Charles Joseph La Trobe by Alan Gross (Secondhand Book)

SECONDHAND BOOK

Charles Joseph La Trobe arrived in Melbourne in 1839 as Superintendent of the Southern, or Port Phillip, District of New South Wales. The pastoral invasion of Port Phillip was under way and the ‘village’ on the Yarra, though barely four years old, was already being engulfed in the township created by the boom in sheep and wool. Few towns anywhere in the world have grown so prodigiously, and the turmoil of Melbourne’s early municipal politics marked only the beginnings of the controversies that beset La Trobe’s tenure of office.

The opposition to transportation, the demands for representative government, the arguments concerning grazing right, the need for shipping and navigation facilities, were all problems urgent and vexatious enough; they were to be overshadowed completely by the fantastic economic and social consequences of the gold discoveries. When La Trobe left for England in 1854 the Port Phillip District had become the colony of Victoria, the exploration and occupation of Gippsland had begun, responsible self-government was assured and Melbourne had established itself as the most prosperous city in Australia.

Amid the distractions and dissensions of later years, many of La Trobe’s achievements were forgotten. Today we can see far more clearly his services to the Victorian community, not least in setting his face against the materialism of the day and supporting the establishment of schools and churches, the University, the Public Library, the Botanic Gardens and the Yan Yean Reservoir.

Specifications:

Condition: Fair – general wear and fading

Publisher: Melbourne University Press

Year: 1980

Format: Paperback

Pages: 157pp

ISBN: 0522842100

$12.00

1 in stock