The Frenchman. Francis Barrallier life & journeys 1773-1853
Andy Macqueen (self published) 2024
RRP $40.00
A review by Roger Lembit
Andy Macqueen has written a new book about the life and travels of Francis Barrallier. Barrallier, who served as an Ensign and Aide-de-Camp in the early days of colonial Sydney penetrated deep into the southern Blue Mountains over ten years before the crossing by Blaxland, Lawson and Wentworth.
The Frenchman tells the story of Barrallier’s life, from his birth in Toulon, France in 1773, to his time in Australia and his work as Surveyor General on the island of Barbados in the Caribbean.
The treatment of the Blue Mountains episode in Barrallier’s journeys is greatly enhanced by the careful translation from the original French of his journal by linguist, Melina Bellini-Sheppard. This translation puts new nuance on the words of Barrallier which Macqueen discusses.
The book is a revisit of Macqueen’s 1993 book, Blue Mountains to Bridgetown. Apart from the new understanding of Barrallier’s words, Macqueen has also included new emphasis on the Aboriginal people who travelled with Barrallier, and those he encountered in places like the Burragorang Valley.
As with many bushwalkers who have undertaken trips in the southern Blue Mountains, Macqueen notes that his search for Barrallier was kindled by a trip in 1965. Myles Dunphy was similarly drawn to Barrallier’s travels to the Burragorang Valley, Tonalli River and the Kowmung River as far back as 1915. Dunphy named features in the Christy’s Creek area after Aboriginal people who Barrallier named in his journal.
For many decades there have been different interpretations of the route Barrallier took between Picton (Thirlmere) Lakes and the Kowmung River and Christys Creek area. Macqueen has investigated that part of Gundungurra land quite meticulously, using his experience as a bushwalker and navigator. Differences in interpretation of the route have prevailed for many years since geographer RH Cambage made a presentation to the Royal Australian Historical Society in 1910. The various interpretations are presented in Appendix 1 with notes about Macqueen’s own assessment and how his has varied between 1992 and the present.
Macqueen’s map of the route from Nattai to Christys, and the photographs which illustrate features of the course, greatly enhance the reader’s understanding.
Prior to his Blue Mountains ‘incursions’ Barrallier was involved in trips to Pittwater, Jervis Bay, Western Port and the Hunter River. At the latter two locations he engaged in surveying. Macqueen’s book details these trips and includes reproductions of the charts and observations made by Barrallier.
The book tells the tale of Barrallier’s life in the young colony and the politics which caused him to return to England. He then remained in England for three years when he was posted to the West Indies.
Like others before me I was fascinated by Barrallier’s Blue Mountains exploration from the time of my first trip to the Kowmung River in 1978. I read the 1897 English translation of his Journal around that time and sought to match my understanding of the country with Barrallier’s sketch map.
In The Frenchman, Andy Macqueen has dug much more deeply into the life and travels of this outstanding man, recognising the influences which shaped his time in the young colony at Sydney. Macqueen deals sympathetically with the Aboriginal people of the time and with respect to their descendants who are now elders, knowledge holders and custodians.
The Frenchman is simply a great book. Make sure you get a copy.