Oceanique Centrale.

The second earliest published map showing the completed Australian coastline.

Nice example of the second earliest, published map of a completed Australian coastline and which shows the results of of the French expedition under the command of Nicholas Baudin’s who completed the chart of the southern coasts from Nutys Land to Bass Strait, the results of which completed the coastal mapping of Australia.

This map precedes Flinders map of the continent as the publication of Flinder’s important atlas was in 1814, delayed by his imprisonment at Mauritius by the French. The cartouche in the lower left corner comprising an Australian Aboriginal man carrying a shield and spear, a banded hare-wallaby, a wombat and a canoe, all originally appeared as illustrations in the official published accounts of the Baudin voyage.

The coast is coloured in sections to reflect various historical discoveries made by the Dutch, English and French.

From Conrad Malte-Brun’s, Atlas Complet du Precis de la Geographie Universelle. Paris 1812.

Tooley, 844,  Prescott 1812.36

Collections:
National Library of Australia:  Bib ID1731105
State Library of NSW: (AuSN)b29962675-61slnsw_inst