The reports of the man in charge, that the Cows of the Immigrants Home are allowed to invade his plantations became so frequent & the repeated representations in this regard at Mr Harcourts Office proved so inefficient, that I felt obliged to bring this ever returning trouble before the Board of Land & Works.
20/2/64. Ferd. Mueller
See M to C. Hodgkinson, 5 February 1864. On 15 February 1864, J. Harcourt, Superintendent of the Immigrants' Home, wrote to the Commissioner of Crown Lands and Survey, R. Heales, in response to a letter he had received from the Board of Land and Works on 12 February 1864: 'I regret exceedingly that Dr Mueller should have thought it necessary to make the Report therein referred to, as the Doctor is fully aware of my anxiety not only to preserve the Shrubs and Trees, but to improve the appearance of the locality in question which I have evinced on many occasions, and by erecting at considerable expense a large number of guards to Shrubs and Trees, by a large amount of fencing, as well as road making &c &c. And further that when the Government Fence from decay, was found insufficient to keep the Cows within the boundary, I at once provided 100 posts and 350 rails to fence that part of the ground: but the late gales having so injured our Buildings, it became necessary to take the Carpenters away in order to secure these. In the mean time, two men, one during the day and one all the night, have been employed in looking after the Cows to prevent damage to Trees &c, and I may add, I believe have done their duty, as not one Tree or Shrub, that I can discover, has been injured.'
Harcourt's letter was referred to M by Hodgkinson on 18 February 1864 'for information in connexion with my minute dated 9th inst', for which see note to M to C. Hodgkinson, 5 February 1864. The present item is M's minuted response.
Please cite as “FVM-64-02-20,” 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