Talk:Sydney/Eastern suburbs/Archive 2010

Moore park

Please see the City east discussions for information on issues to do with the boundaries of moore park and the connection of the combined moore park and centenial park precinct to both the eastern suburbs article and the city east article as it has received extensive input there.(WT-en) felix 01:07, 12 June 2010 (EDT)

Jean-François de Galaup comte de Lapérouse -or- Jean-François de Galaup, comte de La Pérouse

When setting about editing the wikivoyage entries on the locality of La Perouse I found a link on that page to the the Wikipedia article on the suburb of La Perouse in Sydney. That page subsequently linked to the Jean-François de Galaup, comte de La Pérouse article.

I query the spelling of the mans name and so have edited to reflect what appears to be the correct spelling (of the explorer and French expedition leader - not the suburrb named after him).

I am concerned that this is an anomaly first established by scholars of the past anglicising the spelling of his name. Most of the french language ( and many of the english) sources I can turn up on web searches spell it Lapérouse and I understand he also signed his name in that way. Confusingly Lapérouse described himself at the top of a private letter of 3 july 1783 as "M. De La Perouse" (It may be De LaPerouse but there appears to be a space between La and Perouse). However he then appears to sign the letter at the bottom as "Laperouse".

I have read that some (french) naval records use the spelling La Perouse but I have not been able to locate any. Again I suspect the writers concerned may have anglicising the spelling of his name.

There is a live link on the La Perouse suburb Wikipedia page that describes "Jean-François de Galaup, comte de La Pérouse". I consider that this may put both the La Perouse (the suburb in sydney) Wikipedia article and the Jean-François de Galaup, comte de La Pérouse (the man) Wikipedia article at odds to the correct spelling of the name as well and have addressed that in a Wikipeedia edit discussion.

Most importantly I note that the The Musée National de la Marine refers to him as "Jean-François de Galaup comte de Lapérouse". I think that source is more credible than either historic or contemporary scholarly papers and articles that are dealing with the subject by way of translations of text and other content.

There are many journals and other texts that refer to him as Lapérouse, including many French language publications, including also french/canadian. A NSW state library search for Lapérouse a very quick count turns up 25 of the 67 hits as using the La Perouse spelling or other variations. The bulk of these La-Parouse entries appear to be titled to translated works. This leaves the overwhelming majority of 42 articles as having the spelling Lapérouse in the titles. It is of note that in most cases they appear to be the french publications that use Lapérouse and the english language or translated works that use La Perouse.

Obviously if a search is done for La Perouse the documents concerning the suburb of La Perouse then come into play and make it too confusing to sort out the background noise.. also: La Tragique Expédition de Lapérouse et Langle by Paul Fleuriot de Langle (1954). Jean-François de Galaup, Comte de LaPérouse, Dictionary of Canadian Biography IV, 282-83. also: A commemorative stamp depicting French explorer Jean Francois de Galaup is in the 1988 French series honoring explorers and navigators, author: Thompson, Jo-Ann, Publisher: American Publishing Company of New York, Publication Name: Stamps, Subject: Hobbies and crafts, ISSN: 0038-9358, Year: 1993 describes "2.00+.50f featuring the explorers bust and a map of his explorations described "La Perouse".

I have edited the Wikivoyage page to reflect the name - Jean-François de Galaup comte de Lapérouse - as I believe I have found a sufficient enough body of information to do that within the Wikivoyage guidlines.

Jean-François de Galaup comte de Lapérouse is a significant person of the Age of Enlightenment and a significant person of interest to the early history of australia and the exploration of Terra Australis and the South Pacific.

I think he deserves to have his name spelt correctly. I feel that the man himself was probably the best authority on the spelling of his own name most especially as apparently he suffixed it in this manner himself, The de Lapérouse suffix was apparently added by Jean-François de Galaup himself.

It seems we may be dealing with a historical inaccuracy arising from early anglicising of Jean-François de Galaup comte de Lapérouse's name. I am unsure of the sources used to name Jean-François de Galaup comte de Lapérouse as "La Perouse" in this article but I consider the The Musée National de la Marine resource refering to him as "Jean-François de Galaup comte de Lapérouse" to be a sufficiently credible authority to justify my edit. I would appreciate other editors opinions and views on this if there is any disagreement.(WT-en) felix 00:46, 13 June 2010 (EDT)