La Pérouse Expedition Arrives at Botany Bay

Background. Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse, was a French Navy officer and explorer who had enlisted at fifteen and in 1785 was appointed to lead a scientific expedition around the world. His two ships, L'Astrolabe under Fleuriot de Langle and La Boussole, each of 500 tons, carried ten scientists including the astronomer Joseph Lepaute Dagelet, the geologist Robert de Lamanon, and the botanist La Martinière. The French government's aims included correcting and completing Cook's maps, establishing trade contacts, opening new maritime routes, and determining whether the British colony intended for Botany Bay was a genuine settlement or a step toward a British Admiralty Pacific Fleet that might squeeze France and Spain out of unexplored Pacific areas.

Arrival at Botany Bay. After a stop in the Navigator Islands (Samoa) on 6 December 1787, the expedition continued to Australia and arrived off Botany Bay on 24 January 1788. The timing was delicate: Captain Arthur Phillip was at that moment attempting to move the colony from Botany Bay to Sydney Cove in Port Jackson, so the French found the British settlement in the midst of relocation. The encounter brought officers of two rival empires face to face on the Australian coast.

Stay and Departure. During their stay the French established an observatory and a garden, held masses, and made geological observations. Lapérouse sent journals, charts, and letters back to Europe aboard the British merchant ship Alexander, which had come to Sydney as part of the First Fleet. In a letter from Port Jackson he reported that he expected to be back in France by June 1789. On 10 March 1788, after taking on wood and fresh water, the expedition left New South Wales bound for New Caledonia, Santa Cruz, the Solomons, the Louisiades, and the western and southern coasts of Australia. Neither Lapérouse nor any member of his expedition was seen again by Europeans.