"How to mark Bastille Day on Sydney Daily Photo, with an Aussie flavour? " I wondered.Well, I think there's only one place in the world* you might come across these three flags flying together: La Perouse, on the northern shore of Botany Bay. The Australian flag, the French flag, and the Aboriginal flag (La Perouse is home to a large Aboriginal community)
French Captain Jean-François de Galaup, Comte de Laperouse, arrived here just six days after the British First Fleet in 1788. Laperouse stayed in Botany Bay for six weeks, building an observatory, stockade and garden. This monument marks the site of his camp.
Today when I arrived there was a group of French speaking young people just packing up musical instruments; I had missed celebrations featuring the Orchestre Polyphonique from Île de la Réunion. Which just proves how even-handed I am, because I also missed the 29 April celebrations on the opposite side of Botany Bay, commemorating the arrival of Captain Cook! (see this blog) 
* Hmmmm- perhaps at the Musée Branly in Paris, which has a modern Aboriginal art collection?
Good post. I read it with interest and learned more than I knew. I like your photographic quality. And I also wanted to thank you for stopping at my blog.
ReplyDeleteAbraham Lincoln
oldmanlincoln
Thank you to mark the day of our national festival.
ReplyDeleteYour photographs are beautiful
Thank you, Sally! Six days and you could speak French! And yes,le Musée des Arts premiers is wonderful.
ReplyDeleteWell, everybody seems to be posting somehow around 14 juillet; I did it also on my blog. Sorry that you missed the guys from Reunion (they are good, and the Island is superb; see under label Reunion at Blogtrotter if you wish to have a look)...
ReplyDeleteNice way to capture the day.
ReplyDeleteAh, lovely post as always from you. Happy Bastille Day to you too.
ReplyDeleteSally, you have done a fabulous job of covering so much in one day. It's a credit to you. And it's wonderful to see all the French visitors and others learning a little of our early French links in the new colony.
ReplyDeleteIt was only the timing that made us all a British colony.
From Adeaide; nous vous souhaitons tout un joyeux le quatorzième juillet.
The photos are beatiful.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your visit to my blog.
I have a buttom to translate spanish to english if you like visit again.
Sorry, my English is very bad. I studied 7 years English. But... I forgot it.
Kiss from Uruguay.
I wait another visit.
Merci de penser à notre fête nationale! :-)
ReplyDeletePretty special way to commemorate the day.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your work and have a good weekend
ReplyDeleteHappy Bastille Day!
ReplyDeleteWow, thank you very much for your post about "le quatorze juillet", notre fête nationale. This year it was really great ......... in Paris. Snif snif. The "défilé militaire" included soldiers from every country of the EU. Two thousand "victims" were invited to the garden-party at the Elysée and there was a big concert on Le Champ de Mars, with Michel Polnareff. The Parisians were spoiled!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI find it funny that American people still call our fête nationale "Bastille day"..... I think the name is more evocative and even more beautiful than just "le quatorze juillet"....
So, always ALMOST there in the right place at the right time?
ReplyDeleteI didn't take part in ANY celebrations, so I fared worse!
Your three flags is one of the coolest flag photos I've seen in a long time (and I know we have the same opinion on flags generally...)
PS - we say le quatorze juillet, not le quatorzieme... fourteen july, not fourteenth. But congratulations for getting the accent right!
ReplyDeleteThanks Nathalie - I fixed it! Couldn't bear to leave the innacuracy!
ReplyDelete