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Paris: Puymaurin & Andrieu, 1817. Somewhat aged but authentic issued condition.. Bronze medal, 41 mm. Bronze example of the medal struck to commemorate the sailing of the Uranie for Australia and the Pacific in 1817 under Freycinet. The Uranie landed at Shark Bay on the West Coast of Australia, on 12 September 1818, where an observatory was set up. After visiting Timor and the Hawaiian Islands they reached Port Jackson in November 1818. They left on Boxing Day that year on a course for Cape Horn but on 13 February 1820 the ship was wrecked off the Falkland Islands. However all the crew and most of the records of the voyage and natural history specimens were saved and the voyage was completed on the Physicienne. The voyage was organised by the French government to make observations on geography, magnetism and meteorology, and became noteworthy for its natural history discoveries. This scientific bent is reflected in the detailed lettering on the obverse, which has the main caption 'Hemisphere… Read More