The History of Australian Exploration from 1788 to 1888Favenc, Ernest
History
The History of Australian Exploration from 1788 to 1888
Favenc, Ernest
Australia -- Discovery and exploration
"Memorial for the establishment of a Christian mission in the third part
of the world, or 'Terre Australe.' Dedicated to His Holiness Pope
Alexander VII., by a priest originating from that country."
This priest was the direct descendant of one of the "Australians" (a term
used for the first time by De Gonneville himself in referring to the
inhabitants of "Terre Australe"), whom the Norman captain had brought to
France, and to whom at his death he gave his name and fortune, in his
desire to make some atonement for the wrong which the worthy sailor
considered he had inflicted upon the native by taking him away from his
country under a promise to return, which he was never able to redeem. De
Gonneville married him to one of his relatives, and the priest in
question was the grandson of the "Australian," whose native name was
"Essomeric." Canon Paulmier appears to have been a man of mark in his
time, since he was resident in France as representative of the King of
Denmark. He was also a man of great learning, and Des Brosses informs us
that he had made a particular study of geography and the history of
voyages of discovery, with which he was perfectly acquainted.
The documents published by Des Brosses were translated and appeared for
the first time in English in a work entitled "Terra Australis Cognita,"
by the Scotch geographer, Callender, who, like Des Brosses, was fully
convinced that De Gonneville had landed somewhere on what is now known as
the Australian Continent. This territory was named by Des Brosses
AUSTRALASIA as far back as 1761, and was placed to the southward of the
Little Moluccas, where our maps now show the north-western portion of the
Australian Continent. Some English geographers, however, such as Admiral
Burney and Flinders, differ from the conclusions arrived at by both Des
Brosses and Callender. Burney inclines to the belief that the land
visited by De Gonneville could be no other than Madagascar. After him,
Major, than whom no higher or more respected authority exists in
geographical matters of this kind, seems to have too readily accepted
Burney's opinion. Perhaps they each considered the claim set up on behalf
of De Gonneville as based on insufficient grounds, and were disposed to
doubt, in the face of later knowledge of the natives of Australia, that
De Gonneville could possibly have induced one of his relatives to marry a
representative of these wretched races: and it must be admitted that
herein lies the great stumbling block in the way of fixing the position
of the territory upon which De Gonneville actually landed. It is also
probable that Burney was led to the conclusion that Madagascar was the
point visited by some inaccuracies in Callender's translation with regard
to the kind of head-dress described as worn by the women, which would
certainly appear to refer more to the inhabitants of the great African
island than to the Australians. The mystery is a difficult one to clear
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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