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Habitation de deux matelots naufrages
Habitation de deux matelots naufrages

Habitation de deux matelots naufrages

Author (1789 - 1843)
Date1836
Object number00046903
NameEngraving
MediumPaper
DimensionsOverall: 116 x 151 mm, 1.34 g
ClassificationsEphemera
Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from Ron and Pamela Walker
DescriptionThis is a fictionalised scene of two shipwrecked sailors somewhere on the Australian coast. It is a cutting from an 1836 encyclopedia by Grégoire Louis Domeny de Rienzi (1789-1843) Océanie ou cinquième partie du monde, or, Oceania or Fifth Part of the World. This was a highly derivative, but widely-read publication that popularised Oceania as a geographical term. HistoryIn 1804, Edme Mentelle (1730-1815) and Conrad Malte-Brun (1775-1826) coined the name Océanique as a more precise label for what they called the 'fifth part of the world' - usually grouped under the generic name of 'Terres australes', or 'southern lands'. In 1815, Adrien-Hubert Brué (1786-1832) in turn amended Océanique to Océanie, or 'Oceania'. In 1832, the navigator-naturalist Dumont d'Urville (1790-1842) initiated the geographic and ethnographic distribution of the Pacific Islands and their inhabitants between Melanesia, Polynesia, and Micronesia. Dumont d'Urville's terminology was formally adopted by the French Navy. The term Oceanie (Oceania) was popularised by Grégoire Louis Domeny de Rienzi (1789-1843), with his publication of what was a highly derivative, but widely-read encyclopedia, Océanie ou cinquième partie du monde, or Oceania or Fifth Part of the World (1836-8). The object is a cutting from a page of this publication. The engraved images were also issued separately. A copy of this plate, number 82, is held in the National Library. The series of images of Australian scenes in Oceanie, includes scenes - taken from various sources - of daily life, flora and fauna, and this scene of two shipwrecked sailors. SignificanceThis image comes from a widely published book that popularised the term Oceania for the geographic region of Australia and the Pacific.

It shows an interesting interpretation of two shipwrecked sailors on the Australian coast as part of an overview of Australian people, flora and fauna.