Nicolas Baudin’s voyage at the height of the Napoleonic wars gave us dozens of French place names, and left with kangaroos for the Empress Josephine
From La Perouse in Sydney to Victoria’s French Island and South Australia’s Fleurieu Peninsula, hints of early French exploration dot the country’s coastline.
In fact, French familiarity with our region was such that they were the first to print a near-complete chart of Australia’s coast in 1811, beating the British by three years. But for a few other historical quirks, at least part of the nation might now be Francophone.
