Who Do You Trust? Discrepancies Between the ‘Official and Unofficial' Sources Recording Explorers’ Perceptions of Places and Their People

This chapter considers some discrepancies between original perceptions recorded by explorers for their own private use and later versions of the same incidents released in the public domain. The Western Australian Museum's examination of the primary sources relating to William Dampier and to Louis and Rose de Freycinet's perceptions of New Holland and its people commenced soon after the tercentennial of Dampier's landing at Shark Bay in 1699. The notion that somehow 'structured' official and professional versions of exploration diaries and depictions are more reliable can now be examined using the example of Rose and Louis de Freycinet's voyage. For Rose de Freycinet, the land and its people's were frightening and inhospitable. Not without considerable mental and physical support from Rose, Louis de Freycinet recovered and continued preparations for their escape from the Falkland Islands. With Rose especially, there was plenty of opportunity for comment and dissent.