The map of Shark Bay, in the far west of Western Australia, shows the influence of early explorers. Many place names in the Bay are French, derived from Baudin's expedition a quarter of a century or so before British settlement. One of the scientists on that great journey was Francois Peron, whose name lives on in one of Shark Bay's peninsulas and in the Peron National Park.
Nicholas Baudin's expedition to southern and western Australia, initially with two ships Naturaliste and Geographe, was one of the great events in the history of science. It was sponsored by the Imperial Institute of France to explore the poorly known Australian continent and provide new material to promote the standing of French science in Europe. In spite of controversy, mismanagement and appalling casualities, the expedition was successful. More than 100,000 specimens of animals were taken back to France, most of them collected at Shark Bay and at King George Sound on the south coast.
Two Visits
The Geographe, with Peron aboard, actually made two visits to Shark Bay, the first in June 1801 and a return visit in March 1803. Peron went ashore at several places, most notably Bernier Island and Peron Peninsula.
It seems he was a typical 'absent-minded professor'. He was accident prone and kept getting himself lost when he went ashore, much to the despair and frustration of Baudin, the expedition commander. Writing in his own journal, Baudin referred to him as "Citizen Péron, the most thoughtless and most wanting in foresight of anyone on board".
Peron's own account of the time he went missing on Bernier Island makes fascinating reading.
He had a similar misadventure on Peron Peninsula when he went ashore there in March 1803. He had persuaded his colleagues to cross the peninsula and again became lost. When they eventually returned to the ship in a very stressed state, Peron begged Baudin to allow him to rest before he made his report because he "could hardly talk and remain standing". Unimpressed, Baudin wrote in his journal that night:
"This is the third escapade of this nature that our learned naturalist has been on, but it will be his last, for he shall not go ashore again unless I myself am in the same boat."
And yet it was François Péron who lived to return to Paris and was given the task of writing up the scientific and narrative accounts of the expedition. Poor Baudin died of tuberculosis during the return voyage.
Death and Desertion
Death and desertion claimed the majority of the scientific personnel on the expedition. Of the 23 scientists who embarked, only three returned to France. Francois Peron was the only one of the original five zoologists to complete the trip. His work was illustrated by Charles Lesueur, who had joined the expedition originally as a gunner.
Peron died in Paris before the task was completed and it was finished by his ship-board colleague Louis Freycinet, who later commanded the Astrolabe on a second scientific expedition in the region.
The name François Péron stands prominently alongside other Europeans in the history of | 
