Profiles
PRESIDENT:
Rodney Davidson AO, OBE
Rodney Disney Davidson, LLB, AO, OBE, is by profession, a solicitor
and a company director. He has for many years also been a patron
of Victoria's arts and heritage. Rodney is Emeritus President
and Emeritus Chairman of the National Trust and was appointed
President of the La Trobe Society in 2003.
He was Chairman of the W R Johnston Trust from 1995 to 2009 and has been a Patron of the Friends of the Baillieu Library since 2002.
Other board chairmanships and memberships have included the Australian Opera Foundation, Exhibition Buildings Trust Melbourne, L’Oiseau-Lyre Paris, and the Historic Buildings Preservation Council. Rodney has published several works commemorating Victoria’s and Australia’s building heritage, including Historic Homesteads of Australia (1969), A Book Collector’s Notes (1970) Australia’s Historic Buildings (1977), Historic Places of Australia, Vol. 1 and 2 (1979), and Australian Historical Buildings (1982).
SECRETARY:
Dr Dianne Reilly AM
Co-Founder of the La Trobe Society, Dianne Reilly is the Society’s
Secretary. She was the La Trobe Librarian at the State Library
of Victoria from 1982 to 2008, and is
currently Coordinator of the State Library of Victoria Foundation’s Redmond Barry Society. She is an Honorary Fellow of the School of Historical Studies at the
University of Melbourne. Her doctoral thesis was titled ‘Charles
Joseph La Trobe: the Making of a Governor’.
Dianne has published extensively on La Trobe and is currently working on a biography of Victoria’s first Lieutenant-Governor.
TREASURER:
John Drury
Co-founder of the La Trobe Society, John Drury is its Treasurer.
He is a consultant designer to the museums showcase industry.
He has a life-long love of history, and his
forthcoming publication is Charles Joseph La Trobe: the Making of a Statue. He is currently researching
the biography of Berthe Mouchette, founder of the Alliance Française
in Australia.
EDITORIAL COMMITTEE:
The Editorial Committee of the La Trobe Society comprises:
Mrs Loreen Chambers
Dr Dianne Reilly
Ms Robyn Riddett
Ms Janet Roberts Billett
Building on the work of foundation Editor, Dr Fay Woodhouse, the Editorial Committee produces the Society’s Journal La Trobeana three times a year in February, June and November.
VICE PRESIDENT:
Susan Priestley
Victoria’s history has been a central focus in Susan Priestley’s
career as a freelance historian. She has written five local
histories, four about Victorian organizations, one volume of The Victorians, a three-volume set commissioned for
the State’s sesquicentenary in 1984, as well as entries
for the Australian Dictionary of Biography and the
new edition of the Dictionary of National Biography.
As a Fellow and former Councillor of the Royal Historical Society of Victoria, she shares its commitment to collection, research and dissemination of knowledge about the State’s history. Being a foundation member of the C.J. La Trobe Society is an endorsement of Emerson’s aphorism that ‘there is properly no history; only biography’.
DEPUTY TREASURER:
John Botham
John spent a career in the RAF and with the Civil Aviation Safety Authority before developing an interest in early Victorian history. He assisted with the production of La Trobe’s Jolimont, A walk round my garden (2006) and has worked tirelessly since then to develop an understanding amongst government and the public of the heritage importance of the La Trobe’s Cottage. He was a member of the 2009 Conference Organising Committee of the Australian Garden History Society, and is currently Vice-Chair of the Friends of La Trobe’s Cottage.
Professor John Barnes
John Barnes, MA (Melb), MA (Cantab) is Emeritus Professor of English at La Trobe University where he taught for many years before his retirement in 1996. His speciality is Australian literature, on which he has published articles and books. He edited The La Trobe Journal for the State Library of Victoria Foundation from 1998 to 2008. John’s interest in La Trobe has a personal aspect, as his great-grandfather came from a Swiss family which emigrated to Victoria from Neuchâtel in 1854. He hopes that his further research on La Trobe will lead to a book-length study.
Mr Richard Heathcote
Richard Heathcote was a co-founder of the La Trobe Society with John Drury and Dianne Reilly. He served as Vice-President from 2001 until 2005 when he left Victoria to take up his position as Director of Carrick Hill Estate in South Australia.
Mr W Bruce Nixon
Bruce Nixon was the first President of the La Trobe Society, retiring towards the end of 2001 due to ill-health. He was the Publisher of two works on Charles Joseph La Trobe:
Charles Joseph La Trobe Landscapes and Sketches, State Library of Victoria in association with Tarcoola Press and the National Trust of Australia (Victoria), 1999.
Charles Joseph La Trobe Australian Notes 1839-1854, Tarcoola Press in association with the State Library of Victoria and Boz Publishing, 2006
Professor A G L Shaw, AO
Alan Shaw has degrees from The Universities of Melbourne, Oxford and Newcastle. He has taught history at Melbourne, Sydney and Monash Universities. Amongst his numerous publications, his works include A History of the Port Phillip District, (1996), Gipps-La Trobe Correspondence, (1989), Sir George Arthur 1784-1854: A Biography, (1980), Convicts and the Colonies, (1966 and 1977), The Story of Australia (1960), Economic Development of Australia (1944, 1980), and Modern World History (1961). He was President of the La Trobe Society from 2001 to 2003.
Dr Fay Woodhouse
Fay Woodhouse is principal historian of Hindsight Consulting Historians researching, analyzing and documenting the history of people, houses, institutions, localities and Shires for individuals, businesses and Government. She is an Honorary Fellow of the School of Historical Studies at The University of Melbourne, and was the Editor of the La Trobe Society’s Journal La Trobeana from 2002 to 2008.