{{Short description|Governor of South Australia}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}} {{Infobox officeholder |honorific_prefix = Major-General |name = Frederick Robe |honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CB}} |image = Frederick Robe.jpg |image_size = |image_upright = |alt = |caption = |office = Governor of South Australia |term_start = 25 October 1845 |term_end = August 1848 |monarch = |premier = |lieutenant_governor = |succeeded = |predecessor = George Grey |successor = Sir Henry Fox Young |birth_name = |other_name = |nickname = |birth_date = 1801 |birth_place = |death_date = 4 April 1871 |death_place = London, England |death_cause = |placeofburial = |allegiance = United Kingdom |branch = British Army |service_years = 1817–1871 |rank = Major-General |servicenumber = |unit = |commands = |known_for = |battles = {{Tree list}} *Egyptian-Ottoman War {{tree list/end}} |awards = |memorials = |alma_mater = |spouse = <!--{{marriage|name|start date|end date}}; add spouse if reliably sourced--> }} Major-General '''Frederick Holt Robe''' CB (1801 – 4 April 1871) was the fourth Governor of South Australia, from 25 October 1845 to 2 August 1848.
==Early career== Frederick Holt Robe entered the Royal Staff Corps as an ensign<ref name=ADB>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/robe-frederick-holt-2594 |title=Robe, Frederick Holt (1802 - 1871) |access-date=5 October 2007 |author=E. J. R. Morgan |chapter=Frederick Holt Robe (1802–1871) |encyclopedia=Australian Dictionary of Biography |volume=2 |publisher=MUP |year=1967 |pages=383–384}}</ref> in 1817, following his father, Sir William Robe who was a colonel in the Royal Artillery. He was promoted first lieutenant in 1825, transferred to the 84th Foot in 1827, transferred to the 87th Foot as Captain in 1833, brevetted major in 1841, and promoted major in 1846. He fought in the Syrian campaign of 1840–1, and was military secretary in Mauritius and Gibraltar.<ref name = "daub">{{Dictionary of Australian Biography|First=Frederick Holt|Last=Robe|shortlink=0-dict-biogR.html}}</ref>
==Governor of South Australia== Robe was appointed as Governor of South Australia, being sworn in on 25 October 1845.<ref name=ADB/> He was not popular as the governor, as he attempted to carry out his understanding of the British government's requirement to charge royalties on the mineral wealth of the province. This was rejected by the elected members of the South Australian Legislative Council as a breach of faith. After requesting to be relieved of the post of governor, he was posted again to Mauritius as deputy quartermaster. He returned to England in 1848.<ref name = "daub"/>
==Aboriginal Witnesses Act== Between 1846 and 1848, Robe was responsible for the enactment of a series ordinances and amendments first enacted by his predecessor lieutenant Governor George Grey, in 1844. Entitled the Aboriginal Witnesses Act. The act was established "To facilitate the admission of the unsworn testimony of Aboriginal inhabitants of South Australia and parts adjacent". While its stated aim was to make provisions for unsworn testimony by "uncivilised people" to be admissible in court, the act made it so that the court could not base the conviction of a White man on the testimony of an Aboriginal witness alone. The act also made Aboriginal testimony inadmissible in trials that carried the penalty of death.<ref name="acts">The acts: *{{cite web |title=Aborigines' Evidence Act (No 8 of 7 and 8 Vic, 1844) |url=http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/sa/num_act/aea8o7a8v1844262/ |website=South Australia Numbered Acts |publisher=South Australian Government |access-date=24 February 2019}} *{{cite web |title=Aborigine's Evidence Act (No 5 of 10 Vic, 1846) |url=http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/sa/num_act/aea5o10v1846246/ |website=South Australia Numbered Acts |publisher=South Australian Government |access-date=24 February 2019}} *{{cite web |title=Aboriginal Witnesses Act (No 3 of 11 and 12 Vic, 1848) |url=http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/sa/num_act/awa3o11a12v1848316/ |website=South Australia Numbered Acts |publisher=South Australian Government |access-date=24 February 2019}} *{{cite web |title=Aboriginal Witnesses Act (No 4 of 12 and 13 Vic, 1849) |url=http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/sa/num_act/awa4o12a13v1849316/ |website=South Australia Numbered Acts |publisher=South Australian Government |access-date=24 February 2019}}</ref><ref name=frontierwars>Further detail: *{{cite book |last1=Foster |first1=Robert |last2=Hosking |first2=Rick |last3=Nettelbeck |first3=Amanda |title=Fatal Collisions : the South Australian frontier and the violence of memory. |year=2000 |publisher=Wakefield Press |location=Kent Town, South Australia |isbn=9781862545335 |pages=79–80 |edition=first }} *{{cite book |last1=Foster |first1=Robert |last2=Nettelbeck |first2=Amanda |title=Out of the Silence - The history and memory of South Australia's frontier wars |year=2012 |publisher=Wakefield Press |location=Kent Town, South Australia |isbn=9781743051726 |pages=161–162 |edition=first }}</ref>
Effectively, the act created a situation where settler solidarity and the law of evidence ensured that the murder and massacre of Aboriginal Australians by European colonisers could not be tried solely on the evidence of Aboriginal witnesses.<ref name=frontierwars/>
==Other roles== Robe was inaugural president of the Savings Bank of South Australia (founded 1848).<ref name=hist>{{cite web | title=Our Story | website=BankSA | date=22 November 2016 | url=https://www.banksa.com.au/about/overview | access-date=15 April 2024}}</ref>
==Promotions and honours== Robe was brevetted lieutenant colonel in 1847, promoted lieutenant colonel in 1853, brevetted colonel in 1854, and promoted major general in 1862. He was appointed Colonel of the 95th (Derbyshire) Regiment from 1869 until his death.{{cn|date=April 2024}}
He was appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in 1848.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Gazette No5746 |journal=The Edinburgh Gazette |date=2 May 1848 |page=212 |url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/Edinburgh/issue/5746/page/212}}</ref>
==Death and legacy== He died unmarried in Kensington, London, on 4 April 1871.{{cn|date=April 2024}}
The town of Robe, South Australia is named after him.{{cn|date=April 2024}}
==See also== *''Historical Records of Australia''
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{s-start}} {{s-gov}} {{succession box | before=George Grey, Esq | after=Sir Henry Fox Young | title=Governor of South Australia | years=1845–1848 }} {{s-end}}
{{Governors of South Australia}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Robe, Frederick}} Category:1801 births Category:1871 deaths Category:People from Woolwich Category:Governors of South Australia Category:Governors of the Colony of South Australia Category:British Army major generals Category:Royal Staff Corps officers Category:84th Regiment of Foot officers Category:87th (Royal Irish Fusiliers) Regiment of Foot officers Category:British military personnel of the Egyptian–Ottoman War (1839–1841) Category:British colonial governors and administrators in Oceania