La Trobe
The Making of a Governor
Academic Monograph
Charles Joseph La Trobe was Superintendent of the Port Phillip District of New South Wales and Victoria's first Lieutenant-Governor (1851-54). His administration, which coincided with the turbulent challenges of the Victorian gold rushes, was highly controversial.
Opinion
" . . . Dianne Reilly is a highly accomplished historian; her work is scholarly and engaging: extraploation of details, together with context, provide the basis for this narrative." "La Trobe: The Making of a Governor is an important book that fills the gap in our understanding of La Trobe and his work . . . " Pharos
About this Title
Charles Joseph La Trobe was Superintendent of the Port Phillip District of New South Wales and Victoria's first Lieutenant-Governor (1851-54). His administration, which coincided with the turbulent challenges of the Victorian gold rushes, was highly controversial.
He departed from office a disappointed man whose contribution to the development of the colony was not immediately recognised. His was a vision of a cultured, economically viable and Christian society, with equality of opportunity for all. Any recognition of his achievements eluded him, especially regarding the Aboriginal people and the goldfields administration.
As Dianne Reilly Drury shows in this fascinating investigation of the man, La Trobe's actions, ideas and behaviours during his fifteen years in office in Melbourne may be best understood by an examination of the way his character was shaped--especially by the influences on him of the Moravian faith and education, by his passion for travel and by the devotion and support of his family and friends in England and Switzerland.
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
Chronology
Abbreviations Used in Notes
Introduction
1 A Huguenot Heritage
2 The Young Man, 1824-1832
3 North America and Mexico through Anglo-European Eyes
4 Creation of a Civil Servant: La Trobe in the West Indies
5 A Position 'Not Without Its Difficulties': La Trobe Encounters the Port Phillip District
6 A Cultured European in a Distant Colony: La Trobe's Civilising Mission
7 'Duties of No Ordinary Difficulty': La Trobe as Administrator, 1839-1854
8 The Aftermath of Office: 'The Hedger's Glove'
Appendix 1 La Trobe's Instructions
Appendix 2 La Trobe's Art
Appendix 3 Charles Joseph La Trobe: Journeys and Excursions in Australia
Bibliography
Index
About the Author
Dianne Reilly Drury is La Trobe Librarian at the State Library of Victoria and has worked at both the Bibliothèque Nationale and the Centre Pompidou Library in Paris. A graduate of the University of Melbourne and Monash University, her previous published works include Sun Pictures of Victoria: the Fauchery-Daintree Collection, 1858 with Jennifer Carew (1983), and Charles Joseph La Trobe Landscapes and Sketches (1999). She is currently Secretary of the C J La Trobe Society.
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