LAPEROUSE

Another Australia Day and once again the Laperouse Museum and Bare Island are closed to visitors.

On the 26th January each year Australians celebrate the foundation of the British colony at Farm Cove in Sydney Harbour.  But the actual first landing of the British First Fleet occurred 8 days earlier on the northern headland of  Botany Bay.  Captain Phillip had orders to establish the settlement on Botany Bay but on landing found that conditions for shipping and farming were unfavourable.  In a small boat he left to explore an inlet marked on Captain Cook’s map.  To Phillip’s relief this inlet, 14km north, turned out to be Sydney Harbour.  After exploring the outer harbour he returned to Botany Bay to collect the Fleet.  Phillip was making ready for departure from Botany Bay when on the 24th January the two ships of the French expedition of Laperouse were sighted off the heads.   The following day the First Fleet prepared to leave for Sydney Harbour but bad weather forced all but Phillip and crew in the Supply to remain.  On the 26th those remaining 10 ships  left but not before greeting the French who had arrived in the Bay.

So it came about that on the afternoon of the 26th January there were Englishmen on the shores of Sydney Harbour and Frenchman on the shores of Botany Bay at La Perouse.  This remarkable event has been compared to the Russians and Americans meeting in outer space during the Cold War.  Laperouse remained for 6 weeks and after his departure was not seen again.  The search for Laperouse  brought navigators such as Antoine Raymond Joseph de Bruni d’Entrecasteaux to Australia.  The mystery of the disappearance was not revealed until 1825 but by then it had become standard practice for French visitors to the colony to pay their respects to Laperouse at his last landfall.  In 1825 Hyacinthe de Bougainville, son of Antoine de Bougainville the first Frenchman to circumnavigate the earth, commissioned a monument to Laperouse and to the priest Receveur who died on 17th February during the expedition’s stay in Botany Bay.  Governor Brisbane granted land for the purpose and these monuments were completed in 1828.  Some quirky side stories to the Laperouse legacy  include that of Napoleon Bonaparte who applied to be taken on the expedition but was turned down!  His teacher, Astronomer Dagelet, took another student instead.  The building housing the Museum was built for telegraph workers.  The connection at La Perouse, established in 1876 provided the first telecommunications link for New Zealand with the rest of the world.

On the 200th Anniversary – Australia’s Bicenntenary – the people of France presented the Laperouse Museum  to the people of Australia.  The Museum was once filled with major relics such as the Receveur Tree Trunk, the original marker of Receveur’s Grave,  and the Altar Stone used for the first Christian services (by the French) performed in the new colony.  The Museum had a flourishing education program and high visitation rates but around 9 years ago staff were centralised in Vaucluse and marketing (plus tour bookings and programs) were centralised on Sydney Harbour.  Visitor numbers declined. But instead of examining the shortcomings of the centralised system where staff ignored  marketing opportunities as well as possibilities for partnering with volunteers the decision was taken to dismantle the Laperouse exhibition.   It was a case of blame the product rather than  question the competence of those charged to protect and educate.   Major items such as the Receveur Tree Trunk and Altar Stone are now in France.  When the Museum was established in 1988 it was open to visitors 7 days a week.  By 2000 it was 5 days a week, then 4 days and recently cut to 1 day a week even though the National Parks visitor centre across the Bay, in Kurnell, remains open 7 days a week.

  “As previously concluded by the Independent Review Panel (2006), long-term storage of this waste represents an unacceptable level of risk given mixed land use containing residential and commercial operations at Botany,” Professor Chubb said in a letter to Peter Garrett dated December 5, 2012.  Full story by Vanessa Watson, Southern Courier.

See Previous Post:   UNACCEPTABLE RISK FOR RESIDENTS OF NORTH BOTANY BAY – REMOVAL OF ORICA’S HEXACHLOROBENE STOCKPILE IS URGENT - October 2011

See Ukraine report on dangers of storage of HCB

The short-term solution is to move the stockpile to a site which is at an acceptable distance from human settlement.  Orica began repackaging its HCB stockpile in June 2007.  The drums have a ‘transport life’ of 5 years so a site needs to be identified very soon.

Clean Up founder on toxic dumping charge, Natalie O’Brien, Sydney Morning Herald, 22/1/12  Link to previous Heraldarticle April 2011

Exposed … The Sun-Herald revealed Mr Foxman’s waste woes last April. Photo: James Alcock

A SYDNEY man who founded the Clean Up Israel campaign has been charged with illegally transporting and dumping asbestos contaminated waste on his property in Wollondilly.

Phillip Foxman and the companies of which he is a director, Botany Building Recyclers Pty Ltd, and Foxman Environmental Development Services Pty Ltd, in Banksmeadow, are facing six prosecutions by the Environmental Protection Authority and possible fines of millions of dollars if found guilty. Each offence has a maximum penalty of $250,000 for individuals and $1 million for companies. Read the rest of this entry »

The Annual Receveur Mass, hosted by St Andrews, Malabar, will be held outside the Laperouse Museum.  Seating is available in marque sponsored by Randwick City Council.  Sausage Sizzle is provided by the Lions Club and Drinks from the Friends of the Laperouse Museum.

Fr. Chris Shorrock from Melbourne will officiate.  Fr Chris is a member of the General Custody of Our Lady Help of Christians, Australia of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual.  In 1987 he gained a Bachelor of Theology (B.Theol.), from the Melbourne College of Divinity and in 1989 he completed a Licentiate in Sacred Theology (S.T.L.) at the Pontifical Faculty of St. Bonaventure, Rome. In 2008 he received his Doctor of Theology (D.Theol.) from the Melbourne College of Divinity.  Publications : 1985 – Life of St. Joseph of Cupertino, Australian Catholic Truth Society (32pp) 1992 – “Mary in the Writings of St. Francis of Assisi” – Franciscan Documentation (India) 1995 – 2007, Editor and contributor, The Little Troubadour, Quarterly Publication of Order of Friars Minor Conventual, Australia. 2007 to present: Lecturer in Franciscan Studies and Church History, Catholic Theological College, Melbourne, Australia

(Photo from 2010 Mass)

Australia Day Citizenship and Awards Ceremony at Prince Henry Community Centre begins around 9.30am can continues.  Light refreshments served.

Archival Footage:

Link to 1973 Four Corners Report on ICI  (now Orica)

This clip, from a 1973 report shown on the ABC current affairs program ‘Four Corners’, examines links between the charitable fund National Parks and Wildlife Foundation and Australian representatives for the British chemical company Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI). ABC journalist Gordon Bick establishes in the clip that many donations to the fund were made by industrial corporations. Frederick S Buckley, then president of the National Parks and Wildlife Foundation while manager of ICI Australia and a member of the NSW state pollution control commission.

Link to 1973 report on  Finding a Balance -  Conservation and Industry

This clip, taken from a 1973 report shown on the ABC current affairs program ‘Four Corners’, highlights the increased conflict between those wishing to preserve Australia’s natural environment and those representing industrial interests. Various viewpoints are represented, including those of Juliana Hooper (Advertising Manager, BHP) and Milo Dunphy (Director, Total Environment Centre).