Melbourne
8/9/73.
Ich habe noch einen letzten Brief von Giles erhalten, edler Freund. Die dortige regenlose Jahreszeit macht es ihm unmöglich den Alberga aufwärts zu verfolgen, da nur noch Salz-Lachen darin sind. Er geht also den Stevenson Fluss hinauf, der ihn vielleicht ganz zum Olga-Gebirge führen wird. Mt Olga ist nur der Culminationspunkt eines grossen neuen Gebirges.
Seine Parthie besteht aus
H. Tietken
Alfr. Gibson
Jam Andrews
und ihm selbst als Befehligenden.
Er hat 24 Pferde, u kann nöthigen falls 1 Jahr das Feld behaupten soweit es seine Lebensmittel anlangt, wenn nicht ganz unvorhergesehene Unfälle eintreten.
Oberst Warburton, der von jenseits des Macdonnell-Gebirge operirt hat eine starke Parthie u dann noch den Vortheil des Gebrauchs von Dromedaren.
Ich hätte Giles gern besser unterstützt gesehen, vermochte es aber nicht mehr als £ 600 für ihn zusammen zu bringen. Es ist ein ebenso braver als muthiger u praktischer Mann. Lassen Sie uns das Beste für ihn u den Oberst hoffen. Zwei neue Linien von Ost zu West, werden alle künftigen Expeditionen leicht machen.
Stets Ihr
Ferd von Mueller
Die Idee, welche neulich nach 20 Jahren wieder in der geogr. Gesellsch. entwickelt wurde bezüglich warmer unter-oceanischer Quellen am Nordpol, ist nicht ohne Wahrscheinlichkeit u begünstigt Ihre Theorie eines offenen Pol-Meeres. Warum aber am Südpol keine warmen Quellen existiren sollen ist unbegreiflich, wenn wir sogar einen Zeugen vulkanischer Thätigkeit dort im Mt Erebus haben. Können nicht auch andere Feuerschlünde näher dem Meerwasser sein u dort weit den Pol erwärmen?
1Dr Sonder in Hamburg, der grosse Algenkenner u Forscher auch in Landpflanzen S. Afrikas u. Australiens, ist mein ältester u. theuerster Freund im Leben. Lassen Sie ja seinen Namen in Ihren Karten ja doch erscheinen.
Melbourne,
8 September 1873.
I have received another last letter from Giles,2 noble friend. The dry season there makes it impossible for him to follow the Alberga3 upstream, as all that remains of it are pools of salt water. He is therefore going up the Stevenson River,4 which will perhaps take him all the way to the Olga Ranges.5 Mount Olga is only the culmination point of a large new mountain range.
His party consists of:
H. Tietken6
Alfr. Gibson
Jam Andrews7
and Giles himself as commander.
He has 24 horses and can, if necessary, remain in the field for 1 year as far as his provisions are concerned, unless some totally unforeseen mishap should occur.
Colonel Warburton, who operates from beyond the MacDonnell Ranges, has a strong party and in addition the advantage of dromedaries.8
I should have liked to see Giles better supported, but was unable to bring together more than £600 for him. He is as honest a man, as he is courageous and practical. Let us hope for the best for him and for the Colonel. Two new routes from east to west will make all future expeditions easy.
Always your
Ferd. von Mueller.
The idea, recently expanded on once again after 20 years in the Geographical Society concerning warm sub-oceanic springs at the North Pole,9 is not so improbable and favours your theory of an open Polar ocean. But it is incomprehensible, why no such warm springs should exist at the South Pole, when we even have a witness of volcanic activity there at Mount Erebus. Could there not also be other fiery abysses closer to the ocean there warming the Pole over large areas?
10Dr Sonder of Hamburg, the great algologist and also researcher of land plants of South Africa11 and Australia, is the oldest and dearest friend in my life. Do make sure that his name does also appear in your maps!12
What follows is presented as a separate text in Voigt (1996), p. 119. It is a note writen by M on the back of an envelope addressed by him on the front 'Herrn Professor | Dr Aug. Petermann | Gotha | Germany | Ferd von Mueller' and postmarked 'Melbourne | 4 D | SE 10 | 73' and 'London | paid | 4 NO 73'. Like M's letter, the envelope has been annotated by Petermann: 'Erh. 5. Nov. 1873' [Received 5 November 1873]; M’s letter had presumably been enclosed in it.
Ernest Giles; letter not found.
Alberga Creek, SA.
Stevenson Creek, SA.
Mt Olga is now Kata Tjuta, NT.
i.e. W. H. Tietkens.
James Andrews was born c.1855, died 1933 (Advertiser (Adelaide), 24 October 1933, p. 9), but no other life details found.
Warburton and his party, after suffering extreme deprivation while crossing the Great Sandy Desert, eventually reached the Oakover River, WA, and thence the coast.
See Anderson (1872).
The remaining text is a note writen by M on the back of an envelope addressed by him to Petermann and annottated with the date 'Erh. 5. Nov. 1873' [Received 5 November 1873], as is the letter itseIf M's letter had presumably been enclosed in it.
Harvey & Sonder (1859-65).
Mount Sonder, a peak in the MacDonnell ranges, NT, was named by Ernest Giles on his second expedition to central Australia, 1873-4. The name was included in Petermann’s publication of Giles’s sketch map as Originalkarte von E. Giles' Entdeckungsreise in Central-Australien, 1872, und Übersicht des Standpunktes der geographischen Kenntniss jener Gebiete, in Petermann's geographische Mittheilungen, vol. 19, 1873, published in May 1873. The National Library of Australia has digitized a copy: http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-232432495. The feature was included in later regional maps by Petermann, for example, Die neuesten Entdeckungsreisen im Innern von Australien von Warburton, Giles, Forrest, April 1873-Sept. 1874 (1876) (digitized as https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-232432276) and in the 1:3,500,000 scale Specialkarte von Australien in 9 Blättern nach originalen & officiellen Quellen issued in 1875 (digitized as http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-231345922), but not in his 1:10,000,000 map of the whole of Australia, also issued in 1875 (digitized as http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-232625532).
MS annotation by Petermann: 'Erh. 5. Nov. 1873' [Received 5 November 1873]. For a published version of this letter, see Voigt (1996), p.117-8.
Please cite as “FVM-73-09-08a,” 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