Melbourne botan. Garden,
28/12/65
Sir
I have the honor to solicit permission from the hon. the Board of Land & Works to remove a quantity of gravel from the Gov. House reserve as on former occasions for topdressing some new walks in the bot. Garden.
I have the honor to be,
Sir, your most obedient servant,
Ferd. Mueller.
Clem Hodgkinson Esq
Assist Commiss of the Department for Land & Survey & Member of the Board for public works.1
On 29 December 1865, Hodgkinson minuted: 'Recommended that Dr Mueller be authorized to obtain gravel in this reserve from a site of two acres so chosen as not to interfere with the site from whence gravel is being obtained for reserves vested in Bd of Land & Works, and subject to the same arrangements adopted for getting gravel from the latter site, viz that concurrently with the taking of the gravel the top soil is to be again brought to a smooth surface with the aid of the spade & rake. (By taking gravel from this reserve, and restoring the surface in the manner alluded to, the reserve is greatly benefitted as regards its adaptation for arboriculture, as the ground from whence the thin layers of gravel have been abstracted is rendered as well suited for reception of trees as trenched ground.)'
The Board of Land and Works approved Hodgkinson's recommendation on 3 January 1866, and C. Hodgkinson to M, 8 January 1866, included the conditions under which M could extract gravel.
Please cite as “FVM-65-12-28,” 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