Robert Hoddle Driberg White (19 May 1838 – 20 October 1900) was an Australian politician. He was the member for the New South Wales electorate of Gloucester from December 1882 to January 1887 and a member of the Legislative Council from December 1887 until his death in 1900. White was known for his extravagant lifestyle and lavish hospitality at his 'Tahlee' estate at Port Stephens.

In his early working career White was an officer in the Bank of New South Wales, managing branches at Rockhampton and Mudgee. In 1880 he initiated a lawsuit against his elderly grandfather, Robert Hoddle, who had been the surveyor-general of the Port Phillip District during the formative years of the later colony of Victoria. Under a settlement between the parties, White inherited a half-share in valuable property in Melbourne, together with accumulated rents. With his newly acquired wealth White purchased property, including the 'Tahlee' estate, and travelled with his wife to Europe. In December 1882 he was elected member for the Gloucester electorate in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly. White retired from parliament in January 1887, but in December that year he accepted an appointment to the Upper House. In 1898 White was committed to the Callan Park Asylum, where he died in October 1900.

Biography

Early life

Robert Hoddle Driberg White was born on 19 May 1838 at Stroud, the eldest son of James Charles White and his first wife, Sarah Elizabeth (née Hoddle).Birth, The Colonist (Sydney), 26 May 1838, page 3.Family records, Ancestry.com.

Robert's parents had married in May 1837 in Sydney. His father arrived in Australia in 1830 as private secretary to Sir Edward Parry, the Chief Commissioner of the Australian Agricultural Company.References to Passengers: Mr. J. C. White, Sydney Morning Herald, 2 November 1894, page 5. White was appointed to the position of Superintendent of Agriculture, based at the A. A. Company's headquarters at Port Stephens and nearby Stroud, from where he had charge of the large number of convicts assigned to the service of the company.The Romantic Career, Mudgee Guardian and North-Western Representative, 22 November 1900, page 17. Robert's mother was the only child of Robert Hoddle, a surveyor employed by the colonial government of New South Wales. In 1837, a year before the birth of his grandson, Hoddle took charge of the survey work for the urban layout of Melbourne, which had been declared as the administrative capital of the Port Phillip District.

Robert's mother died in October 1841, ten days after giving birth to her third child (who died in 1842). After their mother's death Robert and his younger brother James lived with their father.Law Report: Supreme Court: White v. Hoddle, The Argus (Melbourne), 3 August 1880, page 3. Robert's father remarried in August 1848, to Ann MacAnsh, in Sydney. After their father remarried, Robert and James White lived in Melbourne for several years with their maternal grandparents, Robert and Mary Hoddle. In 1850 Robert was sent to school in Sydney, where he remained until 1853. He occasionally visited his grandparents during that period.

White was first employed at Bowral as a private clerk to Captain Brownrigg, general manager of the A. A. Company. He also worked in the office of Thomas Mort for a short period.A New M.L.C. of New South Wales, Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney), 17 March 1888, page 12.

Banking career

In 1857 White was employed in Sydney as a junior clerk in the Bank of New South Wales, on a salary of £120 a year. By 1859 he was working as an accountant in the Deniliquin branch of the bank, in the southern Riverina of New South Wales. At that time the building occupied by the branch was situated in an isolated part of the township, apart from other dwellings.The Deniliquin Bank Robbery, Sydney Morning Herald, 31 October 1859, page 5.

During the evening of Saturday, 15 October 1859, the bank at Deniliquin was stuck up by three armed men with blackened and obscured faces. White and George Miller, the manager of the bank, were accosted and had their hands bound with ropes. The bushrangers departed with gold and notes to the value of £7,850. After a female servant released the men, the police were alerted and, as news of the robbery spread through the community, a large number of townspeople assembled at the scene. A search was commenced that night by the light of torches and on the following day. A portion of the stolen banknotes was found strewn on the ground between the bank and a nearby lagoon. A discarded mask and clothing, as well as banknotes packed into coffee-tins, were found at a tent pitched near the lagoon.Tuesday, 27 March: Robbery of the Bank of New South Wales, Deniliquin, Goulburn Chronicle and Southern Advertiser, 28 March 1860, page 2. On 24 October the police brought four prisoners before Miller and White for identification. The bank officers identified two of the men, William Drew and William Lee, based on their voices and tattoos on the backs of Drew's hands. The police also suspected Edward Geaghan of being involved in the bank robbery; he was a sawyer, and a married man with children, living in a tent in the district, but searches had not revealed any trace of the remainder of the stolen money. On 5 November police and the bank officers were searching in the vicinity of Geaghan's tent when they discovered £712 from the robbery, wrapped in a parcel and stashed underneath the carcass of a dead bullock.The Deniliquin Bank Robbery, Sydney Morning Herald, 20 January 1860, page 3. This induced Geaghan to turn police informant and implicate Drew and Lee, as well as a third man named John Vaughan. The three accused men were tried at the Goulburn Circuit Court on 27 March 1860 and found guilty. On the following day the judge sentenced Drew and Lee to ten years' hard labour (the first two years to be served in irons) and Vaughan to eight years' hard labour.

In May 1860 an agency of the Bank of New South Wales was opened at Toowoomba, in the Darling Downs district of Queensland, with Robert H. D. White as the agent in charge.Bank of New South Wales (advertisement), Moreton Bay Courier (Brisbane), 31 May 1860, page 4. In June 1860 the Bank of New South Wales opened a branch at Toowoomba, with White as manager.Drayton, Moreton Bay Courier (Brisbane), 5 June 1860, page 3. White was appointed as a magistrate of the colony of Queensland in 1861.

White's maternal grandmother, Mary Hoddle, died in October 1862. She had been afflicted with cancer since 1852. In July 1863 White's grandfather married a young woman named Frances ('Fanny') Baxter.

Robert H. D. White married Eliza Jane Cowper on 2 May 1863 at St. Philip's Church in Sydney. Eliza was a niece of the New South Wales politician, Charles Cowper. The couple had six children, born between 1865 and 1879.

White remained manager of the Toowoomba branch until May 1864, when he was transferred to Rockhampton.Darling Downs, Queensland Times, Ipswich Herald and General Advertiser, 21 May 1864, page 3.

Rockhampton

In May 1864 White was appointed as manager of the Rockhampton branch of the Bank of New South Wales. From September 1864 White held the honorary position of captain of the Rockhampton Volunteers, a company of the Queensland Volunteer Rifle Brigade. He also held the position of Guardian of Minors at Rockhampton, as well as leading positions in several "local institutions and charities" in the township.Mr. R. H. D. White, Darling Downs Gazette and General Advertiser (Toowoomba), 10 February 1869, page 4.The Queensland Times, referring ..., Rockhampton Bulletin and Central Queensland Advertiser (Grafton), 12 May 1868, page 2.

From late March 1868 White spent several weeks at the Mary River goldfields, 45 miles (72 km) south of Maryborough, establishing and opening a branch of the New South Wales Bank there. The township that developed on the Gympie Creek diggings had been initially named Nashville (later changed to Gympie).Mary River Gold Field: Sticking-up of Currie Hotel by Five Armed Men, Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser, 21 April 1868, page 2.

On Sunday evening, 19 April, White arrived at Booker's Currie Hotel, on the road between Nashville and Maryborough, in company with Charles Buckland, manager of the new bank branch at Nashville. White was on the first leg of his return to Rockhampton. The two men had just arrived at the hotel and were seated on a sofa "taking a glass of wine together", when they were confronted by a masked man holding a revolver, who ordered them to 'bail up'. However, White was armed, with a "large Tranter revolver" and a Smith and Wesson six-shooter on his belt; he drew his Tranter firearm, jumped at the assailant and caught him by the wrist. White pointed the revolver at the man's stomach and pulled on the trigger three times, but the safety-guard was on and the gun did not fire. White wrestled the man out of the door and "commenced battering his head with the barrel". The bushranger screamed for help and "two of his mates came to his rescue", each holding a revolver to the bank manager's head. White dropped the Tranter at their feet and said, "there are my arms – take them". This prompted the bushrangers to hold down their revolvers, at which White immediately drew his second firearm and fired at the first man, who was standing within four feet of him. The bushranger fell down, before regaining his feet. Another of the bushrangers fired a double-barrelled gun at White from a distance of six yards, but it missed. White returned fire without effect and then ran into the surrounding bush, where he remained all night.

After this altercation the bushrangers "made vigilant search of the inmates and premises" but only managed to obtain about £15 in cash from those at the hotel. When they left they also took "a bottle of brandy and a large plum pudding". The bushranger had been all masked. It was conjectured that "they were acquainted with Mr. White's movements" and had bailed up the hotel "under the impression that he was carrying a large amount of money or gold with him". The local police later discovered the bushranger's camp-site, where they found a blood-stained shirt and a saddle, left behind after they had departed. On 2 May the man wounded by White, identified as John Devine (alias Parker), was captured in the Royal Hotel at Tenterfield while he was having a wound in his arm dressed by a doctor.Tenterfield, Clarence and Richmond Examiner and New England Advertiser (Grafton), 12 May 1868, page 2.