Should that white man have been Classen, what a lasting disgrace to our communities in the eyes of the intelligent world, that they should have left him these 30 years to struggle at last in his decrepitude on his hands and knees, as we are told, towards that civilisation which had slowly crept towards him in quest of wool and tallow!1
For a discussion of the claims, see D. Lewis (2013), especially pp. 265-82. See also M to the Editor of the Age, 20 February 1880 (in this edition as 80-02-20a).
Letter not found. The text given here is from 'The Leichhardt mystery', a report in the Leader (Melbourne), 27 March 1880, p. 6, of a lecture given by M at the West Melbourne Presbyterian Church on 16 March 1880 in which he discussed efforts being undertaken by Du Faur to organize a party to follow up reports that a white man had been living with an Aboriginal tribe. These reports M considered added some credibility to stories that a member of Leichhardt's lost expedition might have survived for some time. The extract is introduced by 'he read the finishing passage of a letter from Mr Du Faur worded thus:—.'
Du Faur had been excited by reports that Classen's skeleton and diary, together with other artifacts, had been found, and was attempting to raise support for an expedition to test the claims. He had organized a meeting in Sydney on 16 February 1880, which was poorly attended despite his 'having sent out over fifty MS invitations to it'. He reported that M, 'after reading my letter', asked Sir Thomas Elder for assistance (E. Du Faur to the Editor, 18 February 1880, Sydney morning herald, 20 February 1880, p. 7). For a report of the meeting, see Sydney morning herald, 17 February 1880, p. 5.
Du Faur's letter to M is dated to February 1880 on the assumption that what M received was a copy of the letter calling the Sydney meeting.
Please cite as “FVM-80-02-00a,” 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