Louis de Saint-Aloüarn's marriage in Kerazan and how Australia could have been French
And also
The tops
Welcome in Kerazan!
In the 15th c., we found in Kerazan lords of Kerfloux: one of them probably raised a manor upon the foundations of the old familial castle.
René Le Gentil, lord of Rosmorduc, owned the estate by marriage in the beginning of the 18th c.
He altered the manor’s southern wing (the Classical one) in 1720.
A Breton sailor
Louis de Saint-Aloüarn get married
Oh, come with me, now, in the current living room: here, we found in the past the former chapel of manor of Kerazan.
Hey, something happened here! Here, on January 20th 1761, Marie-Jeanne Drouallen (René de Rosmorduc’s niece, the guy who owned the manor by marriage in the 18th c.) married Louis Aleno de Saint-Aloüarn, a young and dashing Breton naval officer.
Louis would go with his friend the ship lieutenant Yves de Kerguelen on the Australian coasts in 1772, sent there by king of France Louis XV to take possession of this distant piece of land...
Two Bretons in the fog!
But even for Bretons accustomed to the sea, they would need big courage to accomplish that task!
Over there, their two boats were separated by a nasty fog: Yves came back in France, thinking he discovered Australia; but it was finally Louis, all alone, searching without respite, who landed on the Australian land.
Yeeaah!! He took possession of the land in the name of the king of France: the tradition says a bottle with a parchment written in Latin inside had to be buried on the spot, as a testimony of the possession…
You know what? In 1998, historians found this bottle!
In short… meanwhile, Louis fell sick. Badly sick. Arrgh, damned scurvy…
He finally died at the age of 34.
Just before that, he sent a letter to his friend Yves about his discovery. But Louis and his southern land fell into oblivion...
England V.S. France
4 years later, Cook the Englishman landed in Australia and settled there: hey, but… we thought the French were there before them?!
Cook even discovered the bottle! Err, it’s not fair at all…
Yes, but the taking of possession wasn't effective: the French should have set up in the island, quickly after the discovery! Australia could have been French...
So, years after, in 1788, the English declared themselves as masters of all the island.
Oh, wait! For the posterity, Yves gave the name of his friend Louis to a mountain in Kerguelen island: mount St-Alouarn.