Table Of ContentLa Trobe
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Unknown artist, Charles Joseph La Trobe, c. 1835, oil, frontispiece to The Rambler in
Oklahoma (Harlow, Oklahoma City, 1955)
This picture has been reproduced in good faith. The author is continuing to
endeavour to trace the ownership of this picture and the copyright owner of their
photograph. She would be pleased to receive any related information.
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La Trobe
The Making of a Governor
Dianne Reilly Drury
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MELBOURNE UNIVERSITY PRESS
An imprint of Melbourne University Publishing Ltd
187 Grattan Street, Carlton, Victoria 3053, Australia
[email protected]
www.mup.com.au
First published 2006
Text Dianne Reilly Drury 2006
Design and typography Melbourne University Publishing Ltd 2006
This book is copyright. Apart from any use permitted under the Copyright Act
1968 and subsequent amendments, no part may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system or transmitted by any means or process whatsoever without
the prior written permission of the publishers.
Designed by Phil Campbell
Typeset in Utopia by J&M Typesetting
Printed in Australia by University of Melbourne Design & Print Centre
National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry
Drury, Dianne Reilly.
La Trobe : the making of a governor.
Bibliography.
Includes index.
ISBN 0 522 85235 1. (paperback)
ISBN 0 522 85236 X. (e-book)
1. La Trobe, Charles Joseph, 1801-1875. 2. Lieutenant
governors - Victoria - Biography. 3. Victoria - History -
1851-1891. I. Title.
994.5031
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For John
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Contents
List of Illustrations viii
Acknowledgements ix
Chronology xii
Abbreviations Used in Notes xvi
Introduction 1
1 A Huguenot Heritage 6
2 The Young Man, 1824–1832 32
3 North America and Mexico through Anglo-European Eyes 68
4 Creation of a Civil Servant: La Trobe in the West Indies 99
5 A Position ‘Not Without Its Difficulties’:
La Trobe Encounters the Port Phillip District 132
6 A Cultured European in a Distant Colony:
La Trobe’s Civilising Mission 159
7 ‘Duties of No Ordinary Difficulty’:
La Trobe as Administrator, 1839–1854 182
8 The Aftermath of Office: ‘The Hedger’s Glove’ 237
Appendix 1 La Trobe’s Instructions 255
Appendix 2 La Trobe’s Art 261
Appendix 3 Charles Joseph La Trobe: Journeys and
Excursions in Australia 263
Bibliography 267
Index 284
vii
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Illustrations
Unknown artist, Charles Joseph La Trobe, c. 1835 ii
Albert-Alexandre de Pourtalès, Pencillings by the Way, 1832 72
George Alexander Gilbert (1815–?), View of Jolimont, the
Residence of C. J. La Trobe, 1843–44 152
Charles Joseph La Trobe, Rose’s Gap, The Grampians, 1850 171
Sir Francis Grant, Charles Joseph La Trobe, [1854] 215
A La Trobe exhibition can be found online at:
http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/41735/20040505/www.statelibrary.
vic.gov.au/slv/exhibitions/latrobe/index.html
viii
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Acknowledgements
To the late Dr Davis McCaughey, AC, and to Professor A. G. L. Shaw,
AO, I owe the suggestion that, with some application, I might advance
to another level my professional interest in Charles Joseph La Trobe.
Associate Professor Don Garden and Professor Peter McPhee kindly
agreed to take me on as a student, and I acknowledge my debt for
their direction at every stage of my study, their encouragement when
the enormity of the task seemed overwhelming, and their kindness
always.
The many members of the extended La Trobe family around the
world have my profound thanks for their continued interest in a
research project on one of their relatives which has necessarily been
protracted. In particular, I wish to acknowledge the assistance of the
late Dr John Henry de La Trobe and Frau Renate de La Trobe of
Hamburg, Germany, for their inspiration and unflagging support in
researching one of their family. Mrs Carlotta Blake of Hove, England,
Charles Joseph’s great-grand-daughter, and her family have been
resourceful, hospitable and at all times supportive of my work on
their ancestor. Dr Bernard and Mme Anne Latrobe Kirchner of Gif-
sur-Yvette, France, have been enthusiastic for the project and kindly
gave permission to view and quote from the manuscript ‘Livre de
Famille’ in their family archive. Rev. Basil and Mrs Vera MacLeavy of
Leominster, England, generously gave me access to some West Indian
resources and family documentation in their possession. Mr Charles
(Sandy) Hazlehurst Latrobe III of Baltimore, USA, kindly provided me
with access to correspondence between Charles Joseph and his
American cousins.
My deep gratitude is extended to the many librarians, archivists
and curators who opened to me the treasure troves in their care. In
particular, my colleagues and friends at the State Library of Victoria,
especially the staff of the La Trobe Australian Manuscripts Collection
and the La Trobe Picture Collection, have been helpful and always
interested in the project.
Access to previously inaccessible original source material in
Switzerland was made possible by Dr Maurice de Tribolet, Archivist of
the Canton of Neuchâtel. Dr de Tribolet and his staff, particularly
Mme Patricia Rey, provided the most agreeable facilities for research
ix
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in the tower of the Château of Neuchâtel from which views of the Alps
and the Lake were charming distractions. In the course of a week in
1999, my husband, John Drury, and I photocopied and catalogued for
the State Library of Victoria over 4000 documents relating to Charles
Joseph La Trobe.
Other colleagues who have provided much-needed professional
support have included: Martin Beckett, Mitchell Library, State Library
of New South Wales; Michael Piggott and the staff of the University of
Melbourne Archives; the staff of the Baillieu Library and the Education
Resource Centre at the University of Melbourne; the staff of the Public
Record Office Victoria; Terence Lane, National Gallery of Victoria;
Adrian Flint, Photographer, State Library of Victoria; Leonie Triolo,
Multimedia Access Team, State Library of Victoria; Paul Blewitt,
Archivist, Moravian Archives, Muswell Hill, London; Margaret Connor,
Archivist, Fulneck, Yorkshire; the staff of the National Portrait Gallery,
London; the staff of the Public Record Office, Kew, England; and Sara
Dodgson, Librarian and Archivist, Athenaeum Club, London.
Marguerite Hancock kindly shared with me her extensive knowl-
edge and scholarship relating to Sophie La Trobe. Dr Fay Woodhouse
generously read my manuscript at various stages, and gave me the
benefit of her objective overview. Others who gave me research assist-
ance in various ways were: the late John Holroyd, OAM; His Grace the
Bishop of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, the Rt Rev. Alfred Reid;
Douglas Bishop, University Secretary, La Trobe University; Anne
Cassidy; Ken Fraser; Elsie Graham; Jack McCrae; Ian Renard; and
Angus Trumble.
In addition to a Postgraduate Travelling Scholarship from the
University of Melbourne, support for necessary research in Switzerland
was generously given by Credit Suisse (Melbourne) and by Fuji Rank
Xerox Australia.
The staff of the School of Graduate Studies, and Building Services
at the University of Melbourne, and the University of Melbourne Post-
graduate Association, especially Ron Heales, Ellen Smith, Nick Chilcott
and Jude Rossiter, have been unfailingly kind, courteous and helpful.
My thanks for making sense of incoherent and frequently
illegible text go to Karen Thompson whose perfectionism is much
appreciated. Julie Beaumont kindly formatted the Index in her usual
professional manner.
x Acknowledgements
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