagined Southern Continent aka The Great South Land or Terra Australia or Australia (until that name was purloined to replace “New Holland” in the confusing 19th century)
The Rest Is History #Antarctica

Don’t be late for Sydney!
The French 🇫🇷 were five days late – the rest is history
Bon Voyage

Alas, Cook didn’t find the Southern Continent on the Endeavour Voyage, so he did other stuff. But he didn’t give up. On his next voyage, he plunged down into the ice at a chilly 71⁰10’S saying “it’s more than probable that we have seen a part of it” but it’s pretty uninhabitable

EXCITING BIT: James Cook 007 walks overland from Botany Bay & finds Sydney Harbour, a strategic prize. He omits it from journal but tells Admiralty. Botany Bay becomes a decoy for French & a rendezvous for First Fleet. Phillip quickly surveys Syd Harb, beating Laperouse by 5 days

This fanciful tableau of Cook’s phantom possession ceremony (which he wrote not in New Holland, but in Batavia after hearing that Bougainville had crossed the Pacific ahead of him and “discovered divers lands unknown”) would not have been recognized by Cook’s witness Joseph Banks

Captain Cook: History’s Greatest Explorer

Today Dominic Sandbrook + Tom Holland discuss the mighty adventurer, James Cook. Born to a humble Yorkshire family, quickly he stood out in the Navy. A man of both science and adventure, his life embodies many tensions of the enlightenment.

The Pheasant Coucal is our #BirdOfTheWeek ! Did you know they are the only cuckoo species in Australia to raise their own young? Most cuckoo species lay their eggs in the nests of other birds.

📸 Pheasant Coucals by Melanie Grills, Robert Toneguzzo & Andrew Silcocks

It’s a winter wonderland!

Photographer Charles Davis captures the beauty of the Australian alps and the diversity of animals that call them home. He's also a judge for this year’s BirdLife Australia Photography Awards, which close on August 13.

Enter at: birdlifephotoaward.org.au

Our Sea-EagleCAM is the best reality TV around!

SE32 is the latest addition to our Discovery Centre’s resident White-bellied Sea-Eagle family, hatching just after SE31. If all goes well, both chicks will fledge in around 70 days.

Tune into the live feed: birdlife.org.au/places/discove…

On this day in 1823, the New South Wales Act received royal assent. The Act created NSW Supreme Court and Legislative Council
#auslaw #supremecourtnsw 1824_2024 #scnswbicentenary #supremecourtnsw