Good day! I'm contemplating the possibility of creating a certain timeline and wanted to know your opinion on it. As you may know, French minister duke de Choiseul was determined to make up for French losses in the 7Y War. What is more, he tried to settle French Guiana and failed due to malary.

What if before Choiseul gets fired he sends a naval expedition to the Pacific, which finds Australia? That would require the French to organize a naval expedition to the Pacific earlier than the British did and certainly during Choiseul's presence in office - between 1763 and 1770. This colony may be populated with exiled Acadians, Protestants, Jews (unlike why was the case in Nouvelle France, they will be free to go to Australia) and settlers which were OTL sent to Guiana. Choiseul was not a fool, he would have considered that a strong colony would need population. Perhaps, this can lead to Choiseul staying in power for a longer time.

I wonder, whether this is possible and if it is, what is your opinion on the impact of French Australia on the Revolution and its life under Republic and Napoleon.

Thanks to all of you in advance. I apologize for any mistakes I may have made - be it grammar or spelling. English is not my native language.
 
Last edited:
IMO a good POD to get this to actually happen as you've outlined is that Choiseul gets enthralled with the idea of the "Great Southern Continent". This was a belief held by multiple Europeans, including some bigwigs in the British Navy, that the earth had an antipodal equivalent to Eurasia in the southern hemisphere. At this time Mauritius was a French colony, so perhaps Choiseul could send an expedition from there to explore the Indian Ocean and eventually the Pacific. This could lead to a discovery of Australia, and if the French sail to the southwestern or southeastern edges during a wet year, the land would look quite inhabitable and inviting to Europeans.

The colony is unlikely to do much to affect the French revolution, but might end up being swollen by political exiles and refugees, sent to the other end of the world by succeeding French governments to get rid of them. By the 19th century, the British will be putting pressure on the colony. Even if they do not take it over, I see the colony becoming increasingly militarized as soldiers and additional colonists are sent to protect it (assuming that the French governments consider it worth protecting. if not, Australian Quebec).

An alternate POD you might wish to consider is Cook's expedition crashes into and is destroyed on the Great Barrier Reef. Follow up British exploration in the Pacific either does not find Australia, or lands in less attractive parts of it leading to the continent being dismissed as a possibility for colonization. ITTL, the British start shipping prisoners elsewhere (I'm not sure what's historically likely, but Patagonia is a perennial favorite on these boards for a British settler colony).

Then, Jean-Francoise de Galaup's expedition sails through as per OTL-but ITTL survives and gets back to France with a description of temperate southeast Australia. Boom, colony!
 
Top