5. 9. [189]31
Dear Baron von Mueller,
I have made very careful inquiry and find that there is not the slightest grounds for believing that a cart was taken by Leichhardt on his final journey.2 Mr […] says emphatically that a cart was […]3
You are now on the eve of the Adelaide Meeting of the Association.4 We were led to [be]lieve that the meeting following the Adelaide one was to be held in Brisbane in 1894, but now at the last moment our local secretary5 has raised so many obstacles to the former arrangement that it has been decided by the casting vote of our chairman at our last meeting, who is [to] induce the Adelaide people to agree to the Brisbane meeting for 1895. I can see no reason for leaving it so [late] & I objected to the arrangement [on] the grounds of it being contrary to the Rules of the Association [which] imply that the meetings shall be annual. My objection was supported by half of our meeting, & it was only on the casting vote of the Chairman that the date was fixed for 1895. I trust you will advise your scientific [friends] to insist on 1894 as the year of the Brisbane meeting & that you will yourself urge it in fairness to the other colonies, who are waiting, a visit from the Association.6 Kindly regard this advice & information as strictly private & confidential.
Very faithfully yours
J. P. Thomson
Baron Sir F. von Mueller
K.C.M.G., F.R.S., etc., etc.,
Melbourne
editorial addition.
See M to A. Macdonald, 25 September 1893.
The MS page has become friable and a line of text has crumbled away.
The Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science met in Adelaide, 25 September-2 October 1893.
J. Shirley.
In the event, the Brisbane meeting was held in January 1895.
Please cite as “FVM-93-09-05a,” 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