It is said that history is written by the victors: the collapse of French Empire along with Napoleon’s reign and the victory of the English have obscured the remarkable story of the French exploration of Australia. Numerous expeditions, dating from the time of Louis XV and Louis XVI in the middle of the eighteenth century to the most well-documented and ambitious expedition to Terre Australe by Nicolas Baudin in 1800-1804, placed France in the forefront of both geographical and scientific exploration of Australia. French documentation of Australia’s Indigenous people, the botanical and zoological descriptions and drawings and collecting of specimens resulted in the most remarkable body of knowledge of its time – they were the first to make known the richness and diversity of life in this country.