Journal of the C. J. La Trobe Society Inc. Vol. 8, No. 1, March 2009 ISSN 1447-4026 La Trobeana is kindly sponsored by Mr Peter Lovell
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La Trobeana Journal of the C J La Trobe Society Inc. Vol. 8, No. 1, March 2009
Guest Editor: Dianne Reilly
ISSN 1447-4026
Editorial Committee
Dr Fay Woodhouse, Chair Me Janet Roberts Billett Mrs Loreen Chambers Dr Dianne Reilly
For contributions and subscription enquiries contact:
The Honorary Secretary The La Trobe Society PO Box 65 Port Melbourne, Vic 3207 Phone: 9646 2112
FRONT COVER
Thomas Woolner, 1825 – 1892, sculptor Charles Joseph La Trobe 1853, diam. 24.0cm. Bronze portrait medallion showing the left profile of Charles Joseph La Trobe. Signature and date incised in bronze I.I.: T. Woolner. Sc. 1853:/M La Trobe, Charles Joseph, 1801 – 1875. Accessioned 1894 La Trobe Picture Collection, State Library of Victoria. CONTENTS
A Word from the President 1 Forthcoming Events 1 La Trobe’s Birthday 1 Inverleigh Cemetery 1 La Trobe Society/Royal Historical Society AGL Shaw Lecture 2 Annual General Meeting and Annual Dinner 2 Annual Pioneer Service 2 Christmas Cocktails December, 2009 2 A Word from the Treasurer 3 Charlotte Pellet, 1800-1877 4 La Trobe Society Fellowship, 2009-10 10 LA TROBE SOCIETY FELLOWSHIPS – interim reports 10 2007-08 – Dr Frances Thiele 10 2008-09 – Dr Wayne Caldow 11 La Trobe Signage 13 Restoration Of Charlotte Pellet’s Grave 12 A New Version of Ben Bolt 17 Mathilde Chevalier 18 Benjamin Henry La Trobe 18 A New Version of Ben Bolt 19
Untitled-5.indd 1 8/04/2009 11:35:55 AM Untitled-5.indd 2 8/04/2009 11:35:55 AM A Word from the President
2009 promises to be another joint membership of the La Trobe interesting and educational year for Society and the Royal Historical members of the La Trobe Society. It Society in June on Crime in Port is important that we continue to mark Phillip. Charles Joseph’s birthday each year at La Trobe’s Cottage, even if only And, as always, the Society’s valu- to remind ourselves of the fact that able journal, La Trobeana, will make his life began only a little over two its appearance three times in the hundred years ago, and yet, how course of the year. forcefully his vision for Melbourne and Victoria has been felt. I look forward to seeing you at some, or all, of the Society’s events. We will learn a great deal about some of the problems faced by La Rodney Davidson Trobe’s administration when we President hear Paul Mullaly’s lecture to the Forthcoming Events:
La Trobe’s Birthday Inverleigh Cemetery Sunday 22 March, 2009 Thursday 9 April, 2009 at 5.00 p.m. at 2.00 p.m.
By the time that you have received The President of the Geelong and this edition of the journal, the Region Branch of the National celebration of Charles Joseph La Trust of Australia (Victoria), Mrs Trobe’s 208th birthday will have Jennifer Bantow, has invited all taken place on Sunday 22 March La Trobe Society members to join with an evening picnic at La Trobe’s with members of the National Trust Cottage in South Yarra. to celebrate the completion of the restoration of the grave of Charlotte Speakers: Martin Purslow, Chief Pellet, Housekeeper to Charles Executive Officer of the National and Sophie La Trobe at Jolimont. Trust of Australia (Victoria), on The gathering at the graveside will actions planned for La Trobe’s home be followed by afternoon tea at and the formation of a ‘Friends of La Inverleigh Mechanics Hall. Trobe’s Cottage’ group. RSVP Friday 3 April JOURNAL Members Helen and John Botham: Jennifer Bantow phone 5240 3446 OF THE a special presentation on La Trobe’s C J LA TROBE Cottage. SOCIETY
Untitled-5.indd 1 8/04/2009 11:35:56 AM La Trobe Society/Royal presenter, fund-raiser, tour leader Historical Society AGL and writer. His topic for this illustrated lecture will be: The Intrepid Traveller: Shaw Lecture Charles Joseph La Trobe. Tuesday 9 June, 2009 from 6.00-8.00 p.m. Annual Pioneer Service Sunday 1 November, 2009 Please hold Tuesday 9 June. in your diary for this important event in the at 10.00 a.m. Society’s calendar. Rev John Sugars, Vicar of St James’ La Trobe Society member Paul Old Cathedral, corner King and Mullally QC will deliver this year’s Batman Streets, West Melbourne, joint lecture at the Royal Historical has again invited all La Trobe Society of Victoria, a’Beckett Street Society members and friends to Melbourne. the annual Pioneer Service. This year marks the 170th anniversary The title of his address is: Crime in of the laying by Charles Joseph La Port Phillip. Trobe of the foundation stone of the Refreshments will be served from Cathedral’s predecessor, St James’ 6.00 p.m., and the lecture will Church, on the corner of William commence at 6.45 p.m. and Little Collins Street, Melbourne, Cost: $20.00 per person. on 9 November 1839.
A flyer to remind you will be sent out Christmas Cocktails closer to the date. December, 2009
Annual General Meeting The Society’s Christmas Cocktails and Annual Dinner for 2009 will be held on a date in December and at a venue to be Tuesday 11 August, 2009 advised. at 6.30 p.m.
The Society’s Annual General Meeting, to be followed by dinner, will be held at the Lyceum Club, Ridgway Place, Melbourne on Tuesday 11 August at 6.30 p.m.
Following the business of the meeting, an illustrated lecture will JOURNAL OF THE be given by member Mr Kenneth C J LA TROBE Park, freelance lecturer, art curator, SOCIETY
Untitled-5.indd 2 8/04/2009 11:35:56 AM A Word from the Treasurer
The finances of the C.J. La Trobe three very generous sponsors have Society are in a healthy state but, to supported the Fellowships, and we keep it that way, we need to enlist are now looking for a sponsor for some new members. If you know 2010. of anyone personally who you think may be interested, please talk to The amount needed for a 6-months them and invite them to join. If you research grant is $25,000. This is need membership forms sent to pro- fully tax deductible since it is paid spective members, please contact to the State Library of Victoria. In me on 0412 584 060. The Society’s recognition of such support, the high-quality journal La Trobeana is La Trobe Society presents to each produced three times per year with sponsor at the Christmas Cocktails very interesting articles. Enjoyable function a bronze bust of La Trobe and educational functions are held by sculptor Peter Corlett, suitably four or more times each year, and inscribed to the donor. If you know of the committee is always looking for somebody who might be interested potential events that could interest to be next year’s sponsor, please let the members - so if you have any me know and a letter can be sent ideas, please let us know. The containing all the relevant details. An strength of the Society depends alternative proposal would be for five solely on the number of members individual donors to each contribute and their input. $5,000 as a tax deduction.
This year, the Society will be awarding Please give all the above points the third C.J. La Trobe Society some consideration and thank you Fellowship under the auspices of for past support. the State Library of Victoria. To date, John Drury Honorary Treasurer March, 2009
JOURNAL OF THE C J LA TROBE SOCIETY
Untitled-5.indd 3 8/04/2009 11:35:56 AM Charlotte Pellet, 1800-1877 Housekeeper at Jolimont This article is based upon a most ten centuries, the city which gives its enjoyable conversation in the name to the canton, has gone from heat of a summer’s day with two a small village clustered around the members of the La Trobe Society, ‘new castle’ (neu-châtel) to become Mrs Joy Harley, Charlotte Pellet’s the capital city in 1815 of one of the great- great-granddaughter, and twenty-three cantons of the Swiss her husband, Allen Harley, whose Confederation. The seat of power research and family archives have from earliest times is established in proved an invaluable resource. the impressive château dominating the city. The Canton of Neuchâtel is situated on the shores of the spectacular It was in this historic and beautiful Lake of Neuchâtel in Switzerland, canton that Charlotte Matthey was not far from the French border born in 1800. From a young age, she and the Jura mountains. Nestled worked as a nurse in the household at the conjunction of three lakes – of the Montmollin family, one of Neuchâtel, Morat and Bienne – the the longest established and most city of Neuchâtel is about an hour’s aristocratic families of the canton. In train ride from Geneva. The canton this capacity, she had developed a had from very early times, and still warm and caring relationship with all has today a dynamic economy, the many children in the family, none based primarily on the watch and more so than with Sophie, the eighth clock-making industry and on wine of the thirteen children of Comte production. In addition, it has a long Frédéric Auguste de Montmollin, history of private banking, a sector a Swiss Councillor of State, and upon which much of the wealth of his wife, Rose Augustine, née de the aristocratic families of Neuchâtel Meuron. In 1836, she married Jean is built. Neuchâtel is a university Pellet,, a member of an extensive town, the University of Neuchâtel family involved iin wine production, being established in 1909, based on and the watch and clockmaking the Academy of Neuchâtel founded industry developed in this part of in 1838 by King Frederick William Switzerland. After a brief, unhappy IV of Prussia, Prince of Neuchâtel. marriage, Charlotte obtained a It is also the place where Philippe divorce in 1840. Early in 1841, she Suchard, one of the pioneers of went out to Port Phillip as a cabin Swiss chocolate, set up his first passenger on board the Neptune factory in 1826. with her only child, a daughter, Rose Augustine, who had been named for JOURNAL OF THE In 2011, Neuchâtel will celebrate its Sophie’s sister and mother. In fact, th C J LA TROBE 1000 anniversary. During these Rose Pellet was the god-daughter SOCIETY
Untitled-5.indd 4 8/04/2009 11:35:56 AM of Rose Augustine de Meuron, née at home yourselves’. For all her de Montmollin, the youngest sister virtues as a housekeeper, it was of Sophie La Trobe. They arrived in Charlotte’s connection with her Melbourne on 23 March, and lived home that Sophie La Trobe must at La Trobe’s Cottage in Jolimont have prized most.2 until 1854. Certainly, in the nineteenth century, La Trobe’s eldest child, Agnes the housekeeper held a superior Louisa, later the Comtesse de Salis, position within the structure of recalled in a letter to Rose Amiet, the home as the representative née Pellet, the day they reached of the mistress in all domestic their new home: management, care and authority.3 This description of trust applied I can still remember your arrival. absolutely to the role of Charlotte You came with your mother when Pellet in the La Trobe household. In I was already in bed, and the next so many respects, she was treated morning, I was in a great hurry to as a member of the family. Her see you, and your mother opened daughter, Rose, was a playmate of the door of your room, and you all the La Trobe children, especially were standing half-dressed on a of Agnes since they were the same stool. I think we must have been age, and a lifelong friendship about four or five then.1 developed from their childhood.
Charlotte came to Melbourne warmly Not only did Charlotte carry out recommended by Sophie La Trobe’s most of the daily domestic chores at mother, Madame de Montmollin, and Jolimont, but she was indispensable she proved to be a great support for to Sophie La Trobe in many personal her and a mainstay of the family. aspects of her life in a primitive Dr Marguerite Hancock in her book country. Three further children were Colonial Consorts, records: born at Jolimont: Eleanora Sophia (Nelly) in 1842; Mary Cecilia (Cécile) Charlotte was an excellent servant, the next year; and Charles Albert loyal, efficient and completely (Charley) on Christmas Day in 1845. trustworthy. When the La Trobes Sophie, who had come from a home went to Van Diemen’s Land for in Neuchâtel where servants were four months, they left Jolimont in plentiful and assistance of all kinds her care; James Graham reported readily available, would certainly that he had found her ‘very busy have found childbirth in the basic scrubbing away at the floors and as environment of their pre-fabricated particular about having everything cottage at Jolimont totally daunting as clean and tidy as if you were and not a little fearsome. No doubt, JOURNAL 1 Agnes de Salis to Rose Amiet, 2 July 1909. La Trobe-Amiet Letters, 1853-1934, La Trobe Australian Manuscripts OF THE Collection, State Library of Victoria. MS 7868-7873. In fact, both Rose Pellet and Agnes La Trobe were three years old. 2 C J LA TROBE Hancock, Marguerite Colonial Consorts, Melbourne, Melbourne University Press, 2001, 16-17. 3 SOCIETY Higman, B W Domestic Service in Australia, Melbourne, Melbourne University Press, 2002, 135.
Untitled-5.indd 5 8/04/2009 11:35:56 AM she was somewhat reassured with yet recovered my normal health Charlotte at her side to assist in and do not know whether I shall the deliveries, possibly with the ever recover it.6 help of a midwife, and to maintain the equilibrium of the house for the In fact, the continuous weakness other very young children and her and debilitating neuralgic headaches husband, the Superintendent of the she experienced forced a painful colony. and, as it turned out, final separation from her dear husband when she Sophie La Trobe had never enjoyed left Melbourne in February 1853 robust good health. Her husband with her three youngest children to was frequently preoccupied about seek medical attention at home in her, but could still joke with his Switzerland. Her strongest support publisher, John Murray: during those years of ill-health so far from the comforts of home was her (She has) not been over strong friend Charlotte Pellet. since her arrival in these regions of the globe, though enjoying good Portraits of Charlotte reveal a general health. I am not quite strong, capable, intelligent and sure that standing with the head refined woman, used to taking on downwards, as you know that we responsibility for the day-to-day well- are all obliged to do here, suits the being of children, and competently female constitution, though one maintaining order in those daily gets wonderfully used to it after essentials of any household. While the first month’s trial.4 the La Trobes relied greatly on her, she also had to concern herself with Following a carriage accident in the upbringing of her own daughter. 1848, Sophie was in decidedly After the return in 1846 of Agnes to poorer health. It would seem that Switzerland for her education, Rose she was expecting a fifth child in Pellet became the playmate of the August of that year and had had a three children born in Melbourne, and miscarriage with disastrous results5. no doubt shared their lessons when After the accident, she was: a Swiss governess, Mademoiselle Béguin, arrived in 1850.7 very ill for nearly 4 months most of which time I was confined to my The numerous letters from Charles bed, into the house on the sofa. Joseph La Trobe to Charlotte and I have been, thank God, much to Rose after his departure from better for some time but I have not Melbourne on 5 May 1854 show that
4 Charles Joseph La Trobe to John Murray, 15 Dec. 1840, in Smiles, Samuel A Publisher and his Friends, Lond., John JOURNAL Murray,, 1891, vol.2, 457. 5 Charles Joseph La Trobe, Australian Notes; Memoranda of Journeys, Excursions & Absences – Port Phillip & Victoria, OF THE 1839-1854, 323. La Trobe Papers, La Trobe Australian Manuscripts Collection, State Library of Victoria. MSM541. C J LA TROBE 6 Sophie La Trobe to Susan Norton, 15 Sept. 1848. Norton Papers, La Trobe Australian Manuscripts Collection, State SOCIETY Library of Victoria, MS 13323. 7 Sophie La Trobe to Agnes La Trobe, 27 June 1850, La Trobe Neuchâtel Archive.
Untitled-5.indd 6 8/04/2009 11:35:56 AM he had always regarded them as La Trobe, on the eve of his departure part of his family. In the first of them, for England and Switzerland, gave written just before his departure, he Rose Pellet away at her marriage wrote: to Frédéric Guillaume Amiet on 3 May 1854.9 The ceremony was Letter 1 presided over by the Bishop of Bishopscourt Melbourne, Charles Perry, at St 29 April 1854 Peter’s Church, Eastern Hill, the Dear Charlotte, parish church of the La Trobe family. Amiet, a vinedresser from the town Though at your own express desire, of Boudry on the Lake of Neuchâtel, I leave you, with Rose, in Victoria, had arrived in the colony in 1849, and pray earnestly that God may and had gone into partnership bless you with health & happiness & with Frédéric Breguet and David contentment as long as you remain Pettaval, two other Swiss vignerons there. I wish you to feel assured that hoping to make their fortune in your connection with me and my Port Phillip, at their ‘Neuchâtel’ children is by no means broken. vineyard on the Barwon River. I shall always count you as one of Following the wedding, Charlotte my family – and one object which joined Rose and her husband at I have in view in leaving you this his property, ‘The Hermitage’, at memorandum is to state that if at Murgheboluc, also on the Barwon any further time circumstances River. Georgiana McCrae, close might make you desirous of friend of the La Trobes, recorded returning to Europe, you have only in her diary that Amiet wines were to state your wish to either my friend drunk at the celebratory dinner to Mr Powlett, or Mr D C Macarthur of mark separation.10 The first and last the Bank of Australasia and they will of the four Amiet children, Frédéric, readily furnish you with the means Abraham Louis, Charlotte Sophia, of rejoining me, and wherever I am, and Edward William were born you will be sure to find a home, there, and the others were born at both for my children’s sake, & for Inverleigh before the untimely death the sake of her whom the Lord has of their father in February 1864, seen good to take from me. His will following a fall from a dray when he be done. was returning from Ballarat. Rose arranged for a manager for ‘The May God bless and keep [you] in Hermitage’ and moved with her time and eternity. children to Inverleigh where she C. J. La Trobe 8 lived until her death in 1910.
8 Charles Joseph La Trobe to Charlotte Pellet, 29 April 1854. La Trobe Australian Manuscripts Collection, State Library of Victoria, MS7868-7873. JOURNAL 9 Marriage certificate, 3 May 1854. Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages, ictoria.V OF THE 10 McCrae, Hugh ed. Georgiana’s Journal. Sydney, Angus & Robertson, 1934, 180. C J LA TROBE SOCIETY
Untitled-5.indd 7 8/04/2009 11:35:57 AM Her mother had pre-deceased her. An old identity connected with the The historian, Joan Ritchie, one days before the gold discoveries of Charlotte Pellet’s great, great- has passed away, in the person granddaughters, recorded her of Mrs Charlotte Pelet (sic) of death: Inverleigh, at the advanced age of 76…Photographs and letters from On 9 April 1877, Charlotte Pellet, the family (the La Trobes) in England Swiss housekeeper at Jolimont are carefully cherished, one of Mr Cottage, and an old extablished La Trobe having been taken a year friend of the La Trobe family, passed or two before his death, when he peacefully away at Woodbine was totally blind. This loyalty to an Cottage, Inverleigh, in the western old master is a rare and precious district of Victoria, just four months thing in this young community, and after the death of her master, deserves to be noticed. Charles Joseph La Trobe. She died at the home of her only daughter, The State Library of Victoria has a Rose Amiet, who had grown up with collection of fourteen letters from La the La Trobe children at Jolimont… Trobe and his children in England It was fitting that she should die to the Amiet family in Victoria which in that part of Victoria which was spans the years 1854 to 1934, and called “little Neuchâtel’, just a short show to what extent the friendship distance from Inverleigh which folds was valued by them all.12 One into a green and picturesque valley privately-owned letter from Charles about 18 miles from Geelong. As Joseph La Trobe to Charlotte Pellet, the vigneron, François de Castella which has not previously been explained, Swiss vignerons began published, is reproduced here to planting vines in the area about 1842, demonstrate La Trobe’s own loyalty and there had grown up ‘a sort of to a faithful servant: village composed of brick cottages, known as the Little Neuchâtel’. Letter 2 Swiss settlers, and the Swiss consul if he visited Geelong used to gather London together at Woodbine Cottage and 20th February 1855 talk of the old country…’. 11 My dear Charlotte, An undated report from a contemporary newspaper reported The enclosed letter was forwarded Charlotte’s death, and pointed to me the other day to send to you. out that sterling quality of loyalty It will doubtless give you pleasure which governed her life as the & shew you that you are not Housekeeper of Jolimont: JOURNAL 11 OF THE Ritchie, Joan, ‘Housekeeper of Jolimont’, Victorian Historical Journal, vol.. 47, no.1, 1976, 277-283. in Fact La Trobe C J LA TROBE died on 4 December 1875 12 SOCIETY La Trobe-Amiet Letters, 1853-1934, La Trobe Australian Manuscripts Collection, State Library of Victoria, MS 7868- 7873.
Untitled-5.indd 8 8/04/2009 11:35:57 AM forgotten by the dear children etc. to set off at a moment’s notice. She in Switzerland, and I assure you was very ill with inflammation of that you are not by me, or Agnes, the lungs – but when my last letter or little Charlie in England. Agnes was written on the 16th, was a little is now at school, but very happy, better. I do not like to delay this at Southwark near Newark, under letter. Pray write to me, and believe the care of the same excellent lady me ever. who educated our dear friend Mrs Your very attached friend, Perry. She was too young to take C J La Trobe charge of her father’s house, if he had had one, and it was a pity to (P.S.) Many kind things to Rose and leave her without regular means of her husband.13 improvement for her mind. Charlie is at school in Kent, and very happy Dianne Reilly – not a bad, tho’ a very giddy boy. He has grown very much as you may suppose. I am for the time in London, a little lonely, but finding enough to do and to think about. My health is good, and tho’ I have my share of coughs and colds, I do not care for the severe winter, as long as it is not wet. I shall probably make some arrangement to bring the little girls to England in the course of the summer, but I do not pretend to see far into the future – but would leave all in the hands of our merciful God. You may be sure that I do not forget the past with all its joys & sorrows, & often recall your long and faithful service - and good little Rose, whom I heard some time since from Mrs Rose Amiet and two of her children, Perry, was well and happy. I hope circa 1865. she takes care of you. I am sorry to tell you that the two last mails from Switzerland have brought me very unsatisfactory news about our dear Madame de Montmollin’s health. I fear we shall not keep her long – indeed I have everything prepared JOURNAL 13 Charles Joseph La Trobe to Charlotte Pellet, 20 February 1855. Collection: Joy and Allen Harley. OF THE C J LA TROBE SOCIETY
Untitled-5.indd 9 8/04/2009 11:35:58 AM La Trobe Society LA TROBE SOCIETY Fellowship, 2009-10 FELLOWSHIPS – interim reports The C J La Trobe Society Inc., in association with the State Library of Victoria, awards a La Trobe 2007-08 – Dr Frances Thiele
Society Fellowship each year for ‘To Protect and Civilise: the study of the colonial period of Superintendent La Trobe and the Victoria’s history during Charles Abandonment of the Port Phillip Joseph La Trobe’s administration Aboriginal Protectorate Experiment’ as Superintendent and Lieutenant- Governor (1839-54). The Fellowship In 2007 I was very fortunate to be is sponsored in 2009-10 by the AGL appointed the inaugural recipient Shaw Foundation. One Fellowship of the La Trobe Society Fellowship will be offered for a period of six at the State Library of Victoria, months, with a grant of $25,000. sponsored by the Rodney Davidson The Fellowship is intended for the family. I had been working for several use of the resources of the State years on the administrative history Library of Victoria. Subject to this of Aboriginal Affairs in Victoria and general consideration, the award was particularly interested in the is to be used to research into and Port Phillip Aboriginal Protectorate. write about the colonial period of The Fellowship gave me a unique Victoria’s history during Charles opportunity to pursue this historical Joseph La Trobe’s administration interest specifically in relation to as Superintendent and Lieutenant- Superintendent La Trobe. Governor (1839–54). It may be extended to cover the period After an official announcement immediately before La Trobe’s ceremony, the Library gave me arrival, or the effects of his tenure access to a particularly nice study after his departure. room off the Dome Reading Room. I was also given an out of hours For further information, please access card to the Library so I could consult the State Library of Victoria come and go whenever I wanted web page at the following address: to. I have kept this ‘Schlage card’, www.slv.vic.gov.au/programs/research as it is called, because it proudly asserted my status as ‘scholar’! I was also given the luxury of access to the Library Foundation Lounge.
I decided to take up the Fellowship for JOURNAL a year part-time and what a wonderful OF THE year it was. The collections of the C J LA TROBE State Library are amazing and to 10 SOCIETY
Untitled-5.indd 10 8/04/2009 11:35:58 AM have the time to explore them more 2008-09 – Dr Wayne Caldow fully was a privilege. I was very fortunate to have Dianne Reilly ‘Perceptions of Place: as my State Library and La Trobe The Exploration and Settlement of Society contact. Dianne has been Gippsland 1839-1844’ very encouraging and I cannot thank her enough for her support during I was awarded the La Trobe Society my time as Fellow. Fellowship, sponsored by the generosity of the Shoppee Family, at As for the results of my work, I have the State Library of Victoria in mid- completed a draft manuscript of a 2008. I commenced my research book tentatively titled ‘To Protect into relevant material held in the and Civilise: Superintendent La Library’s collections in August of Trobe and the Abandonment of the that year, and anticipate completing Port Phillip Aboriginal Protectorate my work at the end of June 2009 in Experiment’. It will be the first book preparation for publication. length study of the management of the Protectorate and seeks to explain The time frame for this project why La Trobe found the supervision covers a relatively short period of of Aboriginal and settler relationships history, but the years are significant. in the early years of settlement In 1839, Angus McMillan made his such a problematic aspect of his first concerted efforts to penetrate Superintendency. This is a complex the vast terra incognita that was to story about how a man deeply be known as Gippsland. By the end imbued with the spirit of his Christian of 1844, the entire district had been evangelical beliefs struggled with occupied by squatters. the failure of all attempts to convert and ‘civilise’ Aboriginal people. Most histories of Gippsland do not Embittered by the experience, address the fundamental question he was left disappointed and of why the region was explored and despondent, unable to recommend settled so rapidly. The answer is any alternative suggestions for the found in the expanding market for assistance of Aboriginal people the supply of livestock to the Van except the harshest of proposals Diemen’s Land penal system. Both that he thought were ‘against the McMillan and James Macarthur spirit of the age’. sought to find grazing land and a port at Corner Inlet in their expeditions Dr Frances Thiele into Gippsland in 1840. Writing in 1884, one of the Gippsland squatters, John King, stated that McMillan’s aim was to exploit the Van Diemen’s Land market. McMillan made his JOURNAL first shipment of cattle from Port OF THE C J LA TROBE Albert to Hobart in May 1842. SOCIETY 11
Untitled-5.indd 11 8/04/2009 11:35:58 AM When viewed in this historical him to purchase any land of his context, many of the subsequent choosing in the Port Phillip District, events and historical accounts providing it was not a government are more meaningful. Most of the township. La Trobe and Governor shire-based histories of Gippsland Gipps were at once opposed to the take a ‘founding fathers’ view of special survey system. history; the research for this project demonstrates that Gippsland was While this was unfolding, the explored and settled in the main Singapore expedition continued. by pragmatic businessmen. The The party explored the Albert and subsequent flourishing livestock Tarra Rivers and established a camp trade with Van Diemen’s Land at what was to become Port Albert. demonstrated this, and made the Some of the men set off overland fortunes of men such as McMillan and explored the plains as far east and King. as the Gippsland Lakes before returning to Melbourne. Two of the One of the interesting aspects of party, William Adams Brodribb and the early history of Gippsland is John Orr, left a detailed account of that there was no government the expedition. involvement from 1841 to 1844. Charles La Trobe was initially In April 1841, John Orr purchased supportive of settlement in the a special survey on the west bank area. He made a commitment to of the Tarra River on behalf of the James Macarthur in 1840 to order a Singapore party, while John Reeve survey of Corner Inlet to encourage purchased a survey on the east settlement. The paddle steamer bank of the river. Gipps and La Clonmel was wrecked near the inlet Trobe feared that the special survey in January 1841; during salvage system would lead to wholesale operations, the inlet was explored land speculation in Gippsland. They and glowing reports of an ‘inland sea’ obstructed Orr and Reeve for the were published in the Melbourne next two years. newspapers. At the instigation of the press, La Trobe again made the When the special surveys were commitment to order a survey of finally gazetted in early 1843, the Corner Inlet. two men set about establishing their own towns. The government An expedition in the barque refused to release any land for Singapore left Melbourne in sale in the Port Albert area, except February 1841 with the intention of for a small area at Shipping Point establishing a settlement at Corner where the Port Albert township was Inlet. The day after the Singapore established in 1844. Reeve’s town JOURNAL left, Henry Dendy arrived from of Tarraville was to become the OF THE England with the first order for a leading township in Gippsland from C J LA TROBE special survey. This order allowed the 1840s to the 1860s. 12 SOCIETY
Untitled-5.indd 12 8/04/2009 11:35:58 AM The availability of good grazing land to be conflict, yet the government and a market in Van Diemen’s Land had done nothing to protect the encouraged many squatters from settlers from the Aboriginal people, the Monaro and Port Phillip Districts nor had it done anything to protect to take up runs in Gippsland. The the Aboriginal population from the establishment of the towns, the port settlers, thus making the situation and the market were accomplished worse than it need be. without any government assistance. Convicts provided much of the Charles Tyers arrived in Gippsland in labour on the squatting runs, but the January 1844 as the Commissioner coastal areas soon became a haven for Crown Lands. Whether the lot of for escaped convicts and assigned the Aboriginal people was any better convict servants. under his jurisdiction is debatable. One of the squatters, Patrick Coady In April 1843, Robert Russell and H Buckley, recorded in his journal the B Morris sailed from Melbourne to hunting of Aboriginal people with the Port Albert in the cutter Midge under Native Police who were under Tyers’ the command of Lieutenant Edward command. Kirsopp RN. Both Russell and Morris published accounts of their journey in the Port Phillip Herald. Dr Wayne Caldow The accounts are interesting in their own right, with many barbs directed La Trobe Signage at the government. They praised the industry of Orr and Reeve, and their Numerous place-names in Victoria progress without any government have been created in honour of assistance. Both Russell and Charles Joseph La Trobe. Can Morris, particularly the latter, spoke you contribute a photograph to this of the plight of the local Aboriginal ongoing series? people. Morris’s main criticism was that, as the government had failed to take any involvement in Gippsland, the worst elements of European society had been free to inflict their depravity on the Aboriginal people. He argued that the Europeans’ system of justice was unfair on the Aboriginal people, who did not understand it and lived by their own customs. He also argued Sign at Cape Otway. that the government had failed the Photographer: Mathilde Chevalier, JOURNAL settlers and the Aboriginal people. February 2009 © OF THE As European people moved into Aboriginal territory, there was bound C J LA TROBE SOCIETY 13
Untitled-5.indd 13 8/04/2009 11:36:01 AM JOURNAL OF THE C J LA TROBE Top left: Mme Matthey, mother of Charlotte Pellet. Watercolour, c.1840. 14 SOCIETY Top right: Charlotte Pellet. Watercolour, c. 1840. Lower: Neuchatel. Coloured lithograph, 19th century.Collection: Joy and Allen Harley.
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Untitled-5.indd 15 8/04/2009 11:36:01 AM Mathilde Chevalier 2009
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. re-administering the oath of office to Barack Obama on Wednesday in the White House. Photo: Pete Souza
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Untitled-5.indd 16 8/04/2009 11:36:02 AM A New Version of Ben Bolt
Melbourne bookseller Michael O’Brien has passed on to La Trobeana a copy of a satirical poem which appeared in the first issue of MelbournePunch in 1856. Ben Bolt is a very small town in Jim Wells County, Texas. The original poem Ben Bolt was written by the American poet Thomas Dunn English in 1842. It was set to music in 1848 by Nelson Kneass (1823-1868/9), a composer from Philadelphia. The musical form achieved great popularity especially in minstrel shows, and many parodies were written. This would seem to be one of them!
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Untitled-5.indd 17 8/04/2009 11:36:03 AM Mathilde Chevalier Benjamin Henry La Trobe
A number of you will have met The inauguration of the new Mademoiselle Mathilde Chevalier President of the United States, at the Christmas Cocktails function Barack Obama, was an event which at the Melbourne Savage Club on 5 focussed the attention of the world. December. Her photograph appears Due to a legal hiccup, Mr Obama in the centre pages. Mathilde spent had to take the oath of allegiance a six months in Australia, working second time – in the Map Room of and travelling, and coincidentally, the White House. Please see centre improving her English before pages for photograph. returning to Lyon on 28 February to continue her studies in a school of What most viewers of this historic management. occasion did not notice was the portrait hanging on the wall in the Mathilde is a member of the Latrobe background. It is, in fact, a portrait family, but she is not descended in of Charles Joseph La Trobe’s the line of Victoria’s first Lieutenant- illustrious uncle, Benjamin Henry La Governor. Her paternal grandmother Trobe, popularly known as ‘the great is Maïté Chevalier, née Montjean, American architect of the nineteenth of Sanary-sur-Mer on the French century’. As has previously been Riviera. One of her antecedents reported in the pages of this journal, was Jean Joachim Latrobe (1771- Benjamin Henry was, among many 1832), a great-uncle of Charles important commissions, the architect Joseph La Trobe. of extensions and the reconstruction of both the White House and the Capitol buildings in Washington DC.
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Untitled-5.indd 18 8/04/2009 11:36:03 AM Restoration Of Charlotte Pellet’s Grave
The final resting place of Charlotte Pellet is in a tranquil cemetery at Inverleigh, a rural township on the Hamilton highway 28 kilometres to the west of Geelong. The grave is within the north-eastern quarter of the cemetery, which is the Church of England section, beside a handsome Bhutan pine and alongside the original entrance road from the east, indicated by the old wrought iron gates now part of a fenced paddock. The more recent entrance to the cemetery is from the south side in Cemetery Road through later iron The inscription carved on the marble gates with brick pillars. panel reads: SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF CHARLOTTE PELET DIED 9TH APRIL 1876 AGED 76 YEARS DIEU SEUL EST MON LIBERATEUR, MON ESPOIR, MON ASILE, SOUS LES MAINS D’UN TEL PROTECTEUR, MON AME SOIT TRANQUILLE.
[God alone is my liberator, my hope, my shelter, beneath the hand of such a protector, may my soul rest in peace]1 Old eastern entrance to Inverleigh cemetery Swiss records show that the name was spelt as Pellet but, in English The modest elegant headstone usage, one ‘l’ was sometimes made of Barrabool stone is carved dropped.1 Although the headstone in a foliage design at the top, with a spells her name as Pelet and small white marble panel attached. records that Charlotte died on 9 April 1876, her death certificate states her surname is Pellet, and gives the date of death as 8 April 1877, a JOURNAL
1 OF THE Inverleigh Cemetery: Headstone Transcriptions © Dianne Hughes, Teesdale, Vic. 2 C J LA TROBE Ritchie, Joan M ‘Housekeeper of Jolimont’, Victorian Historical Journal, vol. 47, no.1, 1976,, . 277-283 SOCIETY 19
Untitled-5.indd 19 8/04/2009 11:36:07 AM year later. Charlotte died of Phthisis 9 months. The second, held on 9 (tuberculosis or consumption), after August 2003, was unveiling the an illness of two years, having being restored grave of notable Geelong attended by Dr George Glendinning stonemason, Nathaniel Brown, in four days earlier on 4 April. She Geelong Eastern Cemetery. Both was buried by clergyman Reverend projects followed Burra Charter Robert Goodman of the Church of guidelines, retaining as much England. The informant was her original material as possible. They grandson, Frédéric Amiet of Leigh complied with the National Trust Road, now Bannockburn.3 requirement that restoration should be conducted with the advice of a Background to grave restoration conservation architect, thus enabling in Geelong region donations to external appeals to be tax deductible. The Geelong Eastern Cemetery was classified by the National Trust Geelong Cemeteries Monument in July 1997, and the Geelong Restoration Group - grave of Western Cemetery was classified in Charlotte Pellet. August 1997. In the same month the Geelong Branch of the National Trust In 2003, Joan M Ritchie, a great sought permission from the Geelong great grand-daughter of Charlotte Cemeteries Trust to conduct night Pellet, and a former Senior Lecturer tours during the Heritage Festival in in History in the Department of April 1998 to raise funds for grave General Studies at the University restoration. The Branch sought the of New South Wales, and now agreement of the Geelong Family living in Germany, wrote to the History Group which had conducted National Trust of Australia (Victoria) daytime tours and had researched regarding the restoration of the the lives of many people buried in grave. Her enquiry was forwarded Geelong regional cemeteries. So to the Geelong Branch. began a rewarding cooperative venture between the Geelong Branch of the National Trust and the Geelong Family History Group. The Geelong Cemeteries Monument Restoration Group (GCMRG) was formed as a small sub-group with members from both organisations. The first project on 12 November Charlotte Pellet grave beside the tree in 2003. 1998 was placement of a bronze plaque to mark the first burial in With the letter from Joan Ritchie JOURNAL Geelong Western Cemetery of arriving at the time of completion of OF THE Rosa Harris who died in 1858, aged C J LA TROBE 3 20 SOCIETY Death certificate 1877, number 5243.
Untitled-5.indd 20 8/04/2009 11:36:08 AM the second project of the GCMRG, it Reset the posts square and was appropriate that this restoration level. Do not use concrete to should be the third project. With hold them in the ground the permission of a family member, - tamped soil is sufficient. If the Inverleigh Cemetery Trustees rot below ground is a problem and Golden Plains Shire Planning consider using PresChem Department, research about the boron rods. Pellet grave began. Trust Branch 3. Look closely for any sign of member Ros Lewis corresponded an original painted finish. with Joan Ritchie throughout the Record if the evidence is project. there. 4. Ensure the ground levels When the Geelong Cemeteries around the fence are low so Monument Restoration Group first that the palings and cross looked at the grave, the headstone rails are free from the ground was leaning slightly backwards and and associated water remnants of a timber picket fence damage. Total decay is and gate were evident. Dr Celestina eventually inevitable in this Sagazio, the National Trust’s Senior situation however with Historian, visited the Charlotte sympathetic repair and Pellet grave site with local Trust reconstruction along with Branch members and sought advice documentation the integrity of from a Sydney colleague, Gillian the fence can be Mitchell, an expert in timbers. After maintained.4 examination of photographs of the Pellet grave timbers, Gillian Mitchell forwarded the following advice: In addition, the GCMRG has been fortunate to have advice in an 1. Document existing structure honorary capacity for this project in detail including profile of from two Conservation Architects in mouldings, dimensions of Geelong. The first, ,Lorraine Huddle, timbers and details of B.Arch (Hons) Melb., Member, construction joints. Record all ICOMOS, Director Lorraine Huddle the details that would enable Pty Ltd, Architectural Historians, a new fence to be built to the Professional Heritage and Design original dimensions in the Consultants, attended an on-site future if necessary. inspection and documented the 2. Repair and reconstruct using following details about the grave: original material where possible. Splice in new timber in damaged areas rather than replacing whole members. JOURNAL OF THE 4 email from Gillian Mitchell to Celestina Sagazio, 9 Dec 2003 C J LA TROBE SOCIETY 21
Untitled-5.indd 21 8/04/2009 11:36:09 AM Charlotte Pellet’s Grave Brief 15.There is evidence of paint on report re site visit, Monday 10 the corner posts but none on May 2004 the railings and pickets. 16. The top of the posts was deep 1. The grave is wider than most. brown, and the main body and 2. It measures 2470 by 3007 with curved incision black. a height of about 1100. 17. There is evidence of hand 3. There is evidence of a picket made nails in some timbers. fence surrounding the grave 18. There is evidence of a including a picket gate. ‘gravelly concrete’ mixture 4. The gateway is about 892mm being placed over the top of from the outside of each post. the grave, possibly later. 5. The four corner posts 19. There is a small headstone (100X100) are still in-situ. made of Barrabool Stone The inside post for the gate is with a small white marble also 100 x 100 but it is on the panel attached. There is ground. evidence that this is not 6. The railings are also in-situ on original as there appears to most sides. be patching around it. 7. One side of the gate is still 20. The headstone is on a lean. attached, by hinges, to a 21. There is a large Bhutan Pine corner post. next to the grave.5 8. The gate posts are 70 x 70. 9. The original lock is still There was then some discussion attached to 6 above. about the dates of the placement 10. The pickets are 680 wide with of the marble panel on the original 750 spacing between them Barrabool stone headstone, and the and were attached to the timber fence, as both seemed to outside of the railings. be of a later date. Lorraine Huddle 11. There are large numbers of consulted Ken Bunn, semi-retired original pickets on the ground architect/builder, who conducted and a few still attached to the a site visit. From his observation fence. and knowledge of the timbers, he 12. There are a few picketson the estimated the existing fence was ground that are longer, not older than fifty years. The red thinner, made of a different gum timber posts had rotted in the timber and have a different ground and they usually take about shape picket head. 50 years to get to that stage. The 13. There appear to have been hard wood rails and pickets could 16 pickets on the short sides not last longer than 50 years, and and 19 on the longer sides. this would be one reason why they JOURNAL 14.There appear to have been have fallen off. The observation OF THE about 70 pickets in total. that the timbers are no older than 50
C J LA TROBE 5 22 SOCIETY Email from Lorraine Huddle to Jennifer Bantow 13 May 2004
Untitled-5.indd 22 8/04/2009 11:36:09 AM years may tie in with the ‘concrete’ Neuchâtel. There was nothing like layer over the grave which has been the picket fence around the Pellet poured around the fence posts, grave site anywhere to be seen. either after the posts were in place, The project came to a standstill for or - maybe it was all built at the same some time at this stage. time, in the 1950s-1960s. This raised some questions: To what date should the site be * Was the grave restored or restored? ‘improved’ about 50 years ago? By the time the project resumed, * If so, did this include the concrete Lorraine Huddle had moved to surface, fence, and new marble Melbourne, and the second architect, plaque on the tombstone? Louise Honman, Conservation * Were these works copies of an Architect, B.Arch (Honours) earlier presentation of the grave, (Deakin University, 1980), or were they a completely new Registered Architect ARBV, and design? Member - ICOMOS Australia, It was decided to consult the Secretary agreed to assist. After discussing of the Inverleigh Cemetery Trustees, all the information and the existing Sandy (Alexander) McCallum, state of the grave, it was decided to who advised that the Inverleigh restore the grave site including the Cemetery books were lost in a 1927 picket fence, even though it may be house fire, and an examination of of a later date, as the marble panel existing books revealed no record of and the fence were now part of the any work being done on the grave history of the site. The marble panel since 1927. There is no record of was to be retained, and therefore, work on the headstone or fence, it seemed reasonable to keep the nor of when concrete was laid. fence. Sandy McCallum was particularly The Geelong Advertiser records that interested in the project as he is Charlotte’s daughter, Rose Amiet, related to Charlotte Pellet. Her was buried at Inverleigh cemetery grand-daughter, Charlotte Sophia on 10 January 1910, but there is no Amiet, married Alexander McCallum record of which plot. Perhaps the in 1882 at Murgheboluc.6 marble panel had been placed on To investigate the possibility that the the Barrabool stone headstone, the unusual picket fence may have been grave site widened and the picket a Swiss custom, Lorraine Huddle, fence built when Rose Amiet died in while travelling in Switzerland in 1910, and she was buried with her June 2004, visited a cemetery near mother. There is no record of the Neuchâtel, about three kilometres specific place where Rose Amiet is buried; however, the family believes from the city centre, and another JOURNAL she was buried with Charlotte. one about thirty minutes from OF THE 6 Email from Jennifer Bantow to Lorraine Huddle 13 May 2004 C J LA TROBE SOCIETY 23
Untitled-5.indd 23 8/04/2009 11:36:09 AM Donations for the restoration project Trust sponsor, Haymes Paints. from Joan Ritchie needed to be Bartlett Brothers, through Kevin supplemented to cover anticipated Bartlett, kindly supplied white granite expenses, and the La Trobe Society chips at a reduced price to complete was approached for assistance. the picture. A plaque recording the As reported in ‘A Word from the restoration, funded by descendants Treasurer’ in La Trobeana, vol. Cheryl Kirchner and David Amiet, is 6, no. 2, July 2007, the La Trobe to be located at the foot of the grave Society Committee generously and, according to National Trust advanced an amount to match the guidelines, will be placed outside existing funds. Paul Jenkinson, the original grave area. Modern Heritage Builders, agreed to undertake the work. Paul took The restoration of the grave of detailed measurements and noted Charlotte Pellet has been completed an important detail previously not over a four-year period which noticed. The height of the few seems a long time. However, this original pickets still in situ showed is because of the desire to gather that the pickets in the centre of the all necessary information, to seek railings were shorter than those at expert advice, to raise the needed each end, indicating a curved effect funds before starting work, and to along the top of the pickets on each engage a sympathetic artisan. The side. scarce human resources of the volunteer group were at times directed elsewhere.
A gathering will be held on 9 April 2009 at the gravesite to mark the completion of the project.
Paul Jenkinson, Modern Heritage Builders, with apprentice Jordan Watts.
Paul completed timber work during Painting working bee 2008 at his home work site and at two on-site visits, donating his own time and charging for the cost of materials and his apprentice’s labour only. Ros Lewis, Pam Jennings and JOURNAL Jennifer Bantow completed painting OF THE during two on-site visits, with paint C J LA TROBE generously donated by National Original lock 24 SOCIETY
Untitled-5.indd 24 8/04/2009 11:36:14 AM Completed grave
Jennifer Bantow President, Geelong and Region Branch National Trust of Australia (Victoria)
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