Napoléon’s Australian menagerie
The soon-to-be French emperor sought Aboriginal artefacts, emus and kangaroos.
ON HIS 1800 voyage Nicolas Baudin was under orders to gather specimens of Australian flora and fauna and return them to French shores, particularly for Napoléon’s wife, Josephine, who had a love of the natural world. When the expedition set off in 1800, Napoléon was consul, but by its return in 1804, he had crowned himself emperor.
In addition to Aboriginal artefacts, such as shields and spears, Baudin’s voyage returned 200 live plants for Josephine’s garden at the Chateau de Malmaison, 12km from Paris. That they were able to keep them alive on a six-month voyage through many climates is incredible, says Ted Gott, who curated a 2012 exhibition on Baudin at the National Gallery of Victoria. Perhaps more incredible was the transport of many Australian animals. The ship’s officers were
‘kicked out’ of their quarters, which were then filled with emus, kangaroos and black swans, and the animals were fed bread soaked in wine for the entirety of the return voyage. “It was like Josephine’s ark,” Ted says. “It’s remarkable that they survived at all… and, incredibly, these creatures outlived Napoléon and Josephine.”
Baudin’s expedition also brought a pair of black swans to Malmaison. These were remarkable to European eyes and wealthy visitors would come from far and wide to see them. When the swans produced a clutch of cygnets, they were the first ever bred in captivity.
Before his departure, Baudin had been given special instructions by France’s Society of Mankind to document Australia’s native population and was briefed on how to interact respectfully. Diaries from the voyage describe an interaction with a Tasmanian tribe where Baudin’s men stripped down and smeared themselves with charcoal, so as to appear less unfamiliar. And during Marion du Fresne’s 1772 expedition, two light-skinned young sailors were sent ashore, naked and unarmed, to allay the local population’s fears.
The fascination with Australia extended beyond Napoléon and Josephine, to the public of France and Europe. “In the early 1800s, Australia was the most exotic, exciting and unexplored place on the planet,”
Ted says. “So it isn’t surprising that Napoléon and Josephine, wanting to be world leaders and trendsetters, would have wanted to know the most about Australia.”