Charles La Trobe
Charles Joseph La Trobe CB (20 March 1801 – 4 December 1875), commonly Latrobe, was appointed in 1839 superintendent of the Port Phillip District of New South Wales and, after the establishment in 1851 of the colony of Victoria (now a state of Australia), he became its first lieutenant-governor.[1]
Charles La Trobe
4 December 1875 (aged 74)
Litlington, East Sussex, England
Litlington Church
Sophie de Montmollin (1835–1854)
Rose Isabelle de Meuron (1855–1875)
6
- Christian Ignatius Latrobe (father)
La Trobe was a strong supporter of religious, cultural and educational institutions.[2][3] During his time as superintendent and lieutenant-governor he oversaw the establishment of the Botanic Gardens,[4] and provided leadership and support to the formation of entities such as the Mechanic's Institute,[5] the Royal Melbourne Hospital, the Royal Philharmonic, the Melbourne Cricket Ground[6][7] and the University of Melbourne.[2]
La Trobe was the nephew of British architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe.
Early life[edit]
Charles La Trobe was born in London, the son of Christian Ignatius Latrobe, a leader of the Moravian Church, from a family of French Huguenot descent, whose mother was a member of the Moravian Church born in the United States. He was educated in England and later spent time in Switzerland[8] and was active in mountaineering; he made a number of ascents in the Alps 1824–26. La Trobe wrote several travel books describing his experiences: The Alpenstock: Or Sketches of Swiss Scenery and Manners (1829) and The Pedestrian: A Summer's Ramble in the Tyrol (1832).[9]
In 1832, he visited the United States along with Count Albert Pourtales and, in 1834, travelled from New Orleans to Mexico with Washington Irving.[1] He then wrote The Rambler in North America (1835) and The Rambler in Mexico (1836).[10]
On 16 September 1835, he married Sophie de Montmollin (1809–1854) in Berne, Switzerland. Their first child, Agnes Louisa de La Trobe, was born in Switzerland on 2 April 1837.
After Victoria[edit]
Towards the end of his governorship, La Trobe's wife, Sophie, became ill and returned to Europe with their four children. She died on 30 January 1854. On his return to Europe after his term, La Trobe married Sophie's sister, Rose Isabelle de Meuron (1821–1883) in 1855, a marriage which was illegal in English law, being considered incestuous at the time. (See Deceased Wife's Sister's Marriage Act 1907.) The couple had two daughters (born 1856 and 1859) in Switzerland and moved to England in 1861.[13] La Trobe did not receive any further British government appointments. His eyesight was increasingly deteriorating, and he was completely blind for the last years of his life. He died in 1875.
Geelong keys[edit]
La Trobe is also linked to the discovery of a minor piece of evidence suggesting early European exploration of Australia. In 1847, at Limeburners' Point near Geelong, Victoria, Charles La Trobe, a keen amateur geologist, was examining the shells from a lime kiln when a worker showed him a set of five keys that he claimed to have found, subsequently named the Geelong Keys. La Trobe concluded that, based on their appearance, the keys were dropped onto the beach around 100 to 150 years beforehand (i.e. between 1700 and 1750). In 1977, Kenneth McIntyre hypothesized they were dropped by Portuguese sailors under the command of Cristóvão de Mendonça.[14] Since the keys have long been lost, their exact origin cannot be verified. However, research by geologist Edmund Gill and historian P.F.B. Alsop showed the deposit they were supposedly found in was 2330–2800 years old, making La Trobe's dating impossible.[15]
Involvement in Native Police Corps[edit]
The Native Police Corps as the Aboriginal force was known, was limited initially to one division in the Port Phillip District of the colony, around Melbourne.
In 1842, the formation of the Native Police Corps was halted due to funding problems.
These issues delayed reformation of the corps until Superintendent Charles La Trobe indicated he was willing to underwrite the costs in 1842.[19]
Native Police Corps were primarily a force of armed and mounted Aboriginal police under the command of white officers. They were used to patrol the often vast geographical areas along the colonial frontier in order to conduct indiscriminate raids and punitive expeditions against Aboriginal people.[20]
The Native Police proved to be a brutally destructive instrument in the disintegration and dispossession of Indigenous Australians.[20]