The La Trobe Library is the repository for the major collection of original private papers relating to the life and work of Charles Joseph La Trobe, Superintendent of the Port Phillip District from 1839 to 1851, and Lieutenant-Governor of Victoria from 1851 to 1854.

La Trobe was born on 30 March 1801, in London, the son of Christian Ignatius and Hannah La Trobe.1 The La Trobe family was of Huguenot origin, having fled from Montauban in France to various parts of Europe at the time of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685), a decree which outlawed religious freedom for Protestants.

Charles Joseph was educated in England and in Switzerland. He was descended from a long line of cultured and educated forebears, including clergy of the Moravian Church, and notable musicians. Following a typical education and religious upbringing in the Moravian faith, and having decided not to enter the church himself, he went to Neuchâtel in Switzerland where, in 1824, he became tutor to the young Comte de Pourtalés, with whom he travelled widely in Europe and North America.2

In their American travels, the two young men visited the principal cities of North America and sailed down the Mississippi to New Orleans, before touring the prairies in the company of the author Washington Irving. La Trobe was a talented sportsman, travelling on horseback for much of the time. A member of the prestigious Alpine Club in London, he was a usually solitary mountaineer. His climbing skills while wandering in the Alps are evident in his writings. However, he was not just a dilettante, since he had a deep love and knowledge of the fine arts, music, literature, art and architecture, and he himself was the author of four published works. These were: The Alpenstock or Sketches of Swiss scenery & manners (1829); The pedestrian; a summer's ramble in the Tyrol (1832); The rambler in North America (1835); and The rambler in Mexico (1836).

In 1835, La Trobe returned from the United States to Switzerland where he married Sophie de Montmollin of Neuchâtel, the daughter of an aristocratic family.3 After successfully carrying out in 1837 a commission for the British Government to report on the state of education among the West Indians, Charles Joseph was offered the posting to Port Phillip, first as a Protector of the Aborigines, and subsequently, before he actually took up the post, as Superintendent of the Port Phillip District of New South Wales.

In this role, he was subordinate to the Governor of New South Wales, Sir George Gipps. Gipps, the soldier, and La Trobe, the scholar, were immediately compatible and La Trobe enjoyed the Governor's full confidence in him. This was despite the fact that La Trobe had none of the training and experience which usually qualified a man for such a responsible administrative role. The typical colonial governor had a naval or military background. Charles Joseph's was different: his family connections were in Europe rather than in Britain; he was from a strong evangelical religious circle, and his inclinations were of a generally cultured and moral nature. His personal qualities had begun to emerge in his books and journals, and these were later demonstrated in the way in which he handled his responsibilities in Port Phillip. Melbourne was a very new city when he arrived in 1839, and the population amounted to no more than 3,000.4 Collins Street was the only thoroughfare worthy of the name, Elizabeth Street followed a frequently-flooded creek bed, and Flinders Street was little better than a swamp. The water supply for Melbourne was inadequate and polluted, there was no town council to take care of local affairs, all revenue was allocated by the New South Wales Government, and there were few buildings of note.

Yet, in the 15 years of his administration, Victoria achieved separation from New South Wales; gold was discovered, thus creating the wherewithal for prodigious growth and wealth; the Melbourne Town Council was established (1842); land sales took place; the Yan Yean Reservoir was built; and the population rose to 236,7765; Melbourne began to look like a city and, in 1852, was considered the most expensive city in the world in which to reside. Under La Trobe's administration, land was set aside in 1851 for the Melbourne Public Library, destined to become one of the great libraries of the world; the University of Melbourne was founded in 1853; and the first railway in Australia was completed to Sandridge in 1854. Land was also allocated for the Botanic Gardens; the police force and Supreme Court were in operation; and the Melbourne Hospital established. Melbourne was a city of remarkable architecture, featuring such fine buildings as the Customs House in Flinders Street, the first grand Exhibition Building in William Street modelled on the Crystal Palace in London, the original Melbourne Town Hall, and numerous substantial hotels.

Charles Joseph La Trobe was acting Governor of Van Diemen's Land for a period of four months in 1846, following the discrediting of Sir John Eardley-Wilmot. He wrote a masterly report to Gladstone, the Colonial Secretary, his brief having been “to inquire minutely into the state of affairs in Van Diemen's Land and to report thereon to the Home Government”.6 He was to check on abuses and failures of the Convicts Probation System and, in particular, he was to investigate cases of homosexuality among the convicts. He carried out these tasks in a courageous fashion and his report was considered a model of its type, bringing credit to the author.

Despite all his achievements in building a new metropolis and maintaining its government in a firm and practical way, La Trobe was increasingly unpopular with the Melbourne City Council, the press, and townspeople and gold miners alike. At various times, they disagreed with his methods and disliked his moral fortitude. His health suffered due to stress and he resigned in 1852. He was, however, not relieved until 1854 when he left for England on the Pacific route, a disappointed man, cast aside as of no further use.

In a draft statement of his past services to the British Crown which he prepared for the Colonial Office but never sent, his disappointment in the lack of recognition, particularly in a financial sense, is obvious:

After years of delay, La Trobe's service was recognized in the form of a reasonable pension, and he was awarded the distinction of Companion of the Order of the Bath in 1858.8

In 1934, a large consignment of La Trobe correspondence was given to the then Public Library, now the State Library of Victoria, by the Swiss Baronne de Blonay to commemorate the life of her ancestor, and to mark the centenary of the foundation of Port Phillip. The Baronne was Charles Joseph La Trobe's grand-daughter, Elizabeth, daughter of Agnes, Countess de Salis-Soglio, the third of La Trobe's daughters.9 This collection, most useful for any understanding of La Trobe's administration, was valuable, though incomplete.

In 1989, the La Trobe Library was offered, by the antiquarian bookseller Bernard Quaritch of London, material which is complementary to the collection donated to the Library in 1934. In 1990, I was able to visit Quaritch to examine the material on offer, and I was immediately convinced that, by every means possible, the State Library of Victoria should acquire it. After protracted negotiations and long months of fund-raising, the Library purchased this collection in 1992 for its Australian Manuscripts Collection and Picture Collection. Among the major donations from charitable trusts and generous individuals was the sum of $10,000 from the Friends of the State Library of Victoria, the result of a special appeal to the membership to facilitate the acquisition.

The material, known as the La Trobe Archive, is of impeccable provenance, coming as it did from the Baronne de Blonay's grandson, La Trobe's direct descendant. It comprises nine distinct components:

The La Trobe Archive logically fits with other archival material relating to Charles Joseph in the La Trobe Library. It is not known why these papers and sketches were not sent to Victoria with the first consignment of documents in 1934, but it is probable that they were simply overlooked at that time. Unlike those earlier papers, these do not focus on the persona of Victoria's first Lieutenant-Governor. Rather, they illuminate the character of the man and touch on all the events of importance in his development as an administrator who was unsure of his ability, but aware of what was the moral, the right, way to act.

The La Trobe Archive is an integral part of the record of the life and work of Charles Joseph La Trobe and it is fitting that it is now housed with the remainder of his private papers in the collection bearing his name.