French presence in Australia

Is it plausable for France, or any other European power, to gain a foothold, and eventually a successful colony, on Australia? Could it survive the British desire to take the entire continent?
 
Actually we've had this same topic only a few weeks ago, although at first the emphasis was place upon the Dutch, Portuguese, & Spanish.

Anyways... to put it simply, yes. Someone else could have as the Dutch were only a stone's throw away up in Java. In fact Able Tasman maped large parts of Australia long before Capt Cook arrived on the scene.

Likewise the Portuguese weren't far away either.

But the French. Well they were sniffing out this way too. In fact, a handful of days after the First Fleet arrived in 1788, a French expedition, lead by the famed explorer La Perouse, landed & camped at Botany Bay, which is some 15km to the south of Sydney Cove.

IMHO, though, I think it's the Dutch who could have set up shop here before any of the others if they wanted. So, decades (if not a century) before the British founded their Sydney colony, the Dutch could have already had colonies somewhere near Darwin, Perth, Adelaide, & Hobart, if not elsehwere. That'll make it rather difficult for the British to then grab the rest of the continent. And that's if the British actually wanted to do this, as at first the colony at Sydney was essentially about having a place to dump convicts more so than anything else.

Of course all this Eurocentric view misses the opportunities Asian peoples had in occupying Australia before the Europeans ventured out this way. So if we include them, in the discussion, well the Chinese of the Ming era certainly become a leading candidate, not to mention the Malays, Javanese, &, according to Ridwan Asher (who's an Indonesian AH.Com member), the Bugis.
 
Maybe France could've had a claim if Le Perouse had shown up a little earlier, but their attention was elsewhere, ruling out success at that time.
 
Well La Perouse could have stumbled across the Melbourne region & claim that I guess. The trick, though, would be who can set up a colony there first. After all possession is nine tenths of the law.
 
If La Perouse arrives in Australia earlier than Arthur Phillip in Botany Bay, Australia would be colonised by the French instead of British in OTL. If La Perouse and Arthur had met to each other and doesn't agree to their policies of colonising Australia, I think there would be an another war between the British and the French and the Napoleonic War would be held not only in Europe but also in Australia for the colonisation of Australian continent.
 

~The Doctor~

Just a suggestion

I think it's about time we created a "Frequently Posted What If's?" thread. Might stop the same question being posed thirty different times. I'd need a sixth hand to count the number of Gallipoli threads I've seen.
 
Phillip arrived with the makings of a permament colony to find La Perouse on an exploration mission. The French were 18 years behind the British, La Perouse was doing in 1788 what Cook did in 1770 and wasn't in a position to start a township.
 
The thing is, as I've said before, the Chinese could have set up shop here a century before either the Dutch or Portuguese arrived...

And may I also add, in passing, that the Aboriginals beat them all to it by about 40 000 odd years ;)
 
Phillip arrived with the makings of a permament colony to find La Perouse on an exploration mission. The French were 18 years behind the British, La Perouse was doing in 1788 what Cook did in 1770 and wasn't in a position to start a township.

French prioritize the funding of American Revolution instead of colonisation of Australia thats why French were behind 18 years than the British and if French were neutral to the American Revolution instead of supporting the American Revolution, We expect that French will colonize Australia and Australia is a French-speaking not English speaking in OTL.
 
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