Chief Secretary's Office
Melbourne 21st December 1870
Sir
I am directed by the Chief Secretary to inform you that the Governor-in-Council has been pleased to appoint a Board consisting of the gentlemen named in the margin1 to inquire into the best mode of re-organizing the Department of the Botanic Gardens2
I have the honor to be
Sir
Your most obedient servant
W. H. Odgers
W. Hammill Chairman, W J Grieg, W Sangster, J. Mitchell.
The members of the Board of Inquiry were formally appointed by the Governor in Council on 12 December 1870, but the file indicates that proposed members had been sounded out earlier as to their willingness to serve, with Odgers writing to Hammill, Greig and Mitchell on 26 November and to John Carson, then President of the Horticultural Society of Victoria, on 29 November. Hammill, Greig and Mitchell promptly agreed to serve but Carson declined, leading to a note being added to the file, probably by Odgers: '? D. C. Macarthur if he wd act'. However, no letter to either MacArthur or William Sangster who was eventually appointed has been found.
The Board's terms of reference were to 'enquire into and report on the changes that may be necessary to bring into operation an organization which will secure the Botanical Gardens at Melbourne being kept in the best possible condition, without in any degree interfering with the valuable services rendered to the Colony by Dr Von Mueller as a botanist' (Minute 88, unit 12, pp. 352-3, VPRS 1080, Public Record Office, Victoria).
Please cite as “FVM-70-12-21a,” 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