Sydney
14th Nov. 1887
My dear Baron
I was glad to receive your kind letter of the 12th1 and I do assure you that it is with painful and deep regret that I write in reply to explain to you the utter impossibility of my accepting your invitation so warmly given to join you all in giving welcome to Cuthbertson2 — I do hope you may have a good gathering and that it may prove full of instruction and valuable information —
I must be content with reading hereafter all about it, and with your very admirable and zealous Secretary I feel confident that all will be carefully and accurately reported —
I knew not what to tell you of ourselves here — I fear we are a doomed lot.3 And now my dear Baron wishing all success to you and to the Society pray believe me to be always
very sincerely yours
E Strickland
Letter not found.
William Robert Cuthbertson. At a meeting of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia, Victorian Branch, held on 25 November 1887, Cuthbertson read an account of his explorations in New Guinea from July to October 1887, published as Cuthbertson (1887a) follwed by his journal, Cuthbertson (1887b).
For a partial explanation of this comment, see Gilbert (2001), pp. 114ff for accounts of the concerns of J. H. Maiden.
MS has Strickland's printed letterhead.
Please cite as “FVM-87-11-14a,” 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