Curio

Journal particulier de Rose pour Caroline Rose de Freycinet Journal (September 1817- October 1820)

SAFE / MLMSS 9158 vol 1

Rose de Freycinet was the young wife of French naval officer Louis de Freycinet. In 1817 Freycinet was given command of a Pacific scientific and exploring expedition, as captain of the Uranie. The Uranie expedition was one of the major expeditions into the Pacific in the early 19th century. The expedition sailed, via the Cape of Good Hope, to Shark Bay, in Western Australia, before sailing to Timor, Indonesia, the Caroline Islands, and Guam. The expedition then sailed across to Hawaii, and then south to Sydney where they stayed for a month in November 1819. They spent time exploring the townships of Sydney and Parramatta, with some expedition members travelling as far afield as Bathurst. The expedition left Sydney Cove on Christmas Day, 1819 but on the 14^th of February 1820 the Uranie struck rocks in the Falklands Islands and the ship was damaged beyond repair. A three-month wait followed, and finally, they secured a passage to Rio de Janeiro, and reached Le Havre on 13 November 1820.

Rose kept two records of the expedition. One was her journal, which she wrote expressly for her dear friend Caroline de Nanteuil, the other was a series of letters written to her mother during the voyage.

13 September 1818 – on west Australian coast

By Rose de Freycinet

`… after having a sail put up to shelter us from the sun, we lunched perfectly well not only on what had come from the ship but also on some excellent oysters that we found on the rocks, certainly all those that I had eaten in Paris, comfortably at table, did not appear to me to be as good as those I ate sitting on a rock [wit] my glass and my plate on the sand.’

Letter, December 1818

By Rose de Freycinet

On the theft of the de Freycinet’s linen, cutlery, household items on first night ashore in Sydney:

`You know the purpose of this colony and what people it is full of. You will thus not be astonished at this misdeed. Can’t one say that here is the classic land of mischief? It would be astonishing not to find thieves here as it would be not to meet Parisians in Paris and English people in London.’

Reaction to Sydney township

By Rose de Freycinet

`The hospital building is magnificent, the barracks and the officer’s quarters which are joined to it, the convict barracks are very fine monuments which would not be out of place in our capital, as well as some of the private houses.’

Departure from Sydney

By Rose de Freycinet

`The disappointment I experienced at leaving this country, where we had been welcomed so well, was eased only by the thought that we were going to start our return to France.’

[Returned carrying 2 merinos, 12 other sheep, 2 goats, a cow and a calf, 3 emus, 8 black swans , 1 magpie.]

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