Antoine Bruni d'Entrecasteaux was educated at a Jesuit school and reportedly intended to become a priest in the Society of Jesus, but his father intervened and enlisted him in the French Navy in 1754.

In the action that secured the Balearic Islands for Spain (and resulted in the execution of Admiral Byng), Bruni d'Entrecasteaux was a midshipman aboard the 26-gun Minerve, and in April 1757 he was commissioned as an ensign.

For a time Bruni d'Entrecasteaux was assistant director of ports and arsenals, after which (1785) he was transferred to command a French Squadron in the East Indies, comprising Résolution and Subtile.

[2] In September 1791, the French Assembly decided to send an expedition in search of Jean-François de La Pérouse, who had not been heard of since leaving Botany Bay in March 1788.

The plan of the voyage was to proceed to New Holland (Australia), to sight Cape Leeuwin at its southwest extremity, then to hug the shore closely all the way to Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania), inspecting every possible harbour in a rowing boat, and then to sail for Tonga (aka "the Friendly Islands") via the northern cape of New Zealand allowing gardener Félix Delahaye to collect live breadfruit plants for transport to the French West Indies.

However, when Bruni d'Entrecasteaux reached Table Bay, Cape Town on 17 January 1792, he heard a report that Captain John Hunter (later to be Governor of New South Wales) had recently seen – off the Admiralty Islands – canoes manned by indigenous people wearing French uniforms and belts.

Although Hunter denied this report, and although the Frenchmen heard of the denial, Bruni d'Entrecasteaux determined to make directly to the Admiralty Islands, nowadays part of Papua New Guinea, taking water and refreshing his crew at Van Diemen's Land.

Bruni d'Entrecasteaux was fortunate in having good officers and scientists, most importantly from the exploration point-of-view the expedition's first hydrographical engineer, C.F Beautemps-Beaupré, who is now regarded as the father of modern French hydrography.

After three days spent in scrutinizing the eastern and northern coastline, Bruni d'Entrecasteaux decided that the rumours he had heard in Table Bay must be false, and he therefore set sail for Ambon, in modern-day Indonesia, where his ships replenished their stores.

Leaving Amboina on 14 October, Bruni d'Entrecasteaux made for Cape Leeuwin, the south-western extremity of Australia, to carry out his original instructions of searching southern New Holland for La Pérouse.

This event was celebrated by feastings and parties, one result of which was that the smith on board Recherche, Jean-Marie Marhadour over-indulged and died next day from an apoplectic fit.

In this decision the French explorer was unfortunate, for if he had continued his examination of the southern coast of New Holland, he would have made all the geographical discoveries that fell to the lot of Bass and Flinders a few years later.

Auribeau died a month later and Rossel sailed from Java in January 1795 on board a Dutch ship, arriving at Table Bay in April 1795.