FRIDAY MARCH 7 7.30PM
FROM CITEAUX TO MINTARO: Bringing Fourierism to South Australia in 1847 – Prof Em JEAN FORNASIERO
BURNSIDE UNITING CHURCH: PORTRUSH ROAD, TUSMORE
In the mid-19th century, utopian socialism was in vogue. Charles Fourier was a philosopher whose influence peaked in the 1840s through his vision of associative life in the communities he labelled ‘phalansteries’. Several trial colonies had been conducted in France and it was proposed to develop a model colony on land purchased in 1840 near Mintaro in SA. This was the brainchild of Arthur Young, an important figure in the French Fourierist movement. This lecture will present his story, and that of his brothers who accompanied him to Adelaide. The Fourierist community did not eventuate and the remains of the family fortune soon evaporated. While two of the brothers stayed in SA, Arthur and two other brothers returned to Europe where they continued to uphold the values and ideas that had originally led them to Adelaide.
JEAN FORNASIERO is Professor Emerita of French Studies at the University of Adelaide. She has published widely on the Baudin expedition to Australia and as historical consultant to exhibitions on the voyage, and published a book on Empress Josephine’s Garden, and is preparing one on Charles Alexandre Lesueur, Baudin’s artist.