From Carl Wilhelmi to William Hooker   31 December 1855

[...]1

Your letter of the 12th of June, together with the books and seeds for Dr Mueller I received thro M. G. McGillivarey2 Esq on the 15th of November 1855.

Most likely you will have heard already, that Dr Mueller was obliged to give up his appointment as Government Botanist for 18 months, the finances of the Colony being very much depressed; and as it happened at the same time that the Expedition through Central Australia3 intended to start, he resolved to join it, went to Sydney, and was appointed Botanist to the Expedition.

The latter left Sydney on July 16 for Moreton Bay; here life stock was taken in, and in the beginning of August they landed on Moreton Island. — From here I received the last letter from Dr. Mueller, dated August 10, and in which he writes to me, that I should receive an other letter from the Gulf of Carpentaria via Singapore, but as yet I have not received it. — All letters and parcels may be directed as before, but will have to remain under my care until Dr. Mueller's return.

[...]

Dr. Mueller advised me, before he left his appointment, to try and get the appointment of Collector to the expedition, but this I was obliged to forego, as he accepted it himself.4

My collection of plants which consists of 1400 specimens, together with shells, Insects &c, I shal send this month to Hamburg for sale. — I should have liked to send it to England [for a better price]. Dr. Mueller intended on that account to recommend me to you; but has omitted to do so on account of his sudden departure. The book on Economic Botany is very interesting, and I think I shal soon be able to send you a small contribution from Australia. — I have also to remark, that Dr Mueller has commissioned me in case of his death to send or deliver to you his herbarium and books.

1
Parts of letter not concerned with M have been omitted here and below.
2
MacGillivray.
3
The North Australian Exploring Expedition.
4
When the prospect of M's joining the expedition first arose, he was most enthusiastic, but after being advised by his friends in the Victorian Government that his doing so would put his position as the colony's Government Botanist at grave risk, he abandoned the idea; see M to A. Gregory, 13 May and 26 May 1855. He may well at this point have advised Wilhelmi to apply for the position. Shortly afterwards, however, it became clear that M could join the expedition while retaining his rights in Victoria, and he agreed to go; see M to A. Gregory, 4 June 1855. In the same letter he suggested to Gregory that he might take an assistant with him, almost certainly having Wilhelmi in mind for this position, but Gregory made it plain that this would not be possible; see A. Gregory to M, 12 June 1855 (in this edition as 55-06-12a).

Please cite as “FVM-M55-12-31,” 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 25 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/vonmueller/letters/M55-12-31