Postcards' Baudin Trail in Paris: Keith explores South Australia's French connection in the French capital

As the new century of the 1800s dawned there remained one great mystery on the map of New Holland or Terra Australis. The shoreline of much of South Australia was still called the 'Unknown Coast' - just a dotted line on the map.

The race was on to close the gap. Britain's Matthew Flinders was plying east in The Investigator and Frenchman, Nicolas Baudin was sailing west in Le Geographe when they met on April the 8th, 1802 on what we now call Encounter Bay. That meeting joined the dots on the map - the 'unknown coast' was no longer a mystery.

Mathew Flinders' received the accolades of course. Two centuries later the names he penned on his charts remain indelibly etched on our modern maps... and the bays he named offer safe anchorage for our modern day sail training ship the One and All.

But what about French Commander Nicholas Baudin? What about his tributes? He's celebrated with a bust at the Adelaide Zoo but what about in France?

Gay Paris - the city of love. There's a list of things every tourist has to - just as I did with my trusty handicam when I went in search of the Postcards Baudin Trail. Stroll it's wide boulevards, galleries, monuments and fine art, cruise the Seine... and you just have to scare yourself with a trip to the top of the Eiffel Tower. Of course Paris' tallest structure and the world's most visited monument wasn't even here in Baudin's day.

Back in Adelaide, who better to talks to about Baudin than Tony Brown. 'The' authority on the Baudin and Flinders saga, his book, 'Ill Starred Captains' has just been re-released as a paperback.

Tony Brown: "Baudin was the first ever European Captain so far as we know to sail along the south-east coast as far as Encounter Bay. From his point of view he thought it was all unknown until he met Flinders."

Even before that famous voyage, Baudin was a hit on the streets of Paris. Imagine thousands of Parisians lining the Champ de Mars in 1798. They cheered as exotic plants like bananas and coconut palms collected by Baudin on a trip to the West Indies went by in a parade for Napoleon.

Tony Brown: "The Monitor, the leading Paris newspaper of the time lauded him as the greatest mariner of all time for his exploits in science and collecting natural history specimens. Because of that he was asked to submit a proposal for another voyage around the world to the directory, which was the government of the time."

Two years later, Napoleon bankrolled that scientific expedition not only to chart New Holland's still unknown south coast but to collect the usual array of plants and animals and bring them back.

Tony Brown: "I think the greatest achievement of the entire expedition was the successful transportation of so many animals to so many places and the enormous distance back to France."

The country 'shack' of Emperor Napoleon and Madame Josephine is my next stop on our Baudin trail. In typical extravagant style, Joséphine spared little in her quest to transform the sprawling grounds of Château de Malmaison into "the most beautiful and curious garden in Europe".

Plants and animals from all over the world lived on the estate and yes that included kangaroos and emus from our very own Kangaroo Island. That so many animals survived the long voyage is a tribute to Baudin but his success came at a price - he was anything but a popular commander.

Tony Brown: "His only means of protecting the animals was to give them covered accommodation and the most obvious place to find that accommodation was the officers cabins."

So one by one the officers and scientists were turfed out of their cabins in favour of the animals - all in the name of science. Baudin spent two years in Australian waters, charting the coasts and carrying out scientific research. In 1803 he circumnavigated Kangaroo Island - something Flinders never did - so that explains the French names.

When Napoleon died they buried him under a great golden dome. Baudin was long lost and forgotten. He died at Mauritius on the voyage home in September 1803. Despite the setbacks, hardships and lack of recognition his expedition achieved a great deal in geographical discovery and natural history.

So when you make your pilgrimage to Paris and line up to see Napoleon's grand tomb, spare a thought for Nicolas Baudin. An extraordinary navigator who, had he set sail a little earlier might have claimed a bigger place in South Australia's history.

The popular paperback edition of Tony Brown's book, "Ill-Starred Captains" is available at good bookshops. If you have any further questions please email info@postcards-sa.com.au

Published 31st August 2008