Melbourne bot Garden
22/5/66.
I had a very favorable opportunity, dear Mr Barlee, to send by the Brig Marianne (under Capt Dempsters Command) a case with growing plants direct to Fremantle, and I adressed it to your kind care, in order that you may cause the plants to be placed in such spot and locality as you deem most promising for their growth. The plants are mostly of an Utilitarian value. A spirited and intelligent W. A. Colonist Mr Taylor, who is a Passenger by the Brig, has kindly taken the plants under his special care.1 These consignments can be followed up as opportunities for sending arise. It is very gratifying that already at Bunbury under Mr Campl. Careys auspices a Garden2 of prominently useful plants has been formed,3 and it is to me a source of great encouragement, that my insignificant efforts to enrich your country with new introductions for agricultural or industrial purposes has met with so much approbation.
With regardful salutation
your
Ferd. von Mueller
M.D.
The investigations of the Gastrolobia will be continued whenever new material may arrive.4
Gastrolobium
Mary Anne, Captain Dempster, arrived in Fremantle on 3 June 1868, with four passengers of whom 'Taylor' was one ('Monthly shipping report', Inquirer and commercial news (Perth, WA), 22 June 1868, p. 3).
botanic deleted before Garden.
In Inquirer and commercial news (Perth, WA), 6 May 1868, p. 3, its Bunbury correspondent reported that 'Several meetings have been held in connection with the formation of a Botanical Garden, and the scheme promises every chance of success. Mr. Eliot, the Resident Magistrate, has made over to Trustees a suitable piece of ground, containing different soils, and situated in a sheltered part of the town. Mr. Carey has promised a valuable lot of seeds and plants, collected during his recent visit to the sister colonies. … The object of this garden is to promote the culture of flowers and plants, which may prove of ultimate benefit to the district, and to provide a recreation ground for the inhabitants of the town.'
T. Campbell Carey had left for the eastern colonies in April 1867 (Perth gazette, 26 April 1867, p. 20) and had returned to Albany in October (M to F. Barlee, 28 October 1867). He presented plants from Victoria to many places (Inquirer and commercial news (Perth, WA), 11 December 1868, p. 2). Although many that he presented to the Bunbury garden died, the 'shrubberies … look very promising' (Bunbury correspondent, Inquirer and commercial news (Perth, WA), 10 June 1868, p. 3).
M had undertaken to investigate WA poisonous plants (M to F. Barlee, 24 April 1865); in M to F. Barlee, 20 March 1868, M requested Gastrolobium from a 'locality where at the time the flocks died'.
Please cite as “FVM-68-05-22a,” 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