Prise de (dis)Possession, Wirruwana (Dirk Hartog Island), Malgana country

Today marks the 250th anniversary of the French claim to Western Australia. On the evening of 29 March 1772, the 16-gun storeship Gros Ventre commanded by Louis de Saint Aloüarn rounded Cape Inscription (best known for the 17th century Dutch landings) at Dirk Hartog Island and anchored in a small bay they called Turtle Bay. On 30 March, Saint Aloüarn sent the ship’s boat ashore with officer Mengaud de la Hage, the boat’s crew and five soldiers to make a reconnaissance of the land. After walking inland for about 3 lieues (12 km) and finding little evidence of human occupation, the party returned to the cliff top overlooking the bay and took possession of the land. The annexation was commemorated by raising a flag, firing a volley of rifle shots, and reading a prepared document that was then placed in a bottle and buried at the foot of a small tree, near which they placed two écus of six francs.

Following on from Cooks’s Pacific discoveries, the French were in a political and scientific race with the British in search of trade opportunities but also in seeking answers to the many scientific questions inspired by the Enlightenment—including the search for Gonneville’s Land or Terre Australes. An expedition of two ships, Fortune and Gros Ventre under the command of Yves-Joséph de Kerguélen with Louis de Saint Aloüarn as second-in-command, respectively — and funded but King Louis XV no less —departed from Ile de France (Mauritius) to explore the waters of the southern Indian Ocean. If this fabled land was found, the mission was to look for a harbour; establish bonds of trade and friendship with the inhabitants; examine the resources of the country, its culture, produce and advise whether any commerce could be derived for the French crown.

Kerguélen Island was discovered as part of this voyage but contrary to its name, was explored by St Aloüarn’s crew. The landing party also left bottles containing letters. Still aboard his vessel Fortune, Kerguélen was battling heavy seas and having lost sight of Gros Ventre, made the decision to return to Ile de France. Kerguélen then continued on to France where he made the claim of discovering a part of Terre Australes and overstatement about its potential for French trade. The annexation of the western portion of Australia occurred as part of St Aloüarn’s homeward journey but was soon to become a forgotten moment in history.

In January 1998, following details in the Gros Ventre logbook and a chart by Sub-Lieutenant de Rosily which featured the landing site, French historian Philippe Godard with locals including Max Cramer climbed the sixty-metre cliff at Turtle Bay and began searching an area around a small dead tree. Among the refuse left by fishermen, they found a lead capsule containing a silver écu coin dated 1766. The significance of the discovery prompted the Western Australian Museum to send an expedition to the site in March 1998. For this survey, metal detectors were deployed in an area extending 17 metres by 13 metres. The area surrounding the coin tree site was selected for a close plot metal detector survey. This area also had the highest number of readings, which were found to be mostly fragments of corroded material such as tin cans just on or under the surface. Evidence of ‘salting’ the area with modern metal— a practice designed to throw people off finding legitimate targets—was also observed. The bottle was located by investigating a metal detector strike with archaeologists then conducting a controlled excavation to get a better understanding of the context.

Tucked inside the lead closure of the bottle was a silver écu coin dated 1767. Deposits of red material on the top of the cork, rim of the bottle and surface of the coin indicated that the coin had been originally sealed with wax. The bottle, however, was partially filled with sand. To determine if there was a document inside, a series of CT scans were taken by the Department of Medical Imaging at Royal Perth Hospital. Dark shadows in the sand indicated the presence of organic material which may have been paper or parchment. A cork in the neck of the bottle was also identified. Once opened, microscopic examination of the sand revealed remnants of plant material, pollen grains, spores and insect parts. The seal and inner end of the cork showed signs of attack from insects possibly gaining entry through the gaps in the lead closure. What happened to the annexation document remains a mystery.

After the deposition of the bottle and several days in the region, the Gros Ventre headed north from Shark Bay towards the Kimberley coast. Saint Aloüarn used the voyage to chart reefs and islands but with most of his crew now struck down with scurvy, decided to sail for Timor and Batavia (present day Jakarta). Saint Aloüarn was also unwell and died six weeks after arriving in Île de France (Mauritius) on 27 October 1772, aged 34 years.

The French bottle, as it has been commonly called, is on display at the WA Museum, Boola Bardip as part of the Indian Ocean World showcase in the Connections Gallery. Divided into three sub stories—Coast, Crossings and Community— the display focuses on objects in the WA Museum collection which contribute to our understanding of our relationship with others in this region over time but also acknowledges the deep time connections that Aboriginal people have with the coast and maritime sphere. In the past few years, museums across the US, Europe and Australia have been tackling the challenge of decolonizing their institutions and collections; recognising the integral role of empire in museums. The bottle is displayed with other colonial objects including objects from infamous Batavia and other shipwrecks, objects and watercraft left by Southeast Asian fishers and shell artefacts excavated from coastal archaeological contexts, some millennia old. The bottle—prior to the new museum opening in 2020— resided in the Shipwrecks Museum in Fremantle in a dedicated showcase with interpretation focused on the colonial act of possession/dispossession. The original intention was to have the object physically elevated and highlighted within the new display but the result is more nuanced. All these objects, regardless of age and origin share the same space and level of interpretation with no dominant culture narrative. This becomes a story of a European colonial claim to unceded Aboriginal country and the display of the bottle is not in celebration of St Aloüarn’s declaration but to mark the point in time when this act of (dis)possession occurred. This juxtaposition between those who visit and those who inhabit the coast, cast the bottle—and its perceived significance—in a new light. The Prise de (dis)Possession becomes but one moment in a long timeline and when viewed alongside other iconic objects—such as dentalium tusk shell beads crafted some 12,000 years ago— invites us to start a new conversation about the meaning of these objects in the story of Western Australia today.

References
Bloomfield, N. (2017). Overview France’s quest for Terra Australis: strategies, maladies and triumphs. The Great Circle, 39(2), 8–24.
Souter, C. (2000). Archaeology on Dirk Hartog Island, Western Australia: Maritime meets historical. The Bulletin of the Australian Institute for Maritime Archaeology, 24, 37–40.
Stanbury, M. (2017). Louis Aleno de Saint Aloüarn (1738–1772) A forgotten 18th-century French explorer. The Great Circle, 39(2), 25–55.