French connection : Australia's cosmopolitan ambitions / Alexis Bergantz.
Publication details: Sydney, N.S.W. : NewSouth Publishing, 2021.Description: 194 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some colour), plates ; 24 cmISBN:- 9781742237091
- 306.0994 23
- DU122.F7 B47 2021
Item type | Home library | Collection | Call number | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item reserves | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Book | Melbourne Athenaeum Library | Non-Fiction | 306.099 BER | Available | 071032 |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 153-163) and index.
The French have been integral to the Australian story since European colonisation. Escaped convicts from New Caledonia, wool buyers from Lille, Roubaix and Tourcoing, gold-diggers, artisans, teachers and cafe owners, they were not always the creme de la creme. French Connection provides a fascinating insight into how the culture of Frenchness influenced a new nation anxious to prove itself to the world. What did Australian colonists see when they looked to France? How much did the French presence in the Pacific loom over such ideas? And what did the French in Australia themselves make of it all? Alexis Bergantz uncovers the little known and often surprising history of the French in nineteenth-century Australia and their role in creating a more connected and cosmopolitan nation.