Celebrating a 'peace field' at Recherche Bay Reserve
Beautiful Recherche Bay Reserve, in south-west Tasmania, came to prominence only in the last decade, but its significance for Australians goes back more than two centuries. It was there in 1791–1793 that many of Australia’s unique plants were collected by botanists for the first time and the concept of a 'peace field' was celebrated.
To document both the significance of this special place and mark its acquisition for conservation by the Tasmanian Land Conservancy, we interviewed specialists to take us on the historic journey of Recherche Bay’s past.
This taping was made possible thanks to the generous support of the Australian Garden History Society.
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00.19 – Dr Andrew Cole (astronomer, University of Tasmania) describes the sites of the Recherche and Esperance observatories and what observations they may have recorded.
01.52 – Annick Thomas (local French historian) talks about the discovery of Recherche Bay and the first friendly meeting between the French and Tasmanian Aborigines.
03.24 – Dr Keith Corbett (geologist) discusses the prevalence of fossilised trees preserved at Recherche Bay, which are over 200 million years old and from before the time of flowering plants. They are one of the best, if not the best, examples of fossil wood in Tasmania.
06.27 – Sib Corbett (botanist) goes over the flora makeup that characterises Recherche Bay and notes that all the plants that French botanist, Jacques Labillardière, surveyed and named still exist there.
11.38 – Bob Brown (former leader of the Australian Greens) talks about the remarkable meeting (a peace field) and friendship between the French explorers and the Lyluequonny Aboriginal people who lived at Recherche Bay, along with an optimistic look at the future of the reserve.