60 Objects La Trobe's Cottage Collection
The La Trobe family arrived equipped for a new life. Not only did they bring their medicines and supplies, but also a prefabricated house, which served as the home of Port Phillip's first governor.
This medicine box was owned by Superintendent, and later Lieutenant Governor, Charles Joseph La Trobe. The box was made by Savory & Moore, Chemists to the Queen, and dates from the 1830s. It was part of the luggage of the La Trobe family – Charles, Sophie and their daughter Agnes – and was brought with them when they travelled to the district of Port Phillip in 1839, which was then part of N.S.W. In his diary Charles La Trobe wrote “[L]anded with family at 1.pm” after a two week journey from Sydney to Melbourne. He had come to Australia to take up the post of Superintendent of the colony of Port Phillip.
