Sydney, 6. January 1857.
Sir
I do myself the honor to inform you, that Sir William Hooker, the Director of the Royal Gardens of Kew, has suggested my proceeding to England, in order to elucidate there the botanical results of the N. Australian Expedition, as preferable to the preparation of such a work in the colonies.1
Being fully aware of the difficulties, which must necessarily attend this task anywhere out of England, where almost exclusively ready access to botanical libraries of sufficient extent and to large collections of plants for comparison is to be obtained, — means, by which alone in many instances safe deductions can be drawn —, I beg now to submit Sir William Hookers proposal to your consideration, and to express my own readiness of proceeding home for the purpose explained, if this plan should receive the sanction of his Excellency the Governor General and if a prolongation of my leave of absence would be guaranteed by the Government of the colony Victoria for a period not exceeding two years.
Should his Excellency approve of the proposed arrangement, I would request leave to proceed to Melbourne, in order to make the arrangements which would therefore become necessary with reference to my leave of absence from Victoria and my private affairs.
I have the honor to be, Sir,
your most obedient servant
Ferd. Mueller,
Botanist to the N.Austr. Expedition
A. C. Gregory Esq &c &c &c
Commander of the N.A. Expedition2
Gregory submitted this letter, via the Colonial Secretary, H. Parker, for the consideration of Governor General W. Denison, on 6 January 1857: 'In recommending this arrangement to the favourable consideration of His Excellency, I would observe that it would be a matter of regret, should the Botanical specimens and memoranda, which have been collected at such expense and labor, be permitted to remain in the incomplete state which has rendered a portion of many previous collections unavailable to science.' Denison commented, 7 January 1857: 'I can have no possible objection to accede to Mr Muellers request so far as it is in my power that is he has my full permission to proceed to Melbourne to make such arrangements as may be necessary to enable him to proceed to Europe with as little delay as possible — but it must not be forgotten that Mr Mueller is an officer in the service of the Govnt of Victoria — a letter therefore must be addressed to the Col Secy of that Colony stating the object with which Mr Mueller wishes to proceed to England, and my wish that, should it be possible, leave should be granted to him for the period stated' (No. 57/95/2, 4/3351 letters received, Colonial Secretary's Department, Archives Authority of New South Wales, Sydney).
Gregory was informed of Denison's approval in a letter from the Colonial Secretary's Office on 8 January 1857 (see footnotes A. Gregory to M, 10 January 1857). The Victorian Chief Secretary, W. Haines, was similarly informed by letter on 12 January 1857 (No. 522, vol. 1856-7 Z, VPRS 1186, PROV). This letter and a copy of M to Gregory, 6 January 1857 were forwarded to the Public Works Department, Melbourne (No. 445, unit 3, p. 55, VPRS 963, PROV).
Please cite as “FVM-57-01-06,” 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 26 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/vonmueller/letters/57-01-06