IVAN BARKO, Foreword
JANA VERHOEVEN, Les deux noms and Petit journal de la fin de ma vie: Céleste de Chabrillan’s mémoires inédits
This former Paris courtesan was the wife of the first French Consul in Melbourne, Count Lionel de Chabrillan. After her husband’s death she became an author, much of her writing having been inspired by her experiences in Australia. The author gives an account of her re-discovery of some of Céleste de Chabrillan’s manuscripts (believed to have been lost) of the latter’s unpublished autobiographical writings. The article also analyses the significance of these memoirs.
Keywords: autobiography, Céleste de Chabrillan, Théâtre de Belleville, female perspective on events in France in the second half of 19th century
DENISE FISHER, Supporting the Free French in New Caledonia: First Steps in Australian Diplomacy
This article addresses the role of Australia in the ralliement of New Caledonia in 1940 to General de Gaulle’s Free French movement. The author, who is a former Australian Consul General in Noumea, argues that these events in the Pacific mark the birth of Australian diplomacy as an autonomous entity. The author demonstrates that the Australian government, mindful of the country’s interests, showed subtlety, flexibility and professionalism in its handling of a complex and fluid situation.
Keywords: Australian diplomacy in the Pacific, Australian perceptions of French in New Caledonia, World War Two, Vichy, Free France Movement, Georges-Marc Pélicier, Bertram C. Ballard, Henri Sautot
KENNETH DUTTON, Barrallier in the Hunter
A scholarly study on French explorer and surveyor Francis Barrallier and his two visits to the Hunter region in the early nineteenth century. The article contains some recently located material discovered by Newcastle researchers.
Keywords: Francis Barrallier, Hunter region, harbour of Newcastle, Coal River Working Party
Rosemary Lancaster, Je suis Australienne: Remarkable Women in France, reviewed by Stephen Alomes
Stephen Dando-Collins, Pasteur’s Gambit: Louis Pasteur, The Australasian rabbit plague and a ten million dollar prize, reviewed by Maurice Blackman
Stephanie Anderson (tr. and ed.), Pelletier: The Forgotten Castaway of Cape York, reviewed by Judith Bishop
Shannon Bennett, Scott Murray & Friends, Shannon Bennett’s Paris: A Personal Guide to the City’s Best, reviewed by Patricia Clancy
ELAINE LEWIS, French-Australian Bibliographical Notes