Publisher's Synopsis
George Augustus Robinson arrived in Melbourne in late February 1839 to take up his position as Chief Protector in the Aboriginal Protectorate in the Port Phillip District of New South Wales. In late 1849, the government decided to abolish the Protectorate Department, and accordingly in March 1850 the department ceased to exist. Based in Melbourne, Robinson generally referred to his administrative quarters as 'Chief Protector's Office'. During the life of the Port Phillip Aboriginal Protectorate, at least six locations served as his central headquarters: a hut on the Police Magistrate's paddock in what is now Jolimont (1839); the former Government Mission Station at what is now the Royal Botanic Gardens (1839); the jury room of the old Supreme Court building (1843); a change of offices, possibly in the same building (1847); rooms rented from William Willoughby (1848); rooms rented from JB Were in Collins Street (1848); rooms rented from William Willoughby in Queen Street (1849). During Robinson's chief protectorship, at least eleven men served as his personal clerk. Their terms of employment ranged from one week to 27 months. They were as follows: William Lansdown (1839-40); Godwin (1840); Thomas Martin (1840-41); McGill (1841); Thomas Martin (1841-42); Forest (1842); Frederick William Dallimore (1842); CA Wallinger (1842-43); H. McClure (1843-44); Henry Boorn Foot (1844-47); Charles Forrest (1847-48); Henry Lingham (1848-50) This volume publishes the Office Journal of the Chief Protector's Office, and with few exceptions, the entries were made by Robinson's personal clerks. Entries by all clerks, bar McGill and Dallimore, have survived, and are here published. Heritage Matters is committed to publishing important, but often inaccessible, manuscripts that concern early Victorian Aboriginal and European history, and this is the first volume in a series that will publish the Port Phillip/Victorian Papers of George Augustus Robinson.
