Napoleon's Australia

n the northern winter of 1814, a French armada set sail for New South Wales. The armada's mission was the invasion of Sydney, and its inspiration and its fate were interwoven with one of history's greatest love stories - that of Napoleon and Josephine.The Empress Josephine was fascinated by all things Australian. In the gardens of her grand estate, Malmaison, she kept kangaroos, emus, black swans and other Australian animals, along with hundreds of native plants brought back by French explorers in peacetime. And even when war raged between France and Britain, ships known to be carrying Australian flora and fauna for 'Josephine's Ark' were given safe passage.