Melbourne, 70 Collin street East,
15. January 1857.
Sir
I do myself the honor to inform you, that I observed in Melbourne a strong and general desire manifested for resuming my former position and labours without much delay, and that I consequently after a conference with his Excellency the Governor of Victoria, have withdrawn my application for a longer leave of absence from this colony, than would be required to regulate the collections and manuscripts of the North Australian Expedition in Sydney.
Altho' I should have deemed for the soonest issue of my botanical labours connected with your exploration the proposal of Sir William Hooker preferable to any other arrangement, I beg now to be permitted to retain the set of specimens formerly applied for, to enable me to execute the N. Australian Botany here as a Bye-work.
I have the honor to be,
Sir,
your most obedient servant
Ferd. Mueller
A. C. Gregory, Esq.
Command. N. A. Expedition
&c &c &c1
On 30 January 1857 A. Gregory forwarded a copy of M's letter to Governor General Denison, through the NSW Colonial Secretary. 'I shall (with the approval of His Excellency) on the arrival of the portion of the collection now on board the "Messenger", transfer one set of those specimens which are in duplicate, to Dr Mueller, causing the remainder to be securely packed for transmission to England, and request Dr Mueller to furnish the notes &c relative thereto.' Denison approved but added: 'we must come to some understanding as to the period when Dr Muellers pay is to cease and it is to be an understood thing that he is to contribute a description of the Plants discovered.' (No. 57/480, 4/3351; MS Q426).
On 15 May 1857 Gregory informed the NSW Colonial Secretary that the remainder of the botanical collections made during the North Australian Exploring Expedition were packed and ready for transmission, 'as may be directed'. Denison told the Assistant Commissioner General to transmit the cases to W. Hooker at the Kew Botanic Gardens at the earliest opportunity, and asked for a copy of the invoice for the Secretary of State for the Colonies (No. 57/2016, 4/3358; MS Q427).
Gregory forwarded two copies of the invoice to the NSW Colonial Secretary, 22 May 1857. These described the botanical collections as consisting of five cases which contained about 6,000 botanical specimens. Gregory added: 'With reference to the Botanical Manuscripts transmitted with Dr. Muellers Botanical Report I beg to inform you that they comprise about 400 Descriptions of rare or hitherto undescribed plants which were collected or observed during the Expedition, and should have accompanied the Botanical Specimens, but as they might be considered to be equivalent to the duplicates therof I have deemed it advisable to transmit them seperately with a view of guarding against accidents in transit to England.' (MS Q430, pp. 46-7; No. 57/2132, 4/3358).
Please cite as “FVM-57-01-15,” 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/57-01-15