SA’s French connection still strong five years after dumped subs deal
This weekend’s Bastille Festival is a celebration of all things French, with everything from raclette to cabaret. Ten years after Australia signed a sunk submarine contract, the state’s French community is still thriving.
Fourteen years ago, when Bastille Festival director Vincent Hernandez arrived on Australian shores, he says there was little in the way of French produce in the country.
Originally from Normandy, near the famous floating monastery of Mont Saint-Michel, Vincent later moved to Paris, where he worked as a journalist for France’s national television station.
Missing his favourite French cheeses, a year after immigrating to Sydney, Vincent decided to establish a festival to celebrate high-quality produce, including saucisson and fromage français.
“Originally, it was a very simple thing. I thought there was not, in Sydney, any kind of street festival that was completely open where people could enjoy a glass of wine, have some good food and enjoy good music,” Vincent tells CityMag.
A decade and a half on, the festival now attracts around 650,000 people to Sydney’s Circular Quay and the Rocks, showcasing the best of French culture, wine and food.
Vincent says he never intended to bring the festival to another city, but after visiting Adelaide four years ago, he noticed similarities between South Australian and European culture, prompting the move.
"People are so proud of their wines, they’re so proud of their cheese, and they’re food in general. I found a lot of similarities with French culture and the European culture in general."
“And so, I was like, ‘Look, if I have to do a second Bastille somewhere else, it’ll have to be Adelaide.’”
Although not held on Bastille Day’s official date of July 14, Vincent says last year’s festival in Adelaide “went above any expectation”, attracting thousands of people across its two-and-a-half days.
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This year’s edition will be even bigger and better, he says, with more exhibitors, a cinema showing French films, a Champagne garden, cheese and wine tastings, and 18 concerts featuring 200 local artists across the four days.
South Australia’s French community numbered 1287 in the 2021 census, many having migrated to our state after former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull sealed a deal with President François Hollande to jointly build Australia’s new submarine fleet.
A flurry of cross-country projects was established and continued to flourish despite Liberal Prime Minister Scott Morrison later scuppering the contract in 2021 in favour of the new AUKUS deal.
Anne-Lise Heynen-Giri, who is executive director of Alliance Française in Wayville, says it is important for South Australia’s French community to maintain connections back to France.
This includes celebrating France’s national holiday, Bastille Day, which marks the storming of the Bastille by revolutionaries in search of weapons on July 14, 1789, considered a pivotal moment in the French Revolution.
South Australia’s French community also takes advantage of the annual Alliance Française French Film Festival, where they have the chance to watch new release films in their native language.
This year, the festival attracted more than 15,000 people, with films such as period drama Colours of Time and romance film Rodrigue in Love.
“For the French Film Festival, we have a lot of the French community because it’s quite wonderful for French people to have access to movies in the original language, and some of them are just released for the festival,” Anne-Lise says.
Anne-Lise was originally from Lyon but lived in Paris before arriving in Australia around four years ago.
At Alliance Française, she leads a team offering French language classes catering for toddlers up to adults, as well as French cultural activities such as café catch-ups, tastings, quiz nights and even small concerts.
She says most students at Alliance Française are Australian-born, but that some French parents also send their children to classes to maintain the language.
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“Alliance Française has the purpose of promoting the French language and culture, so we have those two pillars – we offer French classes and organise cultural activities,” Anne-Lise says.
Many French people who immigrated for the submarine project chose to call the Unley area home after the local council offered generous arrival packages.
The City of Unley hosts many of the French community institutions, including Alliance Française in Wayville, which includes a French-language library.
While the Maison de France behind the Unley Town Hall houses the Honorary Consul, the French-Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FACCI), the French Australian Schools Association, the French Benevolent Association and Adélaïde Acceuil.
Florence Masters, who is the head of the South Australian chapter of FACCI, says many of the French who migrated over to Adelaide for the submarine project tried to stay after the deal collapsed.
In September 2021, then Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced he would pull out of a $90 billion deal in favour of the AUKUS agreement with the United States and the United Kingdom.
Florence was born in Paris but moved permanently to Australia in 2020, saying many French people were attracted to Adelaide’s warm climate.
“I was already in the country and had three kids at school with lots of fellow students who were from these families, and many families tried to stay. So, those who could stay financially or because of their visa situation decided to stay because they fell in love with Adelaide,” she says.
"It’s got a lot to offer, the climate of Adelaide for French people is fantastic, especially because many of these families are coming from Normandy, where it’s a bit like UK weather."
At FACCI, Florence leads a team offering networking, industry events and business services to the business community, with a renewed focus on promoting French culture.
She says it was especially important for the status of Adelaide on the global stage to offer a bilingual French and English program at Highgate School, Unley High School and Pembroke School, with a combined French and Australian curriculum taught.
Florence says the French community in Adelaide connects with each other through WhatsApp and Facebook groups, mothers’ groups, a hiking group and by maintaining French traditions, including making crêpes halfway through Lent.
“I’ve never celebrated Bastille Day as much as since I’ve been an expat because when you live far away from home, you actually try to hook back to your culture,” she says.
She also enjoys taking a trip down memory lane, listening to her favourite music from her youth in 1980s France.
“I celebrate my birthday, and I’ve got a friend who’s a DJ, and he comes, and we put French music from the ’80s on that we used to listen to in France when we were younger,” she says.
“So, there is, within our little group, lots of need to look back at what we’re missing, because it is far away; not just geographically, but financially, it’s hard to go back to France.”
The Adelaide Bastille Festival takes place from May 28 to 31 at Festival Plaza.
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