NEW LA TROBE BOOKS

Making of a Governor

The new study of La Trobe by author Dr Dianne Reilly was launched Professor Peter McPhee, Deputy Vice Chancellor of the University of Melbourne on the 205th anniversary of La Trobe’s birth on 20 March, 2006.

Pictured at the launch are (from left) Professor McPhee, Dr Reilly and Trust CEO Stephen Hare.

La Trobe was Superintendent of the Port Phillip District of New South Wales from 1839 to 1851, and Lieutenant-Governor of Victoria from 1851 until his departure in 1854.

He pioneered, mostly on horseback, a route into Gippsland; he personally blazed a trail to Cape Otway after two failed attempts, and had the vital landfall lighthouse erected there; he undertook 94 extensive journeys around Victoria so that he could truly understand the territory he had been sent to administer.

On these trips, as he had on appointments in other countries, he painted much of the scenery, and many of these paintings are part of the Trust’s touring exhibition.

However, La Trobe was not universally popular with the settlers in the Port Phillip District. His manner could be paternalistic and he was reserved; the colonists did not appreciate why separation from New South Wales took so long; the miners certainly did not appreciate the licence fee he imposed; and his superiors did not appreciate his ways of dealing with the challenges he faced as the population mushroomed during the goldrush.

La Trobe departed from Australia in May 1854 after long and arduous service, having just received advice that his wife had died. He soon married again to Rose de Meuron, his deceased wife’s sister. Due to the illegality of such a marriage in Britain, he was not considered for any other Colonial Office postings. In fact, it was more than 10 years before he was awarded a small pension.

Dr Dianne Reilly, La Trobe: The Making of a Governor, Melbourne University Publishing, $49.95, 308 pp, d-book, (also available as e-book), www.mup.unimelb.edu.au. Copies for sale at Tasma Terrace, 4 Parliament Place, East Melbourne, Phone 03 9656 9800.

La Trobe’s garden

Nestled on a rise near the Royal Botanic Gardens and the Shrine is perhaps Melbourne’s oldest building and the state’s first Government House, the National Trust owned La Trobe’s Cottage.

Brought to Port Phillip by Superintendent Charles Joseph La Trobe in 1839, the cottage was originally located on a 12.5 acre estate across the river at Jolimont.

A recently published book, La Trobe’s Jolimont. A walk round my garden by Helen Botham, describes the extensive garden which La Trobe developed during the 15 years he spent in Victoria. He arrived with melancholy memories of the beautiful gardens of Europe, and with a passion to recreate these in his new, uncouth, uncultured environment.

Early paintings of Jolimont show just how successful he was – many like-minded gardeners in this far colony provided him with seeds of the plants of home.

A survey of the Jolimont Estate carried out in 1853, now held in the La Trobe Picture Collection at the State Library of Victoria, shows the extent of the walks and beds that La Trobe had originally set out.

As La Trobe moved about the colony, he began to appreciate the beauty of the native flora, and the sense in cultivating these and Mediterranean type plants, so much more suited to our climate. The plants sent to him from other gardeners and from the Botanic Gardens in Sydney reflect his new interest in growing plants more suited to a Mediterranean climate.

The 22 drawings produced by his cousin Edward La Trobe Bateman in 1853, also part of the SLV’s La Trobe Picture Collection, show in beautiful detail how the previously well-tended European style garden had become a haven of Mediterranean and Australian native plants.

Helen Botham, La Trobe’s Jolimont. A walk round my garden, C. J. La Trobe Society and Australian Garden History Society, 56 pp, softcover, $29.95, Trust members $24.95. Copies for sale at Tasma Terrace, 4 Parliament Place, East Melbourne, Phone 03 9656 9800.

Revealing Diaries

La Trobe’s daily diaries – Australian Notes: 1839-1854 have also been published in 2006.

The State Library of Victoria had acquired most of La Trobe’s daily diaries which cover his 15 years of governance in the Port Phillip Colony and the State of Victoria from 1851. La Trobe meticulously kept separate diaries to record daily appointments, excursions and special interests.

Australian Notes is published by Tarcoola Press with Robert Blackmore’s Boz Publishing, and with much help from the Historical Societies, the La Trobe Society, the Royal Historical Society of Victoria and many others.

Charles Joseph La Trobe, Australian Notes: 1839-1854, Tarcoola Press, $650, and $800 for special editions. Order forms available from 20 November 2006, from Tarcoola Press, 351 Glenview Road, Yarra Glen, Victoria 3775 Email: bb.tarcoola@bigpond.com Phone 03 97301649.

Swiss Link to Wine

Author Raymond Henderson, a distant relative of La Trobe’s wife, Sophie de Montmollin-Meuron, traces the story of the Yarra Valley wine industry. From the arrival of six of Sophie’s compatriots, he tells the story of these Swiss vignerons whose legacy is today’s thriving industry.

Raymond Henderson, From Jolimont to Yering, Swiss Bachelor Vignerons, Romancing the Yarra Valley 1830 – 2000, Roundabout Publishing, 428 pp, hardback, Limited first edition, $125 (plus $15 postage if applicable). Copies for sale at Tasma Terrace, 4 Parliament Place, East Melbourne, Phone 03 9656 9800.

Exhibition Catalogue

The Catalogue ($8.95) from the exhibition: A Sketcher of No Mean Pretensions: Charles Joseph La Trobe, the Governor and the Artist, and a card ($3.50) and bookmark ($2) featuring the 1855 portrait by sir Francis Grant are available at exhibition galleries and at Tasma Terrace, 4 Parliament Place, East Melbourne, Phone 03 9656 9800.
($2)