Melbourne,
7/2/84.
The honorable Graham Berry, M.L.A.,
Chief Secretary.
Sir,
I have the honor to report with deep regret, that Mr C. Groener, one of the Assistants of the Gov. Botanists establishment, died yesterday.2 The particulars of his death are not yet known to me, as I only learnt this sad event through a telegram from Port Adelaide, he being on his way to King George's Sound,3 where he was to collect plants for the Herbarium.
I have since fully 25 years been accustomed to send employées of the establishment occasionally to various parts of Australia for collecting purposes, and thought that a stay of Mr. Groener for some time in field-engagements at King Georges sound and its vinity,4 where the clime is so salubrious, would tend to the improvement of his impaired health, while by these means desirable additions would be made to the departmental collections. I would beg at once to plead, that you, Sir, will give your kind consideration to the bereaved widow, who is left with very little of worldly means, so that by your generous action she may receive such compensation or gratuity, as is generally allowed to widows of Gov. Officers. She accompanied him on his last journey; he was ten years strictly in the Gov. Service, his salary being latterly £200 a year. Indeed he was nearly ten years more in the establishment as my private valet and at my private cost, though a large share of his time even then had to be given to the Gov. service, in which he thus spent the best part of his life.5
I have the honor to be,
Sir, your obedient servant
Ferd. von Mueller.
The file contains a separate note, in an unknown hand:
On salaries vote
Clerk — Luehmann — £250
Assist. Groener — £200
Paid out of Incidentals
Henry — 9/6 per diem
Minchin — 6/6 — " —
French — 3/6 — " —
On 13 February the Under Secretary, T. Wilson, minuted: 'To the Government Botanist to note the Chief Secretary's approval, and to furnish particulars with respect to Mr Groener's length of service'. On 19 February Wilson fowarded the reply, M to T. Wilson, 14 February 1884, to the Commissioners of Audit for verification. Their reply, 22 February, stated that Groener was employed from 1 July to 7 August 1873 and 1 July 1874 until his death on 6 February. They added: 'There appears no trace of him from 8th August 1873 to 30th June 1874'.
Wilson referred the file to M four days later 'with the request that he will be good enough to state in what capacity the late Mr Groener was employed & out of what vote or fund he was paid during the period from 8th August 1873 to the 30th June 1874, inclusive'.
In M to T. Wilson, 27 February 1884, M replied: 'Mr Groener was from the 8. Aug. 1873 til the 30 June 1874 entirely employed as second Assistant in the Gov. Bot. Department, but as only £300 were allowed for the whole finance year irrespective of my own Salary, and as it was impossible to carry on the departmental work with one Assistant only, I paid Mr Groener out of my private means; but in justice these eleven months ought to count service.' No response to M's action or suggestion was minuted.
Please cite as “FVM-84-02-07,” 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 27 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/vonmueller/letters/84-02-07