Binot Paulmyer

Binot Paulmyer, sieur de Gonneville, French navigator of the early 16th century, who was widely believed in 17th and 18th century France to have been the true discoverer of Australia. This claim is not now accepted by historians.

In 1503 de Gonneville sailed from Honfleur in Normandy, apparently heading for Brazil. In 1505 he returned claiming to have discovered the "great Austral land," which he also called the "Indies Meridionale." According to de Gonneville, he had stayed six months in this idyllic place, where the inhabitants didn't have to work because of the riches. De Gonneville stated that this land was six weeks' sail east of the Cape of Good Hope.

De Gonneville's tale was forgotten until 1663, when Jean Paulmyer de Courtonne, Canon of the Church of Saint-Pierre at Lisieux, a relative of de Gonneville's, published a book called Memoirs Concerning the Establishment of a Christian Mission in the Austral Land, in which he claimed to be the great-grandson of an "Indian" brought back to France by de Gonneville in 1505.

De Courtonne's claims struck a chord at a time when French patriotism was offended at the success of the Dutch and the English in making new discoveries in the South Pacific. De Gonneville's long forgotten tales were revived as the basis of a French claim over these new lands. This belief grew in the 18th century and led to French expeditions such as those of Bouvet and Bougainville.

French historians now think it likely that de Gonneville actually visited Madagascar, which is some way east of the Cape. It is thought highly unlikely that the sailing ships of 1505 could have crossed the Indian Ocean. If de Gonneville had indeed gone as far east as Western Australia, he would have found its shores just as uninteresting as the Dutch did a hundred years later.