Alas, for the Pelicans! Flinders, Baudin and Beyond

By Anne Chittleborough Gillian Dooley Brenda Glover And Rick Hosking, Kent Town: Wakefield Press, 2003, 222 pages, paperback, . Reviewed by Katrina Gulliver in the October 2003 issue.

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The bicentenary of Matthew Flinders' circumnavigation of Australia----and his encounter with the French captain, Nicolas Baudin----saw the release of a flurry of books and articles about him and the voyage.

Alas, for the Pelicans! is one such book, and its editors take an interesting approach to the Flinders and Baudin expeditions, and their famous crossed paths. It contains narrative history, poetry, and essays on topics tangential to the two captains. The title refers to a remark made by Flinders about the pelicans of Kangaroo Island, and their fate in the wake of the arrival of European explorers. Here, it is extrapolated to apply to the indigenous inhabitants and the environment.

Overall, the interdisciplinary approach, offering both academic and artistic responses to the subject, is intriguing, and certainly one I would like to see used in other history studies. However, this book demonstrates that the breadth of mediums demands a narrow subject field to produce a cohesive work. Alas, for the Pelicans! is interesting, but weakened by the lack of defined focus. Too much space is given to the later history of Kangaroo Island. The catch-all subtitle, 'Flinders, Baudin, and Beyond' allows for the inclusion of widely disparate contributions, but I would have preferred more Flinders and Baudin, and less 'beyond'.

The collection includes essays on the women of Kangaroo Island, which are fascinating, and should be recommended for students of social and women's history. It is unfortunate, then, that they are in a book such as this, the title of which gives no hint of the female history narratives within.

Another intriguing lead begins with a discussion of Mary Beckwith, a teenaged convict who accompanied the French on their journey to the south, having joined the Géographe at Sydney. Unfortunately, her story is not pursued, and I was left wishing we had been told more about her.

The poetry, dating from 1828 to 2002, varies greatly in style and quality. None of the poets has focussed on Baudin, which leaves the book heavily weighted on the Flinders side. The inclusion of some French poetry about exploration would have made a useful contrast. In fact, despite being mentioned on the cover, Baudin does not get much of a look-in when it comes to the articles either. Only two essays (of fourteen) deal with his expedition----Ann Flinders receives more attention, with two essays and two poems.

Alas, for the Pelicans! is illustrated, with colour and black and white prints and photographs. Unfortunately, some of the illustrations, such as the botanical studies by Ann Flinders, are not discussed in the text. This lets the book down, as these illustrations are magnificent and deserved to be written about.

This book takes a novel approach to a work of history, and is sure to be absorbing reading for anyone interested in Matthew Flinders and, more particularly, the history of Kangaroo Island.

Citation

• Katrina Gulliver. 'Review: Alas, for the Pelicans! Flinders, Baudin and Beyond by Anne Chittleborough Gillian Dooley Brenda Glover and Rick Hosking' [online]. Network Review of Books (Perth, Australian Public Intellectual Network), October 2003. Availability: <please cite the web address here> ISSN 1833-0932. [accessed 25 May 2013].

Back Cover Blurb

• In 1802 a Frenchman and an Englishman famously encountered each other off the shores of South Australia. The voyages of discovery of Nicolas Baudin and Matthew Flinders opened the way for the increasingly rapid colonisation of 'Terra Australis'. This collection of essays and poems celebrates the two-hundredth anniversary of the encounter, and examines some of the cultural contexts of their voyages and the ramifications of their discoveries over the ensuing years. Reflecting on his accomplishments some years after the events, Flinders himself poignantly noted that the arrival of Europeans in the waters surrounding Kangaroo Island also heralded the passing of what he romantically termed the golden age of the pelicans.

Visitors' Responses

• Baudin
  I'd just like to note that there is a long 3-part poem about Baudin ('Letters I-III' by Meredith Geyer) in this book, and he is mentioned as well in Judy Baghurst's 'Granite Island Fragments'.
  Gillian Dooley (20/03/1010)

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