Chief Secretary's Office
Melbourne 21st September 1874.
Sir,
I am directed to inform you that (in accordance with the suggestion contained in your minute dated the 17th of July last) a copy of the first fascicle of your Botanical Collection for Educational purposes has been presented by direction of Mr Ramsay to each of the Institutions enumerated in the enclosed list,1 comprising most of the principal Libraries in the Colony, and leaving a supply on hand to meet future applications.2
I am to add that you are allowed by Mr Ramsay to present a copy of the work to each of the gentlemen named in your letter of the 20th of June last,3 and that if you require copies for the purpose you can obtain them from this office.
I have the honor to be
Sir
Your most obedient servant
Thos Webb Ware
Acting Under Secretary
The Government Botanist
&c &c
List not with the text of this letter, but see below.
A circular was issued from the Chief Secretary's Office in September 1874 (Unit 37, pp. 1333-5, VPRS 1187 outward correspondence, VA 475 Chief Secretary's Department, Public Record Office, Victoria):
I have the honor to transmit for deposit in your Library a copy of the first Fascicle of an Educational Collection of Botanical Specimens, prepared by the Government Botanist, with a view to supplying means of instruction in the first principles of Botany for all persons in this community who are desirous of entering upon the study of that useful branch of science.
It is the desire of the Government that this valuable work should be made available as largely as possible, consistently with its due preservation, to all persons who frequent the Library and may be supposed likely to profit by making themselves acquainted with its contents.
Copies were sent to the Secretaries of the following institutions on 15 September: The Mechanics' Institutes at Amherst, Ararat, Avoca, Ballarat, Belfast [now Port Fairy], Benalla, Blackwood, Brunswick, Camperdown, Castlemaine, Cheltenham, Clunes, Creswick and Daylesford; to the Public Libraries at Ballarat East, Beechworth, Brighton and Buninyong; and to the Royal Albert Institute, Collingwood. On 16 September copies were sent to Mechanics' Institutes at Emerald Hill [now South Melbourne], Footscray, Geelong, Hamilton, Heathcote, Kilmore, Kyneton, Portland, Prahran, Sale, Sandhurst, Sebastopol, Stawell, Taradale, Warrnambool and Williamstown; the Public Libraries at Dunolly, Eaglehawk, Mansfield, Queenslcliff, Richmond and St Kilda; Free Libraries at Echuca, Hawthorn, Maryborough and Talbot; the Athenaeums at Maldon, Mornington and Wangaratta; and the Literary Institute, Kew.
M to T. Ware, 20 June 1874.
Please cite as “FVM-74-09-21,” 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