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Seaford Club visits Victoria’s government houses

by Ruth Riddell | 25 Sep 2014

The Probus Club of Seaford enjoyed a visit to past and present Government houses in Melbourne, providing a window into the growth and development of Victoria.

In 1839, Charles La Trobe was sent from Britain to be Superintendent of the Port Phillip District of NSW. He brought with him his wife Sophie and two-year-old daughter, as well as a prefabricated house and furniture. The house was erected in an inner suburb, now known as Jolimont.

Many years later, long after La Trobe had departed, it was the ruined remains of this cottage, now called La Trobe’s Cottage, that were relocated to the present site where it is surrounded by King’s Domain, the Shrine of Remembrance, Botanic Gardens and Government House. On our visit we were able to walk a short distance from the tram stop to both places we were to visit. In 1851, Victoria separated from NSW and La Trobe became its first governor.

La Trobe was a visionary and tireless worker for Melbourne, which had a population of 3000 when he arrived. He could see this place would to grow to a great city – the population today is more than 4 million.

It is to his credit that Melbourne has an inner ring of gardens, including the Botanic gardens, King’s Domain, Flagstaff Gardens, Albert park and Carlton gardens. He also set aside sites for Parliament House, the treasury, library, museum (the old site) and university. Many locations feature his name: La Trobe university, La Trobe Street in the CBD, La Trobe Valley in Gippsland and the La Trobe reading room at the public library.

Visiting this cottage allowed 10 of our group at one time inside while the other 10 visited various other houses. It was snug to put in mildly, but really well presented and furnished with some original pieces and furniture of the period.

Hanging on the walls were paintings done by La Trobe – an accomplished artist. They were mostly of areas of Australia he had visited, one being the Grampians. He was also an author, and prior to coming to Australia was somewhat of a mountaineer.

By 1851 gold was discovered, creating a totally different environment. People left their employment and rushed to the fields. It was very difficult for La Trobe and his wife Sophie to get staff.  Sophie’s health was deteriorating and La Trobe applied to return home, but he had to wait until he could be replaced and did not leave until 1852. Sophie died in 1854.

Melbourne, with a population of 150,000, was awash with money from gold. The erection of a new residence for the governor began in 1872 – there had been other Governor residences prior to that – Toorak House and Bishop’s Court, both grand places. By 1876, the massive house was completed and at the time of completion the state ballroom was reputed to be the largest in the British Empire. The architectural style is Italianate, which shows off its ‘grandiose proportions’. This style was indicative of many government buildings erected in Melbourne in the latter half of the nineteenth century when plenty of money was available.

However, the governors have not always been in residence. Between 1901 and 1930, when the Commonwealth of Australia was very new, Government House became the official residence of the Governor General of Australia. During that time, the Governors of Victoria lived at Stonington Mansion in Malvern.  Our present Governor, Alex Chernov, is in residence, as have been all the governors since 1934.

Our tour of these two buildings was impressive. The excellent guides we had, provided by Government House and the National Trust, made the buildings and their histories come alive.

If we compare the dining rooms – La Trobe cottage with seating for the family only and the special occasion dining room of Government House with seating for 50 dignitaries – it is an illustration of our rise from humble beginnings.