Issue 47 Aurora Magazine April 2022

taste great southern
THE FRENCH MENANG CONNECTION
Tour de France a La Grange sur Kalgan
STORY ALLEN NEWTON
There are more than 260 French name places along the coast of Western Australia
and it seems Australia became a British colony rather than French by luck as much as
anything. History devotee and local tourism guide Wayne Monks has been exploring
the French connection to the Great Southern and plans to share his discoveries with an
event as part of Taste Great Southern.
The Tour de France à La Grange sur Kalgan (Tour of France at the Grange on Kalgan)
will combine French cuisine under the southern stars, with the culture of the Menang
people and a tour of Albany’s historic sites to look back at the early 18th and 19th
century French navigators like Baudin, Hamelin and D’Entrecasteaux.
The French and British were competing fiercely for trade opportunities in the
region during the 1700s and 1800s and France sent many scientific and commercial
expeditions to the Indian and Pacific Oceans in that time. But with the outbreak of
the French Revolution in 1789 and the turmoil it created, the French lost interest in
Australia.
The French even named, what we now know as the Kalgan River, Riviere des Francais
and where the mid-week event on Wednesday, 11 May will celebrate with a sundowner
at The Grange on Kalgan.
According to Menang Elder, Vernice Gillies, the relationship between the early French
explorers and the local Noongar people was good.
“The French treated Noongar people quite well and were very interested in their
BELOW: The view from The Grange on Kalgan will provide the sundowner setting.
LEFT: Larry Blight from Kurrah Mia at the Indigenous fish traps.
26 LOVE LOCAL