Arrondisements of a French W. Australia?

The basic concept is one where the western half of Australia gets colonized by Napoleonic France, and decided to go mega-nerdy and come up with the arrondissements within the five departments of the Kingdom of Outremer (now basically independent under the Bonapartes, much like Australia under the British crown).

But my knowledge of Australian geography is fairly limited ("Most of them live on the east coast, there's a giant desert in the middle and a few cities on the south and west"). So, I turn to you for help.

This is Outremer and its departments:

Outremer.gif


And this is my rough outline of the arrondisements

Armagnac - Marrapiqurinié (Port Hedland) (Armagnac = Gascoyne River)
1 ?
2 ?
3 ?
4 ?
Côte-de-Timor - Port-Larraqie (Darwin)
1 ?
2 ?
3 ?
4 ?
Montagnes-Argent - Port-Joséphine (Adelaide) (Montagnes-Argent = Mount Lofty Ranges)
1 Lac-Berthier - Diériville (Marree) (= Lake Eyre area)
2 Lac-Milette - Patadjilnde (Parachilna) (= Lake Torrens area)
3 Péninsule-de-Meslée - Port-Baudin (Port Lincoln) (= Eyre's Peninsula)
4 Golfe-Saint-Pierre - Port-Joséphine (Adelaide) (= St Vincent Gulf)
5 Montagnes-Anangou - Nagaroutdjaranie (Mount Woodroffe) (= NW South Australia)
6 Auralie - Carlcourlie (Kalgoorlie) (= SW South Australia)
Montagnes-Outremer - Maparntoue (Alice Springs) - Montagnes-Outremer = MacDonnell Ranges
1 Oulourou - Fort-Larrey (~Yulara) (= southern third)
2 Désert-Centrale - Maparntoue (= northern two thirds)
Waugal - Bourlou (Perth) - (Waugal = Swan River)
1 ?
2 ?
3 ?
4 ?
5 ?
6 ?

Anybody want to help Frenchify western Australia's landscape? :D (Apologies for the no-doubt-mangled Aborigine to French transliterations, btw)
 
Well, for starters, the map shows much more than just the western half of Australia...

And another thing: Armagnac and Montagnes-Outremer will both have tiny populations. The land there just doesn't support much human life.
 
The proposed invasion of Australia from Maritius was scotched by Trafalgar. In 1805 there was very little to invade, the Dutch had charted virtually the whole area you have on the map by 1644 and quite rightly decided it was shit. Perth itself wasn't founded until 1829, and other than that you only have a few pearling camps.
 
Well, for starters, the map shows much more than just the western half of Australia...

A trivial detail!

And another thing: Armagnac and Montagnes-Outremer will both have tiny populations. The land there just doesn't support much human life.

True, but that won't stop the authorities from creating the departments and arrondisements.

The proposed invasion of Australia from Maritius was scotched by Trafalgar. In 1805 there was very little to invade, the Dutch had charted virtually the whole area you have on the map by 1644 and quite rightly decided it was shit. Perth itself wasn't founded until 1829, and other than that you only have a few pearling camps.

Preventing the British from claiming the entire continent is justification enough for French imperialists to establish their own colonies near the sites of Perth and Adelaide during the 1820s of this TL.

I'm not saying the French Empire magically transforms the desert into a verdant land full of bustling cities. I just need some suitable French names for the administrative subdivisions.
 
I'm not saying the French Empire magically transforms the desert into a verdant land full of bustling cities. I just need some suitable French names for the administrative subdivisions.

But it stands to reason that more populated areas would be divided into more departments. In fact, I would look at French Algeria as a model - the coast had 3 and then later 4 departments from the 1800s until about the 1950s and the interior was variously governed as a single unit (Southern Territories) or as separate units (various territories) attached to the coastal departments and only later did the desert region gain departments as well. So coastal Armagnac might be a department but the interior of Armagnac and Montagnes-Outremer might well not be departments at all but territories attached to neighbouring departments. (so I guess Armagnac might remain as is just that there might be a coastal department and an interior territory). Montagnes-Outremer might be administratively attached to whichever department it has better communication links with (likely Montagnes-Argent or Côte-de-Timor).
 
But it stands to reason that more populated areas would be divided into more departments. In fact, I would look at French Algeria as a model - the coast had 3 and then later 4 departments from the 1800s until about the 1950s and the interior was variously governed as a single unit (Southern Territories) or as separate units (various territories) attached to the coastal departments and only later did the desert region gain departments as well. So coastal Armagnac might be a department but the interior of Armagnac and Montagnes-Outremer might well not be departments at all but territories attached to neighbouring departments. (so I guess Armagnac might remain as is just that there might be a coastal department and an interior territory). Montagnes-Outremer might be administratively attached to whichever department it has better communication links with (likely Montagnes-Argent or Côte-de-Timor).

Oh, I rather like that idea. ::thinks:: Armagnac stays as is, Montagnes-Outremer goes to Montagnes-Argent as a territory.

But now I have to go back and painstakingly redo my beautiful, beautiful map :D (See OP for the fruits of my day-long labor)
 
The proposed invasion of Australia from Maritius was scotched by Trafalgar. In 1805 there was very little to invade, the Dutch had charted virtually the whole area you have on the map by 1644 and quite rightly decided it was shit. Perth itself wasn't founded until 1829, and other than that you only have a few pearling camps.

Wait, there was a proposed invasion of Australia?
 
Yes, I rate it as the biggest threat to Australia ever because of the handful of tiny settlements the French would have to capture. Easier for the French to capture 2 towns and a few thousand people in 1804 than the Japanese to capture 7 million people in 1942.
 
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