27/5/67.
Let me continue, dear Sir Roderick, to report progress of our transactions for the search after Leichhardt.
The Ladies Committee has directed some time since the Expedition to the S. W. from Carpentaria1 & we anticipate that the little Caravane will reach Nichol's Bay or the Murchison’s River2 at the end of the cool season, the dromedaries giving such advantage for pushing over waterless tracts. But possibly the party may not be able to advance fully or perhaps only half way to the West coast & then it will be desirable to complete the task during the cool months of 1868. But even if Leichhardt's fate should be cleared up already this year & even if the party should succeed already this season to complete a track to the Western Settlement, it will be of the utmost importance to diverge in excursions right & left on the most favourable points during another season from the base line of operations thus obtained, in order that at last the general sketch map of the continent may be completed & its treasures, whether pastoral, mineral or others, may be brought extensively to lights, & land routes thus be established from East & from North to West. We anticipate, that when once the expedition has arrived anywhere on the West coast a movement through the subtropical zone from West Australia to South Australia may readily enough be accomplished either in 1868 or 1869. The Ladies hope, that their expedition will accomplish these great objects before we have to celebrate the centenary fete of Capt Cook taking possession of the Austral Continent for the British Crown.3 What an empire it will be when once all settled! Even what poor M'Intyre mapped in 1866 is equal in length to Italy & nearly of as great an extent as Sweden!
The Ladies' party being the only inland Expedition in the field, since the operations of my brave friend Capt Cadell will be limited to specified purposes on the N. W. coast,4 the fair sustainers of this great national enterprise are loth to disband the party when in a few months the contract time of two years will have expired, as it is so exceedingly expensive and onerous to reorganise a new party, whereas a party in the field already can at a comparatively small expense be maintained. The Ladies to be thus prepared for any further actions, such as the results of this year may dictate have very thoughtfully submitted to the Governments of South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland the desirability to grant for 1868 £300 in each colony required for the continuance of the expedition. They have furthermore petitioned to the Governor of West Australia to cause a small troop of dromedaries to be brought from Aden to King Georges Sound by the Peninsular & Oriental steamers, with a view of placing these useful creatures at the disposal of any of the many squatters, who wish to push eastward from West Australia, and who in their movements for breaking through the barriers of scrub, sand ridges, & saline tracts will experience such extraordinary aid from these creatures.
So far, nothing has been left here undone to secure for this expedition & for the general exploration all the means to realize the great hopes we set on it and to bring it to a conclusion worthy of the high patronage and generous interest evinced towards the enterprise.
Ever with the most grateful regards
your
Ferd. Mueller5
Please cite as “FVM-67-05-27a,” 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 26 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/vonmueller/letters/67-05-27a