Mr. Alex. Forrest, the leader of the present expedition, was second in command of his brother's celebrated expedition from West Australia to South Australia a few years ago. He has accomplished a glorious task again, opening up all the country from the De Grey River1 to the Victoria River,2 and these tracts of Australia are likely to stretch through the trap formation which Mr. Gregory discovered on the upper part of Sturt's Creek in 1856.3 The geographical discoveries of this expedition now have also an important practical bearing for pastoral pursuits, especially as the north-west coast is indented by so many excellent harbors. Mr. Forrest is accompanied by an excellent assistant-surveyor, Mr. Carey, both gentlemen being natives of West Australia.4 They both have secured large collections of plants, the first instalment of which was forwarded to me from King George's Sound.5 I am thus enabled to advance the knowledge of the flora of Australia also in this new quarter, 6 where Allan Cunningham, during Admiral P. P. King's survey voyages, touched only the coast.7
WA.
NT.
i.e. during the North Australian Exploring Expedition, 1855-6.
That is, born in the Colony.
This may be an error; the exploration route included King Sound in north-west Western Australia ('Mr Alexander Forrest's expedition', Western Australian times, 23 September 1879, p. 3). King George Sound, on the south coast of Western Australia, is however likely to have been on the route by which Forrest's package reached M, since it was a trans-shipment point for mail.
See B81.13.04.
For the botany of King's survey voyages, see Cunningham (1827).
Letter not found. The text given here is from "Explorations in Western Australia', Leader, 13 September 1879, p. 20 (B79.09.02), a report from Adelaide dated 8 September 1879 of a telegram dated 6 September 1879 from Alexander Forrest to the Governor, to which is appended M's communication. M’s text is introduced by 'Baron Von Mueller kindly informs us that'. See also A. Forrest to M, 6 September 1879 (in this edition as 79-09-06a).
Please cite as “FVM-79-09-00c,” 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