To Henry Barkly   9 September 1857

To his Excellency Sir Henry Barkly, K.C.B., Captain General and Governor of the colony of Victoria &c &c &c

 

The memorial of Ferdinand James Henry Mueller, Ph.D., of Melbourne respectfully sheweth

That your Memorialist is 32 years of age and is Director of the botanic garden of Melbourne and Colonial Botanist of Victoria.

That your Memorialist arrived in the Colony of Victoria in August 1852 by the "Hero", and has been resident therein since that time, except during his engagement by her Majesty's Home-Government for the North Australian Expedition.

That your Memorialist begs to refer in regard to his character to the statements appended from respectable persons, to whom your Memorialist has been known since his arrival in the colony.1

That your Memorialist intends to hold real property in the said colony and is therefore desirous of availing himself of the privileges granted to Aliens by the Act of Council XI Victoria N. 39.2

That to your Memorialist a Certificate of Naturalisation has been granted by His Excellency Sir Henry Young in South Australia under the Ordinance N. 7 of 1846 on the 9th Aug. 1849.

That your Memorialist therefore respectfully requests, that your Excellency may be pleased to grant to your Memorialist a Certificate under the provisions of the said Act, conferring upon your Memorialist the privileges of a natural born British subject with such restrictions as to your Excellency may seem fit

And your Petitioner will ever pray

Dated the 9 day of September 1857.

Ferd. Mueller.3

Augustus Greeves stated on 7 September 1857: 'I have had the pleasure of knowing Dr. Ferdinand J. H. Mueller since his arrival in Victoria five years ago and most loyally wish all her Majestys natural-born subjects were half so good subjects as he'. Andrew Murray stated on 1 September 1857: 'I certify that I have known Dr Ferdinand James Henry Mueller in South Australia and in Victoria during the last eight years and have sincere pleasure in testifying to his high character in every relation of life in which it has been my good fortune to meet him'.
The Act to amend the Laws relating to Aliens (11 Victoria, No. 39, IV) allowed aliens who had obtained a certificate of naturalization and taken the oath of allegiance to enjoy 'all the rights and capacities, within the said Colony, which a natural born subject of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland can enjoy or transmit' except that they could not become members of the Executive Council or Legislative Council. Aliens who were not naturalized could only hold land for 21 years. See Adamson (1856) p. 1075.
On 14 September 1857 M was naturalized in the colony of Victoria subject to his taking an oath of allegiance within sixty days. M took the oath of allegiance before William Stawell on 29 October.

Please cite as “FVM-57-09-09,” 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 28 March 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/vonmueller/letters/57-09-09