Emeritus Professor Patrick De Deckker ‘The extraordinary scientific achievements of the French Baudin expedition (1800-1804) in Australian waters’

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Thursday, 23 February 2023 - 12:30pm to 1:30pm
An image from a publication by Milius
An image from a publication by Milius

In this talk, Patrick will outline the numerous discoveries and achievements made by the French expedition. He will discuss some of its cartographic accomplishments and compare some with those made by Matthew Flinders at about the same time.

Abstract
In this talk, Patrick will outline the numerous discoveries and achievements made by the French expedition. Patrick will discuss some of its cartographic accomplishments and compare some with those made by Matthew Flinders at about the same time.

The French expedition consisted of more than 20 scientists, but only 5 returned to France. Flinders’ expedition only had 2 botanists, 1 landscape architect and one astronomer who left before reaching Australia. The gardener died in Timor.

In addition, observations of animals and plants, including marine organisms, were superbly illustrated by the French artists. Anthropological observations were equally outstanding.

The expedition returned over 200,000 specimens, including live animals, plants and seeds.

Had Napoléon not lost the battle of Waterloo in 1815, perhaps some parts of Australia could have become French!

Biography
Patrick is Emeritus Professor in Earth Sciences at the Australian National University. He is a palaeontologist with a PhD in zoology and during his career studied Australian salt lakes and their geological history and biota. He also has spent much time at sea studying the climatic evolution of the oceans bordering Australia, and more recently investigated the chemistry and microbiota of dust storms and their deposits in the Australian region.

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Lunchtime talks are held at 12.30 pm every Thursday from February to November.  Talks last for 1 hour.  We welcome a gold coins donation. The Friends use donations received at each talk to support Gardens’ programs and development and thank all those who have donated.  Please note: unless otherwise indicated, talks are in the ANBG Theatrette.

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The talks are in line with COVID-19 guidelines which can change rapidly.