Alexis Bergantz, French Connection: Australia’s Cosmopolitan Ambitions (NewSouth, 2021)

Abstract

<p>This is a long overdue review of an outstanding book, which richly deserved the 2022 NSW Premier's History Award for Australian History. On that occasion, the judges rightly suggested that one of this book's major strengths lay in providing a novel and an unexpected understanding of Australianness. It does so by shedding light on how, since its conception, colonial Australia was much more cosmopolitan—and much less British—than we may have previously thought. I have had the pleasure of reading Bergantz's book more than once in recent years and I have watched it receive glowing reviews. These include Jim Davidson's article in the <i>Australian Book Review</i> in which he heralds it as "an exemplary piece of cultural history",¹ and Gemma King's review in <i>The French Australian Review</i> in which she commended the subtle manner in which French Connection has been able to capture "the ways in which Frenchness was interpreted, used and reimagined in the service of defining an Australian identity".² While much has already been written on this book, then, and by colleagues so well placed to assess it, this temporal <i>décalage</i> has allowed me the rare privilege of prolonged reflection on Bergantz's arguments, which have provided food for thought not only for ongoing academic projects, but also in my own journey of self-discovery as a relatively recent Italian migrant and new Australian citizen.</p>