The Journals of George Augustus Robinson, Chief Protector, Port Phillip Aboriginal Protectorate: Volume 6: 10 June 1849 - 30 September 1852

The journals of George Augustus Robinson (1788-1866), the Chief Protector of Aborigines of Port Phillip from 1839 to 1849, are a rich source of historical and ethnohistorical information. His voluminous private papers and journals were acquired by the Mitchell Library in New South Wales in 1939 from the estate of his son Arthur P. Robinson of Bath, England. The papers did not arrive in Sydney until 1949, their departure from England being delayed by their possible destruction in transit during the second world war.

Although N.J.B. Plomley (1966, 1987) has published the journals that relate to Robinson's period in Tasmania (1829-1838), the journals that concern Victoria were largely unpublished until this series of six volumes was produced. The neglect of Robinson's Port Phillip material is difficult to explain. A possible reason may be the notorious illegibility of some of Robinson's hand writing. There are several reasons for this illegibility: a failure to form letters and numerals clearly and the conditions under which some of the journals were written. However, a protracted reading of the microfilm copies has enabled me to become very intimate with Robinson's writing and its idiosyncrasies.

In microfilm form, the journals covering the period from January 1839 to June 1849 represent 4,300 frames, arranged into five reels. The journal has been published as a series of volumes as they relate more or less to the microfilm reels. Accordingly, the volumes are as follows:

Volume One: January 1839 - September 1840;

Volume Two: October 1840 - August 1841;

Volume Three: September 1841 - December 1843;

Volume Four: January 1844 - October 1845;

Volume Five: October 1845 - June 1849.

This present volume is Volume Six which covers from June 1849 to September 1852. The entries in this volume have been collated from two volumes of Robinson’s papers (Vol. 67, Miscellanea –Journals and Papers, 1839, 1843, 1850-52; and Vol. 69, Miscellanea – Personal Papers, c. 1845- c. 1852).

Now that transcription of the Victorian journals has been completed, I will turn my attention to Robinson’s papers that concern Victoria, and publish these as a series. Initially, single volumes will be produced of the following papers (Vol. 58, Port Phillip Protectorate: Office Journals, 1839-50; Vol. 65, Aboriginal Vocabularies: South-East Australia, c. 1839 – c. 1847).

This publication of Robinson's journals is an important addition to the already published material, for they offer valuable insights into the state of relations between Aboriginal peoples and Europeans in the districts he visited. Because they date from the formative years of the European occupation of Victoria, they enable us to capture the extent of the social turmoil that resulted from that unwelcome intrusion. This particular volume is of considerable interest for it reveals the social turmoil that accompanied the discovery of gold in Victoria in the late 1840s.

Much has been written on Robinson and on the Port Phillip Aboriginal Protectorate, and rather than add to this, readers wishing to learn more about Robinson should consult the biography written by Rae-Ellis (1996).

The decision to abolish the Port Phillip Aboriginal Protectorate was made in late 1849 and it was wound up in early 1850. On 5 April 1850, Robinson handed over Protectorate papers in his possession to La Trobe’s office, and surrendered his Protectorate office.