[Supports Mrs Bowman's applicn for her labor in cutting from Berwick to High Yarra Ranges.1]
Vic. Mrs Janet Bowman, licensee of the Gippsland Hotel, Berwick, had paid for the cutting of a track to the Jordan Goldfields in the upper Yarra Valley. In November 1877 provision was made for a grant 'To Mrs Janet Bowman, in recognition of her public spirit in accelerating the opening up of the country for settlement by cutting "Bowman's Track" towards the Jordan Goldfields. (Recommended by Select Committee, session 1876) [£]300' (Second further estimates for the year ending 30th June 1878, Parliamentary paper B-7 of 1877, p. 7). For Bowman's response to press criticism of the grant, see 'Bowman's Track', Age (Melbourne), 26 November 1877, p. 3, where she says that it cost her £1,500 in 1864 and that 'when I commenced the undertaking I did so under the impression that in the event of the track proving useful in opening up the country I would receive all my outlay back from the Government, believing that certain sums had been voted for such purpose'. She may have been referring to the Gold Fields Reward Board; see M to J. O'Shanassy, 3 January 1862 (in this edition as 62-01-03a), and notes thereto. There was an inspection and report on the value of the track submitted to the Assistant Commissioner of Roads and Bridges by a road engineer in 1865, that concluded that at least part of it has 'a claim to be considered … as of public benefit, but to what extent it would be premature to attempt to estimate' ('The Jordan Track', Argus, 30 June 1865, p. 5).
Letter not found; item is a register entry only, dated 27 March 1863.
Please cite as “FVM-63-03-27a,” 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