Melbourne botan Garden
11/3/69
Sir
I have the honor on behalf of the trustees of the Royal Park to draw your kind attention to the circumstance, that no funds are provided to maintain the Park expenditures during 1869, no vote of the Acclimation Society being available as in former years. The trustees therefore earnestly solicit that you will give your favorable consideration to the propriety of allotting a share of the vote for public parks to the ground under their control. It is scarcely needful to add that the maintenance of the extensive fences, the repair of long lines of roads, the various shade and shelter plantations of trees and copses involve a far larger outlay than the small amount of grazing fees, which can be raised, while the Acclimation Society even after reducing largely its operations, will barely be able to maintain the special area enclosed for zoological purposes in a state of order.
The Royal Park is increasingly frequented by very numerous visitors and the only near place for outdoor recreation to a considerable number of citizens and of the inhabitants of the neighbouring townships. The trustees therefore beg to express a hope that the claims of so large a portion of the metropolitan and suburban population will be kindly considered by you on the occasion of the distribution of the grant for parks.1
I have the honor to be
Sir
Your very obedient servant
(signed) Ferd. von Mueller
Hon. Sec. to the Trustees of the Royal Park
The honorable J. M. Grant, Minister of the Crown Land Department
Evidently in response to this letter, Grant and the Chief Secretary, James McCulloch, planned to visit the Royal Park 'during the Easter time', and the Trustees prepared an estimate of works needed, included with M to J. Grant, 22 March 1869. No evidence has been found that the promised ministerial visit took place, but the minutes of the meeting of the Trustees held on 27 April 1869 record that 'Mr Black informed the meeting that the hon. the Chief Secretary had given his assurance that a sum for the maintenance and improvements of the Park would be placed on the Estimates' (A345 Royal Park Trustees letter and minute book, p. 156, Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney). A grant of £1000 for the Acclimatisation Society was included in the estimates for 1870 (Victoria, Parliamentary Paper 1870 B 2, p. 17).
Please cite as “FVM-69-03-11a,” 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