AustLit

'THIS ARTICLE EXAMINES the relationship between George Augustus Robinson, the Chief Protector of the Port Phillip Aboriginal Protectorate, and Charles Joseph La Trobe, the Superintendent of the Port Phillip District of New South Wales. What sets it apart from previous studies of this relationship and general studies of the protectorate is that it is grounded in Robinson's personal journal, which remained largely unpublished at the time of these studies. Alan Gross, in his 1956 biography, commented on La Trobe's attitude to the Protectorate and to Robinson. He noted that after three years into the Protectorate, La Trobe was dissatisfied: 'He had told Robinson he [La Trobe] would forward certain documents to His Excellency without expressing his opinion that, after nearly three years trial, there was but little appearance of order and general system observable in the conduct of his department, and that seems to have been his attitude throughout'. Yet, Gross considers La Trobe's comment in 1848 that 'I have hitherto in vain looked to the Chief Protector's department for assistance in establishing serene and friendly relations with the aborigines' as evidence that he had 'got over any disappointment' he may have harboured.' (Introduction)