• Title
  Edmond de Boissieu manuscript written on board La Favorite on the Laplace voyage, detailing Sydney society, ca. 1831
• Creator
  Edmond de Boissieu
• Call number
  MLMSS 9913
  
• Level of description
  fonds
• Date
  
  ca. 1831
• Type of material
  Textual Records
• Reference code
  1006326
• Physical Description
  0.05 metres of textual material (1 box) - manuscript in ink on 4 folded sheets (16 pages including 3.5 blank pages)
  
• ADMINISTRATIVE/ BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY
  
  Edmond de Boissieu was a senior officer on the French expedition led by Cyrille Laplace on La Favorite between 1829 and 1832. It was intended by the French to capitalise on the science and mapping done by the Bougainville voyage (which called at Sydney in 1825) and also as a political exercise to demonstrate a French presence in the Pacific.
  
  Boissieu was an experienced surveyor who had also been on board Thetis with Bougainville (1824-1826). Under Laplace, he was the fifth highest ranked officer and was one of only a few French officers to visit Sydney twice. La Favorite arrived in Sydney in 1831 and Boissieu joined Laplace on an extended tour of Sydney and the Parramatta River. As a high ranking officer on a visiting expedition, Boissieu experienced the hospitality of many of Sydney’s most important and affluent residents. He stayed for an extended period with the Blaxland family at Newington, together with Laplace and another officer Gustave Serval.
  
  Reference:
  Library correspondence file
  
• Collection history
  Part of Boissieu's private papers held by the Boissieu family, sold through a French dealer on behalf of a direct descendant.
• Scope and Content
  Edmond de Boissieu documented his stay in Sydney in detail and this previously unrecorded manuscript describes many domestic details of households such as Governor Darling’s, Chief Justice Forbes’ and, particularly, the Blaxland family’s. Boissieu also met (and passed judgement on) Alexander Macleay (afflicted with ‘great ugliness’), Francis Forbes' wife (‘one of the most pleasant women in Sydney’), Colonel Dumaresq, John Manning, John Kinchela, Francis Rossi, Richard Jones, Dr Fattorini and William Bland.
  
  Boissieu describes at length the various assets of many of the ladies of the colony (both married and eligible) and the events to which he is invited such as balls, dinners and outings. The manuscript may have been intended for publication, as Boissieu goes to some trouble to explain the English customs he encounters, as if to educate other young French officers who may be considering visiting or settling in the colony.
  
  The manuscript is particularly notable for the detail furnished by Boissieu about his main hosts, the Blaxland family. He describes the Blaxland property at Newington, then goes into some detail about the women of the family, particularly the daughters – their marital status, physical and mental attributes and personalities.
  
  Boissieu lists the gifts that are bestowed upon him by his hosts (and those he presents in return). Dr Fattorini presented him with a case of stuffed and mounted birds. On the day he left to rejoin the ship, Boissieu was presented with a male and female platypus and a "sabre en bois garnis d'os tranchoeurs", said to have come from Torres Strait.
• Language
  French
• Copying Conditions
  Out of copyright:
  Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales
• General note
  
  Written on coarse wove paper of French manufacture, each sheet watermarked 1828 and with the maker's name of Labranche & Sarroul.
• Attributions / conjectures
  
  Unsigned, but in the known hand of Boissieu. Internal evidence in the text itself confirms the attribution.
• Name
  Darling, Ralph, Sir, 1775-1858
  Blaxland, John, 1769-1845
  Blaxland family
  Forbes, Amelia Sophia, Lady
  Manning, John Eyde, 1783-1870
  Macleay, Alexander, 1767-1848
  Kinchela, John, 1774-1845
  Jones, Richard, 1786-1852
  Rossi, Francis Nicholas, 1776-1851
  Bland, William, 1789-1868
  Dumaresq, Henry, 1792-1838
  Laplace, Cyrille Pierre Theodore, 1793-1875
  
• Subject
  Forbes, Francis, Sir, 1784-1841.
  Sydney (N.S.W.)--Social life and customs--1788-1851
  Pacific Ocean--Discovery and exploration--French.
  Voyages and travels--19th century.
  Favorite (Corvette)
  
• Open Rosetta viewer
  IE9000102

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