Alberton,1 10th May 1853.
Sir,
According to the permission, received by your Excellency, I avail myself of the opportunity of sending to your Excellency those botanical collections formed during the last months in Gipps land.
A detailed account of my proceedings has been forwarded for your Excellency to the honorable the Colonial Secretary likewise by the schooner Merelise,2 and will meet, I hope, with your Excellencys approbation.
Notwithstanding I would find here for a lenght of time yet ful occupation, I shall return without delay to Melbourne as soon as my labours in the nearer parts of Wilsons promontory are finished, to receive your Excellency's further commands.
All those plants, which were the fruits of these journeys can, I hope, be described during the rain-months, provided your Excellency would be pleased, to allow me to retire to a place of tranquillity where I immediately could commence my works, so that no time would be lost for examining the lower western country early in the Spring.
I have the honor, to subscribe myself your Excellencys
most obedient and humblest servant
Ferd Mueller.
To his Excellency Governor Latrobe.3
MS file annotation by Lieut. Governor La Trobe, 17 May 1853: 'Let the plants be looked after by some one & deposited safely in this office. I propose that the Col. Botanist should have such accommodation as we are able to give him in the gardens.' The Colonial Architect, H. Ginn, was instructed to follow out La Trobe's instruction and the Chief Clerk of Works, J. Balmain, stated in his stead that this would be done when the packages arrived. The Mate of Meg Merilees, H. Blanshard, informed the Colonial Secretary's office that one case directed to La Trobe had been received on board the vessel on 11 May 1853. Meg Merrilees departed from Port Albert for Melbourne on 14 May and arrived in Melbourne on 16 May. See Syme (1987) p. 612.
See also M to W. Lonsdale, 27 June 1853.
Please cite as “FVM-53-05-10a,” in Correspondence of Ferdinand von Mueller, edited by R.W. Home, Thomas A. Darragh, A.M. Lucas, Sara Maroske, D.M. Sinkora†, J.H. Voigt† and Monika Wells accessed on 13 December 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/vonmueller/letters/53-05-10a