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Black & white front cover of Voyage of Discoveries in Terra Australis

Terra Australis

Voyages de Découvertes aux Terres Australes

François Peron

1807-11


François Péron (c1775-1810) was the naturalist on board the voyage of Nicolas Baudin to Australia and the Pacific in 1800–04.

Baudin died on the return voyage, in September 1803, and it fell to Péron to prepare the results of the voyage for publication.

His atlas of historical views, titled Voyage of Discoveries in Terra Australis, is without doubt one of the finest publications ever issued on Australia. It includes the first printed map of the entire continent, predating Matthew Flinders’ map by several years, and the first European notation of Aboriginal music.

The detailed illustrations were produced by Nicolas Petit and Charles Lesueur, official artists on the voyage, and printed in Paris by Dirigé par J Hilbert.