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Lot 27
Description:
Extremely rare & the first we have seen with a suspension loop at top
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Dimensions:
- Diameter 60mm Exhibited:
- Medals, Commemorative Literature:
- Coins, Monies & Stamps Medium:
- 393 Circa:
- Collectibles Notes:
- Have you ever wondered what Australia would have looked like if Captain Cook hadn't sailed into Botany Bay on the 29th April, 1770? It's likely that this vast island continent would have been populated from the north and would now be a thriving Asian nation, home to over 100 million people living in the hot humid reaches of its northern environs that we Australians of European heritage tend to avoid. Or, if the ships of the First Fleet had been delayed by the howling gale that did arrive a week later, and sailed into the same Botany Bay on the 26th of January 1788 instead of the 18th only to find the Tri-colour flag of the French Explorer Compte De La Perouse flapping in the wind on Bare Island in competition with the Union Jack at Kurnell on the opposing shore. Of course, history records that La Perouse was greeted cordially by the English when he entered Botany Bay who were in the process of relocating the 11 ships of the First Fleet to Port Jackson to establish a beachhead for British colonisation. But, imagine if it were the French who greeted the surprised English? Would the meeting have been so friendly and, would the French, if sent packing, have felt sufficiently aggrieved to return later in force on the directions of the empire building Napoleon Bonaparte, who as a 16-year-old second lieutenant had unsuccessfully put his hand up to accompany La Perouse on this Voyage of Discovery. La Perouse was himself inspired by the earlier voyages of Captain Cook and with the personal backing of King Louis XVI, mimicked Cook's 2nd and 3rd voyages, for which the Resolution and Adventure medals were struck, with the commissioning of an impressive commemorative medal which like the British medals bore a regal side-portrait of his king on its obverse. The reverse of the medal provided a written inscription detailing the departure of the two ships of the expedition, La Boussole and L'Astrolabe, from the Port of Brest on the 1st August, 1785. Only 100 of the double-sided medals were struck which were split between silver and bronze and a further 600 uniface medals were made in bronze to be given away on the voyage. Again, this paralleled the Cook medals which were struck in limited numbers in gold (2) and silver (142) for presentation with a further 2000 struck in platina (bronze) to be given out as gifts to the peoples Cook encountered on the voyages. In fact, the preparations for La Perouse expedition had some direct English input with Sir Joseph Banks intervening with the Royal Society of London to allow two of Cook's personal compasses to be taken on the voyage. Further scientific instruments were secured from the prestigious London firm Ramsden's the preferred maker of telescopes for the early explorers. As it turned out the English upped stakes from Botany Bay and sailed further north to establish a penal colony at Farm Cove while La Perouse stayed on in Botany Bay until the 10th March before resuming his voyage and sailing north-east to an unknown fate. Meanwhile back in Europe, there had been a sharp decline in Anglo - French relations sparked by the French Revolution that kicked off in 1789 and, which led to the execution of King Louis XVI in 1793 despite international protestations. With no word on the fate of La Perouse, it was now rumoured that the English had had a hand in his mysterious disappearance and such was the ongoing concern that it is even said that just before the deposed King Louis's head fell into the basket he had enquired if there had been any news of the boats. The ships and the crew of the expedition never made it back to France and it was not until 1826 that it was discovered that they had been shipwrecked on the reefs of Vanikoro in the Solomon's archipelago, a fate re-imagined in Chapter 18 of Jules Vernes's famous novel '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.' It is said that history can be even stranger than fiction, but can you imagine what would have happened if Napoleon Bonaparte had actually made it on-board the doomed expedition? What a different world we would now be living in.
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24 January 2021 12:00 AEDT
Paddington, Sydney, Australia
Smalls Auctions
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Bid Increments
| From: | To: | Increments: |
|---|---|---|
| A$0 | A$249 | A$5 |
| A$250 | A$999 | A$10 |
| A$1,000 | A$4,999 | A$25 |
| A$5,000 | A$9,999 | A$50 |
| A$10,000 + | A$100 |