Vol 13, No 1, March 2014

25 Pages·2014·1.34 MB·English

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Journal of the C. J. La Trobe Society Inc.
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La Trobeana
Journal of the C J La Trobe Society Inc
Vol 13, No 1, March 2014
ISSN 1447‑4026
The C J La Trobe Society Inc was formed in 2001 to promote
understanding and appreciation of the life, work and times of
Charles Joseph La Trobe, Victoria’s first Lieutenant‑Governor.
www.latrobesociety.org.au
LA TROBE UNIVERSITY BRANDMARK REFRESH
RECOMMENDED MASTERBRAND
CONFIGURATIONS
The brandmark always appears on white.
When placed on a coloured background the brandmark has a white holding shape.
La Trobeana
When placed on a white background the holding shape disappears.
is kindly sponsored by
Mr Peter Lovell
L o v eL L C h e n
Contents
MAASrTEcR hBRiAtNDects & herit Age c onsultAnts INTERNATIONAL VERSION
and by
Reports and Notices
4 A Word from the President
40 Friends of La Trobe’s Cottage
5 Chancellor’s Column
41 Helen Botham
Articles
Remembering La Trobe in Litlington and
East Melbourne
6 Harriet Edquist
The Other La Trobe: E L Bateman at the
42 The La Trobe Society Banner
Editorial Committee Melbourne Public Library 1860‑1866
Loreen Chambers (Hon Editor), Helen Armstrong, Susan Priestley, Dianne Reilly, Fay Woodhouse
43 John Botham
13 Bernard Wallace
Designed by The Enlightened Administrator and the The Superintendent’s Superhighway
Michael Owen [email protected]
Martinet Magistrate:
45 Forthcoming events
Charles Joseph La Trobe and James Blair
For contributions and subscriptions enquiries contact:
The Honorary Secretary: Dr Dianne Reilly AM 46 Contributions welcome
21 Susan Priestley
The C J La Trobe Society
Tracing the Marine Residence at Mount
401 Collins Street
Melbourne Vic 3000 Martha: a research report
Phone: [phone]
Email: [email protected] 25 Helen Armstrong
Celebrating Charles Joseph La 5T0robe
(1801‑1875): a research report
FRONT COVER
Thomas Woolner, 1825‑1892, sculptor
30 Patrick Gregory
Charles Joseph La Trobe
‘Dear Jolimont’: a narrative
1853, diam. 24cm. Bronze portrait medallion showing the left profile of Charles Joseph La Trobe.
Signature and date incised in bronze l.r.: T. Woolner Sc. 1853: / M
36 Dianne Reilly
La Trobe, Charles Joseph, 1801‑1875. Accessioned 1894
The La Trobe Clock: a research report
Pictures Collection, State Library of Victoria, H5481
2 • Journal of the C J La Trobe Society Vol. 13, No. 1 • March 2014 • 3
A Word from the President The Chancellor’s Column
Welcome to 2014 and the first edition General Meeting last August. Bernard Wallace The C  J  La  Trobe Society’s annual I was very curious to know what he, as
of the La Trobeana with its various has also been researching another interesting calendar is punctuated with a number someone new to the country, thought about
fascinating and diverse articles. The person, James Blair the Police Magistrate for the of key events throughout the year, the Society and what he had learned about
C J La Trobe Society this year will again offer Portland Bay District, a somewhat controversial culminating in the annual Christmas party. C J La Trobe.
a variety of interesting and thought‑provoking man who was part of La Trobe’s world, albeit Christmas Cocktails under the Dome was held at
lectures and functions for members. The one whom La Trobe met only a couple of times. the State Library of Victoria on 6 December “As an American, I must confess that I
highlight of the 2013 Christmas season was our While Patrick Gregory has written us a narrative 2013. The event was most enjoyable and Society had not heard of C J La Trobe before I came
Cocktail Party hosted by Sue Roberts, CEO and of the life of Sophie and Charles La Trobe at members were treated to an informative and to Australia; however, I was intrigued to learn
State Librarian, in the State Library of Victoria’s their beloved Jolimont home. It reminds us that fascinating talk, La Trobe was Here! by writer and more about this important historic figure and
domed La Trobe Reading Room which was history writing can take many forms. historian, Robyn Annear. was curious to understand why my University
celebrating its centenary. Robyn Annear had been named after him,” Bruce observed.
entertained us with a lively address entitled There are some fascinating pieces of As many members of the C J La Trobe
‘La Trobe was here!’ research from three of our busy La  Trobe Society will know, over the last couple of years “Now that I know a little more, the
Society committee members on matters as the Society and La Trobe University have been synergies and parallels are strikingly apparent
Our annual Candlelit Carols held at diverse as a clock in the State Library of Victoria, working to build connections between the – in particular C J La Trobe ’s vision for his
La Trobe’s Cottage on 16 December in the an intriguing marine reserve at Mt Martha and two organisations around mutual interests and colony and the research priorities that have been
garden was also a delightful Society occasion. milestones in our celebration of the life and understanding. Accordingly representatives identified by La Trobe University. I look forward
The distinguished soprano, Merlyn Quaife times of Charles Joseph La Trobe. There are from the University: Chief of Staff, Perry to finding out more about Charles La Trobe and
with accompanying choir, provided a focus to also three reports written regarding the brilliant Sperling, Trusts and Foundations Officer, engaging more deeply with members of the
what would have been an important religious and evolving La Trobe Society website (www. Caterina Demontis and Fundraising Officer, Society.” On being informed of the connection
festival for the La Trobe family at Jolimont. Joan latrobesociety.com), as well as an update on our Bruce Moore joined Society members for the between Charles Joseph La Trobe and his uncle,
Macdermid of the Friends of La Trobe’s Cottage relationship with St Peter’s Eastern Hill whose end‑of‑year gathering. the revered architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe
decorated the rooms quite beautifully and the foundation stone was laid by Charles Joseph who redesigned the Capitol buildings and the
gardeners who work throughout the year had La Trobe. Bruce Moore is new to both La Trobe White House, Bruce further added: “I have
made a special effort for this occasion. University and Australia and this was his first been to Latrobe, Pennsylvania before. Now I
I look forward to seeing you throughout C J La Trobe Society event. Originally from the know the connection.”
This issue of La  Trobeana has three the year at the various functions. US, he has spent the last seventeen years working
most interesting contributions. Architectural as a fundraiser for an independent school in Adrienne E Clarke AC
historian Professor Harriet Edquist has written Diane Gardiner Taiwan. His role at La Trobe University is to Chancellor, La Trobe University
us an article on Edward La Trobe Bateman’s Hon. President C J La Trobe Society secure philanthropic support for the exciting
involvement with the design of the Melbourne and important research that is being undertaken
Public Library in the period 1860‑1866. It in La Trobe University’s Faculty of Science,
is based on a lecture she gave at our Annual Technology and Engineering.
4 • Journal of the C J La Trobe Society Vol. 13, No. 1 • March 2014 • 5
reformer’s London office to illustrate a number woody dingle with its eye‑like
of high‑quality gift books. Yet a comparison window, and sending up the
between Jones’s architecturally‑derived interest motion of azure smoke between
in ornament and Bateman’s ornamental book the silver trunks of aged trees;
covers and borders indicate that the latter’s or grouped among the bright
aesthetics were formed just as much under the cornfields of the fruitful plain;
influence of John Ruskin, the most influential or forming grey clusters along
nineteenth‑century art theorist and champion of the slope of the mountain side,
the Gothic Revival. Bateman’s enthusiasm for the cottage always gives the
medieval book illumination and commitment to idea of a thing to be beloved: a
the representation of nature, his friendship with quiet life‑giving voice, that is as
members of the Pre‑Raphaelite Brotherhood peaceful as silence itself.4
An aesthete and dreamer, Bateman was
not a worldly man.5 He appeared disinclined
The other La Trobe: or simply incapable of establishing a home or a
design office of his own in Melbourne, working
instead in a series of significant collaborations
with people with specialised professional skills
E L Bateman at like Professor of Natural History, Frederick
McCoy and architect Joseph Reed. The former
would have taught Bateman a great deal about
the recognition, classification and use of exotic
the Melbourne Public and native plant species when they collaborated
on the botanic garden at the University of
Melbourne 1856‑1862, while the latter provided
both an office and professional expertise about
Library 1860‑1866 building practice and architectural design.
In 1858 Joseph Reed, the architect of
the Melbourne’s Public Library and close
By Harriet Edquist
professional associate of Redmond Barry,
Photographer unknown Chancellor of the University of Melbourne
Edward La Trobe Bateman, ca. 1870‑ca. 1880
Harriet Edquist is Professor of Architectural History and Director of the RMIT Design and chief trustee of the Library, was appointed
albumen silver photograph
Archives at RMIT University, Melbourne. Actively engaged in the promotion of Australian Pictures Collection, State Library of Victoria, architect to the University and this point marks
architecture, art and design, she has published widely and curated numerous exhibitions in H94.118 the beginning of his professional collaboration
the area. Most recently, she curated the exhibition ‘Free, secular and democratic: building the with Bateman. Bateman had been brought into
Public Library 1853‑1913’ at the State Library of Victoria (2013) and published the associated the University two years earlier to work with
ebook Building a new world: a history of the State Library of Victoria 1853‑1913. who were supported by Ruskin, and the artful McCoy, probably at the instigation of Godfrey
rusticity of the Hermitage, his cottage at Howitt, a member of the University Council and
Other recent publications by Professor Edquist include George Baldessin: paradox and Highgate, all suggest this allegiance. According host to Bateman during most of his seventeen
persuasion (2009); Designing Place: an archaeology of the Western District (2010) and to Neale, the London circle of William and Mary years in Melbourne.
Michael O’Connell: the lost modernist (2011), all of which had associated exhibitions. Since Howitt in which Bateman moved included John
2007 she has been Director of the RMIT Design Archives that has already established an Julius Loudon, for whose Magazine of Natural Bateman’s first work in Reed’s busy office
important, and growing, collection of material related to Melbourne design practices from History Ruskin contributed articles in 1834 might have been drawing up the site plan for
the 20th century to the present. and whose Poetry of Architecture appeared the Wesley Church precinct, Lonsdale Street in
serially in Loudon’s Architectural Magazine in 1859.6 It was followed a year later by a scheme at
1837‑38.3 It is the latter of these that seems to the Public Library which for the first time brought
E
dward La  Trobe Bateman, cousin My interest in Bateman was sparked by infuse the first works which Bateman produced Bateman to the general notice of the Melbourne
of Charles Joseph La Trobe, made a research into the nineteenth century history of in Melbourne, including views of La Trobe’s public. Reed had won the competition for the
significant contribution to the design the Public Library where he was involved in two residence ‘Jolimont’ and a series of rustic Public Library soon after arriving in the colony
history of Victoria, particularly in the separate interior design projects of the 1860s.2 cottages intended for the unpublished ‘Bush in 1853. The foundation stone was laid in 1854
fields of book illumination, garden design and Each was significant and advanced up‑to‑date Homes of Australia’. These beautifully detailed and the central portion opened in 1856. Reed
interior design. As Anne Neale has so cogently ideas about the decoration of public buildings and sympathetic drawings recall Ruskin’s had envisioned the upper range, the Queen’s
argued, he was an early appreciator of native plants and each was carried out in collaboration with, descriptions of the vernacular cottage: Reading Room, later known as the Queen’s
and became ‘the most talented, best‑documented or perhaps under the aegis of, architect Joseph Hall, as a temple interior framed by a double row
and most prolific Anglo‑Australian landscape Reed. It is the relationship between Bateman ….the cottage is one of the of giant order Ionic columns. He had defended
gardener of the nineteenth century’ and was and Reed that will be the focus here. embellishments of natural his choice of the Ionic order for the exterior and
an internationally significant design reformer, scenery which deserve attentive interior of the building (the exterior was later
bringing to Melbourne experience of working Much has been made of the influence consideration. It is beautiful changed to Corinthian) in a letter to Barry in
in the office of the great British designer exerted on Bateman by Owen Jones in the late always, and everywhere. 1854, citing Renaissance architects Vignola and
Owen Jones.1 1840s when Bateman was employed in the design Whether looking out of the Scamozzi as sources, thereby linking his work to
6 • Journal of the C J La Trobe Society Vol. 13, No. 1 • March 2014 • 7
Charles Nettleton, 1826‑1902, photographer
Interior view of Queens Hall, State Library
of Victoria, c. 1898
gelatin silver photograph
Pictures Collection, State Library of Victoria,
H9318
Barnett Johnstone, 1832‑1910, photographer Edward La Trobe Bateman, 1816‑1897, artist
Queen’s Hall Reading Room, Melbourne Front view of Jolimont, c. 1852 the Supplemental Catalogue of 1865. Compared Morris and Co was established in 1861 by those
Public Library, 1859 drawing : pencil and
with Bateman’s earlier book illustrations, the who had collaborated on the interior decoration
albumen silver photographic print Chinese white on brown paper
Pictures Collection, State Library of Victoria, Pictures Collection, State Library of Victoria, H Public Library catalogue designs are more of the revolutionary Red House designed by
H3679 98.135/22 stylised although still naturalistic enough for Philip Webb for William Morris in 1859; and
each floral specimen to be recognized. The the polychromatic Gothic architecture of G E
stylisation of natural forms for the purposes of Street, William Butterfield and others was in its
the Renaissance revival popular in contemporary the removal of the Crystal Palace, erected for design was advocated by Jones and exemplified ascendency. Professional architect that he was,
British public architecture. The interior of the Great Exhibition in 1851, from Hyde Park in the final plate of The Grammar of Ornament. Reed would have updated himself on these latest
Queen’s Hall, with its ceiling opened at intervals to Sydenham where it re‑opened in 1854. It But these principles were widely promoted developments in Britain and the Continent.
by coved skylights glazed in a fish‑scale pattern featured a series of Fine Arts Courts including years before The Grammar by both Ruskin The impact of his travels can still be seen in the
and framed in classical borders, can be seen in the Alhambra, Egyptian, Greek and Roman and the great Gothic architect and designer, Independent Church in Collins Street (1866)
Barnett Johnstone’s 1860 photograph taken soon Courts designed by Jones, which outlined the A.W.N. Pugin, whose major publications such built in a polychromatic, brick Romanesque
after the completion of the south wing.7 history of architecture and ornament. These as The True Principles of Pointed or Christian Revival style, but was also as much in evidence
would have provided important exemplars for Architecture and his huge body of decorative in the Intercolonial Exhibition buildings. The
Soon, however, the newly completed the Public Library interior. work in all fields of design, attest to the robust style he chose for the interiors was Gothic but
wing was closed for refurbishment and when it usefulness of the theory. Bateman’s predilection with round‑arched windows to harmonise with
re‑opened it was ‘redecorated in a style which It is not clear who made the decision to for painted and stencilled, as opposed to the classical form of the Public Library.
has hitherto been unseen in Melbourne’.8 use the Queen’s Hall as an experimental canvas three‑dimensional ornament, was Puginian and
to test these new, widely debated theories of there is much in his multi‑dimensional practice Intended to provide the foundations of a
. . .the general tone of the classical ornament, but it would not have been as a designer that recalls Pugin. The maturation new Public Library on the eastern boundary of
painting is a light cream colour Bateman’s alone. Reed would have had to agree of Bateman’s design skills coincides with the the Swanston Street building, Reed’s Great Hall
for the lower portion and a light to this modification of his original scheme and Library commissions and Barry’s desire to and Rotunda carried lightweight open timber
blue for the ceiling, broken the trustees (or Barry) would have had to agree to establish a design school at the Public Library; and iron roofs on masonry walls. As they were
up by introducing gilding and the additional expense. It was presumably Barry the collections of plaster casts of architecture and temporary, their plain brick facades were fairly
ornaments in Etruscan red. who had ensured that a copy of The Grammar ornament assembled from 1860 were to form crude, and so everything depended on the effect
The relievo ornaments, such of Ornament was not only in the Public Library the basis of this school. It was wholly appropriate of their interiors which Bateman was charged
as moulded guilloches, &c., but also the Supreme Court Library. Needless therefore that the Public Library itself, both as a with decorating. The Great Hall owed much
are picked out in gold and to say a copy was in Reed’s office. The Public patron of architecture and of book production, to Fowke’s Exhibition buildings in Cromwell
various colours.9 Library had bought Philip Delamotte’s 1854 demonstrate the latest design thinking. Road, South Kensington, which included a
photographic record of the Crystal Palace at huge hall with an open roof. The interior of the
This scheme of applied painted and Sydenham, as well as Sydenham’s contemporary The success of the Queen’s Hall scheme London hall, Barry noted, ‘was ornamented by
stencilled decoration broadly Greek in form descriptive publication The Fine Arts Courts led to Bateman’s continuing employment Crace and by some of those decorative artists
and colour, was superimposed over the existing in the Crystal Palace: first series, north‑west as Reed’s interior consultant for the Public who are considered as standing first in the
Renaissance revival scheme. In undertaking this side (1854) which included Owen Jones’s ‘An Library, which included decorating the ground ranks of their profession’, but he thought that
work Bateman followed the theories of Owen apology for the colouring of the Greek Court in floor exhibition rooms. In 1862 Reed, Barry and Bateman’s ‘execution is equal in many respects,
Jones and others who had demonstrated that the Crystal Palace’. On this evidence we might architect George Knight travelled to London in and superior, in my opinion, in several, to theirs.’
ancient architecture was polychromatic, colour conclude that Sydenham provided the rationale time for the second Great London Exhibition.
introduced either through varied materials for the redecoration of Queen’s Hall which was Housed in Francis Fowke’s monumental and The decorations of the hall
(structural polychromy) or applied decoration, as possibly the first public, non‑exhibition space in generally disliked ‘shed’ on Cromwell Road, are also of a very superior
here. Examples of polychromatic ornament were the world to adopt such a scheme.11 South Kensington, it was host to an enormous description. The clerestory
reproduced in Jones’s most influential text, The Victorian exhibit which included textile designs windows are frosted with
Grammar of Ornament which was published Collaboration on the Queen’s Hall by Bateman featuring native flowers and imitation ground glass, and are
in 1856; Bateman had worked on it while in matured Bateman’s design skills as can be seen foliage.12 The Gothic revival was at its height. ornamented with scroll pattern
Jones’s office although he left London four years by the next work commissioned by the Public Pugin had died in 1852 but the interior of the work, stencilled on the glass
before its publication.10 In addition Jones, with Library, the cover and floral initials and tail‑pieces Houses of Parliament as well as his voluminous in light scarlet and blue. The
Matthew Digby Wyatt, was put in charge of of its first self‑published Catalogue in 1861 and publications kept his name and reputation alive; walls are painted ‘distempered
8 • Journal of the C J La Trobe Society Vol. 13, No. 1 • March 2014 • 9
buff’; and are divided into heraldic motifs and above these arched windows
panels, with light blue and buff in groups of three which were frosted with
stiles, enriched with scarlet imitation glass and ornamented with stencilled
leafage with blue and red lines stylised plants. Crowning it all was the iron roof,
surrounding the panels; the the interior divided into timber panels decorated
main ribs are striped with red in the Gothic manner. The Guide called it
and blue. The whole has a most ‘surpassingly clear and beautiful’. The colour
pleasing effect.13 scheme followed that of the Great Hall although
the background colour was a remarkable violet.
The Greek motifs used by Bateman It is conceivable that the unusual interior of the
including fret, wave, star and anthemion, Rotunda was inspired by the original debating
his controlled use of primary colours and hall designed by Benjamin Woodward for the
method of creating small fields of painted and Oxford Union in 1857, its Gothic interior
stencilled pattern between the roof trusses and decorated by Bateman’s friend D.G. Rossetti,
rafters accorded with the theories of ornament with Edward Burne‑Jones, Morris and other
Photographer unknown
Porch of “Heronswood”, c. 1900‑c. 1905
gelatin silver photograph
Pictures Collection, State Library of Victoria, H93.371/13
shows how much Bateman’s design ability had views of the Bay. Constructed from blocks
developed in the collaborative environment of of the local granite with limestone dressings it
the Public Library commissions.16 comprises a series of separately roofed rooms or
pavilions. While Kolor adopts the round‑arched
The middle years of the 1860s were form of the Romanesque and was built in
Frederick Grosse, 1828‑1894, engraver. Bateman’s most productive. As his work with one campaign, Heronswood is of the ruggedly
Contributor: Albert Charles Cooke, Reed progressed at the Library, he became unadorned Early Gothic style and was built in an
1836‑1902, artist involved in building works at Heronswood, organic piecemeal fashion, firstly in timber then
The Rotunda, Intercolonial
Exhibition, Melbourne, 1866 Dromana and Barragunda, Cape Schanck. in the local stone, from about 1864 to 1871; the
Publisher: Melbourne, Ebenezer and Heronswood was intended as a holiday retreat final result is an extraordinarily varied elevation
David Syme, Illustrated Australian
while Barragunda was intended as the family and roofscape. Far removed from the tutored
News, November 20, 1866
wood engraving. home of Godfrey Howitt’s daughter Edith and Gothic of Pugin’s acclaimed follower William
Pictures Collection, State Library of her husband Robert Anderson. As he was not an Wardell whose St Patrick’s Cathedral was under
Victoria, IAN20/11/66/1
architect, Bateman worked under the umbrella construction from 1858, and also from the
of Reed’s office and the degree of Reed’s Gothic of the pattern books used in a number
involvement in these projects has yet to be of Victorian homesteads, Heronswood displays a
propounded by Jones in the Grammar of members of the Pre‑Raphaelite Brotherhood. properly resolved. It is likely that Reed’s office different understanding of Gothic. Its Puginian
Ornament. For example, Proposition 7 stated As Deane and Woodward’s Museum of Natural played a major role at Barragunda considering its honesty of detail, its bulkiness and eclecticism
that the ‘general forms being first cared for, History at Oxford (1854‑1860) may also lie status as a family home and, indeed, Bateman’s do not suggest the hand of an accomplished
these should be subdivided and ornamented by behind Reed’s decision to design a Gothic friend Georgiana McCrae attributed it to Reed. architect such as Wardell, Reed or exponents of
general lines; the interstices may then be filled in museum at the University of Melbourne, it is Bateman might well have been given license pattern book Gothic like Crouch and Wilson.
with ornament, which may again be subdivided quite possible he made the trip to the university to experiment at the less ambitious holiday Rather, they suggest a romantic sensibility,
and enriched for closer inspection’.14 However, town to view for himself its new buildings, retreat Heronswood.17 the hand of a designer intent on producing a
many of these propositions were by the 1850s although they were also reported in the vernacular cottage of which Ruskin and a client
and 1860s commonplace design principles architectural press. A comparison of Heronswood with a conversant with modern history and literature
adopted by the reformers of the Gothic Revival; documented work of Reed and Barnes of might approve. What they produced was a
indeed, the ceiling treatment of the Great Hall The Intercolonial Exhibition thus similar style and date, namely the homestead Ruskinian ‘embellishment of natural scenery’.
echoed the ceiling decoration of Pugin’s House provided the next stage for Bateman’s Kolor at Penshurst in the Western District of
of Commons in Parliament House, London development as a pattern maker in the medieval Victoria, reveals that something altogether If Heronswood is unique in Australia it
which opened in 1852, a fitting enough model mode. Furthermore, he designed an illuminated different is being attempted at Dromana. Kolor is does have a sympathetic counterpart in William
for an ambitious, democratically inclined address presented at the Exhibition to François architecturally sophisticated and its construction, Morris’s Red House at Bexleyheath, Kent which
colonial institution.15 de Laporte, comte de Castelnau, London‑born out of the intractable local bluestone, has was built in 1860 and which reinterpreted
French naturalist, explorer and widely‑travelled extraordinary finesse and is finely detailed. A villa local vernacular traditions of brick building in
The Rotunda is possibly more interesting collector who arrived in Melbourne in 1864 in the picturesque tradition, its elevated site was a manner that appears timeless; its assortment
than the Great Hall and more innovative. where he was appointed Consul‑General for chosen to take advantage of views to two sides. of separately roofed rooms producing a varied
Originally designed as a square building, at some France. The extraordinary design, only recently It is possible Bateman was involved in the siting and picturesque roofscape. Inspired by Ruskin,
point Reed chose a polygonal structure, again come to light, shows Bateman in full command of the homestead and responsible for the circular Bateman’s Pre‑Raphaelite friends decorated this
possibly swayed by the polygonal pavilions of of the repertory of design principles of flat, lawn garden to one side.18 Heronswood, built for revolutionary house as a temple to those values of
Fowke’s Exhibition building although the roofs non‑figurative pattern based on medieval, Asian W.E. Hearn, Professor of Modern History and art and life that they shared with Bateman. On
of these were glazed. On the frieze above the and Islamic art that were promulgated by the Literature, Political Economy and Logic, is also one wall, amongst scenes of medieval feasting,
doors in the Rotunda were panels with central design reformers Pugin, Ruskin and Jones. It a picturesque villa sited on a hill with sweeping Rossetti painted a wombat asleep under a chair,
10 • Journal of the C J La Trobe Society Vol. 13, No. 1 • March 2014 • 11
an animal he was fond of but one which also theoretical springboard for Bateman’s ambitious
possibly reminded him of his antipodean friend. leap into the building arts. In sum, by providing
the context for the extraordinarily fruitful
Heronswood was completed some years collaborations between Bateman, Reed and
after Bateman left the colony, presumably by Barry, the Public Library played a significant,
Reed’s office and it remains the most celebrated but still largely overlooked, role in the
of Bateman’s work in Australia. It was designed promotion of design reform in mid‑nineteenth
at a point when Bateman was working closely century Melbourne.
with Reed, George Knight (the Commissioner
of the Exhibition) and Barry at the Intercolonial The enlightened
Exhibition. The exhibits included a medieval
court, modelled on Pugin’s medieval court at
the Crystal Palace Exhibition, and it included
decorative Gothic work destined for St Patrick’s Administrator and the
and other Melbourne churches.
It could be argued that this environment
of experiments in Gothic‑based design reform, martinet Magistrate:
sponsored by the Public Library, provided a
Charles Joseph La Trobe and James Blair
By Bernard Wallace
Bernard Wallace was one of La Trobe University’s earliest graduates, with a History major.
His main interest is the rich history of Victoria’s South West, particularly the origins of its
placenames. In 2005, he contributed a substantial article to the Victorian Historical Journal
entitled ‘Naming Victoria’s South West’. Bernard writes a weekly history feature for
the Portland Observer as part of the series, ‘Our yesterdays revisited’. He is also a regular
contributor to the Hamilton Spectator and an occasional contributor to a range of publications.
1 Anne Neale, ‘Flora Australis: native plants in the art, design and gardens of E.L. Bateman’, Studies in Australian Garden
He was a substantial contributor to the Biographical Dictionary of the Western District. His most
History, 2003, pp. 35‑53; Anne Neale, ‘The Garden Designs of Edward La Trobe Bateman (1816‑97)’, Garden History,
recent publication is Mary MacKillop’s Portland Years, 1862‑1866. In June 2012, he contributed
vol.33, 2005, pp. 225‑255; Anne Neale ‘Decorative Art and Architecture: Owen Jones and Bateman in Australia’, in
‘Charles La Trobe, the Hentys and Victoria’s South West’ to La Trobeana following a most
Firm(ness) commodity de‑light?: questioning the canons, papers…Society of Architectural Historians Australia and New Zealand,
successful tour La Trobe Society members made to the Western District in November 2011.
Melbourne, 1998, pp. 269‑276. See also Neale’s entries on Bateman in Richard Aitken & Michael Looker (eds) The
Oxford Companion to Australian Gardens, South Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 2002; and Philip Goad and Julie
Willis (eds) The Encyclopedia of Australian Architecture, Port Melbourne: Cambridge University Press, 2011.
C
2 Harriet Edquist, Building a new world: a history of the State Library of Victoria 1853‑1913, Melbourne: State Library of harles Joseph La Trobe and James The Portland Bay District was an immense
Victoria, 2013, www.slv.vic.gov.au/explore/our‑publications/building‑a‑new‑world. Blair are inextricably linked. Blair administrative unit. At one time it extended
3 Neale, ‘The Garden Designs of Edward La Trobe Bateman’, p.226; George L. Hersey, High Victorian Gothic: a study in was the Police Magistrate of the north to the Murray River, south to the sea,
associationism, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1972, p.23. huge Portland Bay District. As west to the South Australian water and east to
4 John Ruskin, The Poetry of Architecture, www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/readfile?fk_files=1509552&pageno=8 such, he was the means by which La Trobe near Geelong. Until the commencement of the
(accessed 13 January 2014) administered and developed Port Phillip’s vast Victorian gold rushes in 1851, the Portland Bay
5 Brenda Niall, Georgiana: a biography of Georgiana McCrae, painter, diarist, pioneer, Carlton: Melbourne University Portland Bay District. Blair served as Police District produced much of the colony’s wealth.
Press,1994, pp.204‑7 Magistrate from 1840 until 1866. Portland was the ‘capital’ of the District and a
6 For Reed and Bateman see Neale, ‘Decorative Art and Architecture’, pp.271‑273. significant colonial port. It was the region’s
La Trobe, of course, was Superintendent driver of development.
7 Edquist, Building a New World, building‑a‑new‑world.slv.vic.gov.au/#folio=34, pp.34‑35
of the Port Phillip District of New South
8 The Argus, 31 October 1860, p.5.
Wales from October 1839 until 1851. After La Trobe and Blair worked closely together
9 Illustrated Melbourne Post, 22 March, 1862, p.20.
Separation, he served as Lieutenant‑Governor over many years; routinely and constantly
10 Neale, ‘Flora Australis’, p.40.
of the newly‑established colony of Victoria until corresponding on a host of official matters.
11 Neale suggests the historical precedence of Queen’s Hall in ‘Decorative Art and Architecture’, p.270.
May 1854. In performing this role, La Trobe They conferred directly on but a few occasions,
12 Neale, ‘Flora Australis’, p.43. operated within a restrictive framework, limited mainly during La Trobe’s official expeditions to
13 Illustrated Melbourne Post, 27 September 1866 quoted in Neale ‘Decorative Art and Architecture’, p.271. by a powerful governor in distant Sydney and Portland and the Portland Bay District.
14 Owen Jones, The Grammar of Ornament, London: Studio Editions, 1986, pp.5‑8. all‑powerful officials in England. For much of
15 Illustrated in Paul Atterbury and Clive Wainwright (eds) Pugin: a Gothic passion, New Haven: Yale University Press, the time this Governor was Sir George Gipps. It was an important administrative
1994, p.235. Gipps, very sensitive to the expectations of his relationship that extended from 1840 until 1854.
16 Edquist, Building A New World, building‑a‑new‑world.slv.vic.gov.au/#folio=34, p.90. masters in London, expected La Trobe to keep It was, however, a most unlikely relationship.
17 Neale discusses Bateman’s involvement in these houses in ‘Decorative Art and Architecture’, pp. 272‑73. the Port Phillip District free of debt and to La Trobe and Blair were extremely disparate
18 For the Picturesque tradition in colonial Victoria see Timothy Hubbard, ‘Towering Over All: the Italianate villa in the preserve the peace in all ways. La Trobe, in turn, personalities. Blair was an Irish‑Catholic, came
colonial landscape’, PhD thesis, Deakin University, 2003. expected this of Blair. from a military and legal background and
12 • Journal of the C J La Trobe Society Vol. 13, No. 1 • March 2014 • 13
seemed most comfortable in wielding power. He that ‘Blair, reputedly a firm disciplinarian … did
was said to have been quick to take offence and not need urging to his disagreeable task.’6
to give offence, and to bear a grudge. Politically
conservative, he was apparently harsh in the way Edgar Beale, author of Kennedy of Cape
he dealt with the common people but at the York, is most scathing of Blair. Kennedy, the
same time most uncompromising in his dealings heroic explorer who perished at Cape York
with the gentry and squattocracy. in 1847, fell foul of Blair during his stint as a
government surveyor at Portland Bay. Blair,
There is no shortage of unflattering Beale declares, ‘performed his duty with justice
Frederick William Birmingham, fl. 1853,
judgements, past and present, of Police Magistrate (as a rule) but with severity’7, and that Kennedy
Frederick William Birmingham, fl. 1853, engraver and publisher
James Blair. The Portland Guardian, established was yet another ‘one of his victims’.8 Blair, he engraver and publisher Portland Courthouse and stocks.
in 1842, regularly and vociferously attacked Blair contended, engaged in ‘customary tattling to Portland’s first Catholic Church, Police Installed at the behest of James Blair, they were one
Magistrate Blair’s place of worship. of the reasons he was described as ‘tyrannical’.
and his perceived shortcomings throughout his superiors’, was an ‘offensive busybody’ and Detail from Map of the town of Portland in the Detail from Map of the town of Portland in the
La Trobe’s administration. The Portland Guardian generated a letter about the young Kennedy colony of Victoria,1853 colony of Victoria,1853
Etched on stone and published by Etched on stone and published by
in 1845, for example, reported that Portland’s that ‘was a malicious farrago of gossip and
Fredk. Wm. Birmingham. Fredk. Wm. Birmingham.
public buildings, ‘erected at the expense of the rank falsehood’ aimed at destroying Kennedy’s Detail from the collection of Bernard Wallace. Detail from the collection of Bernard Wallace.
district’, were poorly positioned and that ‘the reputation and career.9
man who directed their laying is an ass.’1 That
added to his fearsome reputation. The Portland Blair was born in Dublin, Ireland, in
Guardian was quick to respond: ‘The Stocks. 1808, of Scottish parentage but of the Roman
This barbarous machine of torture was brought Catholic faith. His father was a successful doctor,
into use or abuse for the first time Tuesday last… with Blair receiving an education appropriate to
We believe that every right thinking man in the his station in life. He became a member of the
colony will utter an indignant “Shame”.’12 military and while stationed at one of Ireland’s
coastal forts, was involved in an explosion that
Blair’s handling of the interests of the left him lame. He was invalided and retired
district’s indigenous population has attracted from the service. Blair married in around 1833.
John T Collins, 1907‑2001, criticism in recent years: that he made little In time, six children came out of the union.
photographer
Customs House, Portland, effort to curb the excesses of the land‑hungry He obtained an appointment in New South
c.1962‑c.1966 squatters and that whilst massacres and murders Wales as legal clerk to John Hubert Plunkett,
Gelatin silver photograph
of Aboriginal people took place across the later Attorney‑General of the colony. Blair
John T Collins Collection, Pictures
Collection, State Library of Victoria, Portland Bay District few offenders were disembarked in New South Wales in 1834. After
H98.250/2005 brought to justice. service with Plunkett, he became a Clerk of the
Bench and a Justice of the Peace. He became
He was also variously accused of bias, Police Magistrate at Hartley, New South Wales,
man was James Blair. In 1846, the Guardian In Twenty Years in an Hour Glass, the of sectarianism, of aggrandising power in the in 1838.
asserted that ‘Mr. Blair is the most unpopular historian J.G. Wiltshire describes Blair as south‑west by holding multiple public offices,
man in the district’.2 At issue was Blair taking having ruled with a ‘harshness more associated and with amassing substantial personal wealth James Blair was appointed Police
on another public role; a directorship of the with convict settlements than with a tiny whilst holding public office. And on one Magistrate of the Portland Bay District in August
newly‑established Union Bank. When this was country settlement of free men and women. could go. 1840. He was appointed by Sydney‑based
confirmed, the Guardian mercilessly criticised This harshness became more dominant over Governor Gipps, not by La Trobe. Blair took up
the appointment, declaring that it produced the years, though in the very early years it was The question, of course, is how did the his position in October 1840 and soon made his
‘an involuntary burst of laughter, ridicule and more excessive bullying than tyrannical.10 refined, enlightened and principled La Trobe presence felt. There had been no government
jesting’ and that Blair was ‘the All‑in‑all of Furthermore, he argues: deal with such a man? How did things get done presence in Portland or the Portland Bay District
whatever was, whatever is, and whatever will be when there seemed to be the makings for a until that time. The District and its hinterland
in Portland’.3 It considered that Blair held too Police Magistrate Blair combative relationship, with the potential for had developed haphazardly and there were law
many public offices and too much power. This was a vindictive character endless bitter differences on policy and practice? and order problems.
was followed by a scathing condemnation of who handled the truth very Could there possibly have been a successful
Blair and his administration: ‘Is he a clever man? carelessly indeed. And while administrative relationship? Many of the dealings between La Trobe
If cunning is cleverness, he is as clever a man as still persevering as a staunch and Blair, whilst important, were of a routine
we have ever met. He has quarrelled with every guardian of law and order… Whilst the La Trobe story is well known, nature: requests from Blair, directives and
person he has had anything to do with.’4 Mr Blair went on quietly Blair’s life and career are less public. However, inquiries from La Trobe, responses and reports
establishing himself as one his life is documented in an Australian Dictionary from Blair and so on. Blair was La Trobe’s eyes
A range of historians have also judged of the wealthiest squatters in of Biography entry13, in the La  Trobe‑Blair/ and ears, communicating to him the sentiments
Blair harshly. Noel Learmonth, author of the colony.11 Blair‑La  Trobe official correspondence, in and aspirations of the settlers, squatters and
several books of substance about Portland and Portland newspapers of the day, in Blair’s captains of commerce and industry. Blair was
its district, observed that Blair was a man who Variously described as an ‘autocrat’, a contribution to what became Letters from Victorian also the means by which La Trobe imposed the
‘ruled with the proverbial iron rod.’5 Marnie ‘martinet’ and a man who was known far and Pioneers14, in his obituary in the Portland Guardian law of the land and implemented policy and
Bassett, author of The Hentys, in writing of the wide for his ‘rigid rule’, his decision to install and in an extensive file at Portland’s History reforms in the region.
government’s actions against that family, stated a set of stocks near the Portland Courthouse House Museum.
14 • Journal of the C J La Trobe Society Vol. 13, No. 1 • March 2014 • 15
During their fourteen‑year relationship, issue is a long and complex story well told in the brothers and their energetic representations and act. Although the case was speedily dismissed
several issues or developments stand out. One 1954 work by Marnie Bassett, The Hentys. The tactics. He used his powers where appropriate with costs awarded against him, Kennedy
was La Trobe’s official visits to the Portland Bay very short story is that when La Trobe arrived in and on several occasions unleashed Blair, who attracted considerable support in his battle
District on some seven occasions between 1841 Melbourne as Superintendent in October 1839, performed his duties most conscientiously. against Blair. Blair was not happy. Kennedy had
and 1850. The first occasion was a challenging the diverse Henty landholdings were greatly ignored his advice to drop the matter and, to add
two‑week Melbourne to Portland and return at risk. The Hentys had illegally established Another significant issue for Blair, and insult to injury, had called convict witnesses to
expedition in May 1841. a settlement and enterprises at Portland Bay in turn La Trobe, was the matter of Assistant give evidence against Finn. Blair complained
and pastoral stations in the hinterland. At risk Government Surveyor Edmund Kennedy. to La Trobe.
In February‑March 1843, La Trobe made were houses, warehouses, fencing, a whaling Based at Portland Bay from December 1840,
his way from Melbourne to Portland by way of station, gardens and improved and productive
Port Fairy. Portland commercial and pastoral lands, including the vast 100,000 acre Merino
interests kept Blair and La Trobe busy with their Downs station. The Colonial Office and Bernard Wallace, photographer
Blair Street, Portland.
demands for development. The demands they Governor Gipps wished to oust the Hentys from Like Blair Street, Harrow, it was
regularly had to contend with are exemplified their landholdings. named after the Portland Bay
District’s long‑serving Police
by a feature in the Portland Mercury of 10 March
Magistrate.Photograph
Collection of Bernard Wallace.
Photographer unknown
Greenmount, Portland.
Constructed for Police Magistrate Blair in the early
1840s, this house was one of the settlement’s finest
buildings in its day. Known to Blair’s critics as
‘Government House’, it was demolished in 1957.
From Noel Learmonth, The story of a port: Portland,
Victoria, Portland Harbor Trust, 1960.
Photographer unknown Photographer unknown
Stone Shearing Shed, Clunie, Harrow. James Blair and his family, c. 1840s
This station was owned by Police Magistrate Portland Bay Police Magistrate from 1840‑1866,
James Blair from 1844 until his death in 1880. the controversial Blair worked closely with
From Welcome Back to Harrow: Souvenir, Governor La Trobe over fourteen years.
Harrow Historical Society,1970. From History House Collection, Portland.
1843. On that occasion, the citizens of Portland However, the Hentys contended that Kennedy departed under a cloud in 1843. His La Trobe did not rush to judgement, but
Bay demanded a gaol, a jetty, a Court of Quarter they were entitled to special consideration fall from grace was not because of surveying the differences between Blair and Kennedy
Sessions, a suitable post office, a police office, a on a number of valid grounds. Gradually, shortcomings. Kennedy fell foul of Blair over grew. In late 1842, Kennedy put quill to paper
coroner, bond store, flagstaff, and that ‘His the tide turned in their favour. From 1842 Margaret Murphy, an unemployed Irish assisted and unburdened himself to La Trobe, roundly
honour to pay quarterly visits to Portland’!15 onwards, there was a softening of the British immigrant who had been sent to Portland criticising Blair. Blair responded by making
Government’s stance. The Hentys also had to find work. Murphy was ultimately Blair’s La Trobe aware of Kennedy’s involvement with
In 1845, La Trobe went to Portland Bay sympathetic friends with influence in England, responsibility. He arranged for her to take up Margaret Murphy. La Trobe advised Governor
via the Pyrenees and the Grampians and thence and the Colonial Secretary of the day wanted service with a pastoralist at Port Fairy, but she Gipps of the situation, passing on an array of
the Glenelg, where he wrote a letter dated 16 this vexatious matter ended. Gipps was under ended up back in Portland with Kennedy. damning information regarding Kennedy and
March to his wife. The address he gave was ‘Mr. pressure to achieve a settlement. A compromise In the words of biographer Edward Beale, his actions. La Trobe ordered Kennedy back
Blair’s Portland Bay’.16 Blair by this time had a was arrived at: the Hentys could remain on their she and Kennedy were soon ‘living together to Sydney, where Gipps would decide his
pastoral station at the junction of the Wando and inland stations but at a cost. They also received intimately’.17 Blair did not approve of a member fate. After several years of enforced inactivity,
Glenelg Rivers. At Portland, La Trobe, Blair and partial compensation for the forfeited Portland of the servant class associating so closely with a Kennedy proceeded on an exploration
other interested parties considered the possibility landholdings, as well as other concessions. government official. expedition to Cape York where he died in tragic
of emigrants being sent directly from England but heroic circumstances.
to Portland Bay. La Trobe’s last major visit to The role played by La Trobe and Blair Kennedy’s downfall in Portland was,
Portland Bay and Blair was in 1849. The Gold in the Henty land saga had been substantial however, a consequence of the Dog Act of 1830. As the region prospered, so did Blair.
Rushes brought such expeditions to an end. and ongoing. Blair was La Trobe’s zealous and He had been fined by Blair for owning two Over time, he acquired property in Portland
efficient ‘man on the ground’ in dealing with unregistered dogs. Kennedy responded with and at nearby Trewalla and Narrawong. Blair
A very significant matter involving the often‑vexatious Henty family. La  Trobe a legal action against Chief Constable Finn, is believed to have had the dwelling Blairmona
La Trobe and Blair was the Henty land dispute handled the matter with a light touch, but was Blair’s loyal Irish‑Catholic subordinate, who constructed in the early 1840s to the south of
with the colonial government. The Henty lands not unduly influenced or intimidated by the had allegedly noticed a third dog, yet failed to Portland on the early road to Cape Bridgewater.
16 • Journal of the C J La Trobe Society Vol. 13, No. 1 • March 2014 • 17
His main Portland residence, Greenmount was Was he sectarian? As the settlement’s Above all, most of the attacks on Blair and to contribute to La Trobe’s proposed history
also constructed at that time. It was apparently pre‑eminent Catholic, he apparently favoured his magistracy during La Trobe’s administration project and the body of correspondence that
the first substantial residence to be erected in his co‑religionists where possible but also originated from a single source, the Portland later became Letters from Victoria Pioneers.
Portland and one of Portland’s show‑places. ensured that the major churches of the day Guardian. The proprietors, Thomas Wilkinson
Known to Blair’s critics as ‘Government House’, were able to establish themselves in Portland. and James Swords, two strongly committed Blair continued to serve as Police
it was located on a slope giving commanding Blair was a generous donor to the establishment members of the established church and of Magistrate after La Trobe departed Victoria in
views of Portland and Portland Bay. Blair also of the Church of England and of the the anti‑Blair clique, may have been the real 1854. He took leave in 1859, spending a year
became a successful squatter, acquiring Clunie Presbyterian Church.18 sectarian bigots. As was generally the case, Blair in England and Europe. When the government
Station on the Glenelg River near Harrow got the better of his opponents. In time, a change chose in 1866 to reduce the number of
in 1844. of proprietors saw a change in the paper’s stance magistrates, Blair retired. Around this time he
towards Blair, when it declared that ‘he has a apparently lost a substantial part of Clunie Station
By the time of the establishment of
the Colony of Victoria in 1851 and the
commencement of the gold rushes, Portland was
an orderly and well established settlement of over
one thousand people. Blair certainly brought law,
order and progress to what was once a frontier
society. Law and order generally prevailed
across the vast Portland Bay District. It had long
ceased to be a sanctuary for run‑away convicts
or ticket‑of‑leave men. Street‑drunkenness in
Portland had abated and sellers of liquor quickly
acquired licenses.
Correspondent unknown
Blair was a strong advocate for Portland and Letter from early Portland to
Artist unknown
the Portland Bay District and La Trobe responded Superintendent La Trobe, c.1840s
Charles Joseph La Trobe. 1801‑1875
Perhaps it contained a lengthy complaint
appropriately. A post office had been established, Despite Police Magistrate James Blair’s
about the conduct of his Police
a postmaster appointed and an overland mail Magistrate, James Blair. An array of Portland formidable and unpleasant reputation,
La Trobe and Blair enjoyed a cordial,
delivery system had been established. Substantial Artist unknown interests found much fault with Blair. professional and productive administrative
Collection of Bernard Wallace.
public buildings had been erected or land Edmund Kennedy, 1818‑1848, explorer. relationship that extended over fourteen years.
As a young Government Surveyor, he fell From Picturesque Atlas of Australasia,
reserved for their construction in the future.
foul of Police Magistrate Blair and departed Vol 1, Sydney : Picturesque Atlas
A jail had been erected and a pier constructed. Portland Bay in disgrace, being described as Publishing Co.,1886‑1888.
Systematic town planning had commenced and yet another ‘one of his victims’
From Edgar Beale, Kennedy Of Cape York,
offensive industries confined to the edges of the
Adelaide: Rigby,1970.
settlement. All of the major religions had their
own churches, and a range of educational and
cultural institutions were established. Whilst Blair became wealthy in office, so
did most Police Magistrates and Crown Lands strong claim on the gratitude of the people of as a consequence of the Selection Acts which he
By any standards, the administrative Commissioners. Several became successful Portland as an upright magistrate, a good citizen, apparently declined to exploit to his advantage.24
relationship between La Trobe and Blair was squatters, including Geelong Police Magistrate a liberal patron of charities, benevolent asylums,
most successful and highly productive. But and Crown Lands Commissioner Foster Fyans. mechanics’ institutes, sports and every object In 1867 he moved his family to
was it based upon compromise? Did La Trobe that had a tendency to ameliorate the conditions Melbourne and constructed another Greenmount
decide that the ends justified the means and turn What of the matter of Kennedy, who or elevate the social status of the people.’19 in the suburb of Toorak. He became a director
a blind eye to Blair’s many alleged shortcomings had been welcomed into the settlement’s most of the Bank of Victoria and the patron of various
and misdoings? There is absolutely no evidence elevated social circle? This powerful clique, Blair had other supporters. One was charities. He maintained ownership of and an
to suggest this. Nor is there evidence of all of the established religion, accorded Blair Governor Gipps, who described Blair as ‘one interest in Clunie until his death at Greenmount,
official admonishments or negative reports respect appropriate to his position but resented of the best magistrates we have.’20 Likewise, Toorak, in 1880.
to Governor Gipps. There is every indication his administration and, above all, that he led the eminent Portland historian Noel Learmonth
that it was also a most cordial and professional Government’s moves to oust the Hentys from also saw Blair as the man who ‘practically single On this occasion, the Portland Guardian
administrative relationship. their landholdings. Kennedy, perhaps buoyed handed kept law and order amongst the rough again sang his praises:
by the exalted company he kept, went looking and lawless of the forties.’21
It is worth testing briefly some of the for trouble, found it – and paid the price. As police magistrate Mr. Blair
major condemnations of Blair. He was clearly It is difficult to establish what Blair and bore an irreproachable
very authoritarian, as were his peers. He did ‘rule Blair’s handling of the interests of the La Trobe thought of each other at a personal level, character. He was strict, but just
with a rod of iron’ and with severity. However, Portland Bay District’s indigenous population both being rather circumspect men. However, and impartial, and his conduct
he was responsible for many improvements over was certainly not beyond reproach. However, it in a letter to his wife written at Portland during on the bench, particularly in
a vast area and had but a small civil establishment. would seem that his performance was no worse his 1849 visit, La Trobe observed that ‘Here cases where employers and
On occasions he was petty, possibly vindictive, than that of most Police Magistrates of the era. people are very civil & the Blairs very kind. employees were concerned, was
but never a tyrant. He certainly held an array He did have a vast area to police and had few I have told him that we have a bed for them if invariably characterized by an
of public offices over time but he did not seize resources to curb the excesses of offending they come to town.’22 Blair’s private opinion of administration of the law that
them; they were imposed upon him. Nor is squatters and overseers or to successfully bring La Trobe is not on record; he apparently left no paid not the slightest regard to
there any evidence that he abused these offices. them to justice. diary or memoir.23 Blair did, however, see fit the position or wealth of the
18 • Journal of the C J La Trobe Society Vol. 13, No. 1 • March 2014 • 19