Ferdinand von Mueller

𝗕𝗘𝗘𝗖𝗛𝗪𝗢𝗥𝗧𝗛 𝗕𝗜𝗥𝗧𝗛𝗗𝗔𝗬

30 June

𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺.

On 1 May, 1862, Beechworth Athenaeum curator William Morton wrote to Victoria’s colonial government botanist Ferdinand von Mueller: ‘My dear Sir, I have very great pleasure — complying with the wish of the President — (G. B. Kerferd Esqr. J. P.) of this Institute — in writing you for the purpose of asking: whether you can grant the boon of a copy of your lately published & highly valued work to this Institute?’

On 14 November, 1882, Beechworth clockmaker and jeweller Carl Falck wrote to von Mueller: ‘Highly esteemed Baron, I have found the Callistemon bush in flower now, and hasten to send you a twig; it flowers yellow and accordingly would be C. salignus from your determination.’

These are but two among numerous letters from and to Beechworth written between 1853 and 1895 counted among a huge exchange of correspondence carried on by the celebrated botanist as he worked to collect, identify and describe Australian flora.

Von Mueller was born in Rostock, in the northern German Confederation duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, in 1825. He went on to study pharmacology, leading to a lifelong interest in botany, and emigrated to South Australia in 1847 where he explored and documented the colony’s flora.

In 1852 he went to Melbourne where he was appointed government botanist. He led and participated in major expeditions, including those to Victoria’s alpine regions. In a later speech he recounted his visit to May Day Hills in February 1853 with fellow botanist John Dallachy, remarking that he came to Beechworth before a house had been built.

On 19 February, 1853, north west of Beechworth, von Mueller determined black cypress-pine as a species in the genus Callitris, validated 30 years later by Queensland botanist Frederick Bailey as C. endlicheri. Australia’s largest known tree of the species grows near Woolshed Falls.

Von Mueller maintained further correspondence with Falck and others, Beechworth council and athenaeum and public library (later to include the Burke Museum). He recommended trees for Beechworth’s streets and it is believed that the rank of giant redwood Sequioadendron giganteum in Town Hall Gardens were his gift, planted in 1875.

In 1873 he listed for Lands Minister James Casey the distribution during 1870 of plants, seeds and cuttings from Melbourne Botanic Gardens. To Beechworth he sent 180 plants to the town council, 60 species of seeds in small lots to boot-maker H. Racke ‘in reciprocity’, 60 plants to the Congregational church, and 35 mulberry plants to Mrs McDougall.

Von Mueller was Royal Society of Victoria president (1859) and a member of its Exploration Committee that selected former Beechworth police inspector Robert O’Hara Burke to lead the 1860-61 transcontinental expedition, in which Burke perished.

He effectively co-authored the mammoth Flora Australiensis (1863-1878), led by English botanist George Bentham, describing 8125 species of plants. He also relied on a community network – mainly of women – to collect specimens for what became known as his Educational Exsiccate: great volumes of pressed plants, dried and mounted on paper and produced in three fascicles, or folios.

The first (1874) and second (1875) fascicles of this work came to the Beechworth public library and athenaeum and the third (1876) went to Stanley athenaeum. The current whereabouts of these Exsiccate – educational aids in botany for library users – are not known.

Von Mueller died on 10 October, 1896, in South Yarra. He was buried in St Kilda cemetery where a memorial was dedicated in 1901 with this inscription: Despair not: there are still noble hearts that glow for the august and sublime.

— Schiller

IMAGES. Top: Ferdinand von Mueller Australian stamp issue 1948. Gallery: Callitris endlicheri Black cypress-pine near Woolshed Falls and Von Mueller's handwriting (Jamie Kronborg). Von Mueller (Royal Historical Society of Victoria Images Collection GN-GN-0114).

SOURCES

R.W. Home, Thomas A. Darragh, A.M. Lucas, Sara Maroske, D.M. Sinkora, J.H. Voigt and Monika Wells (eds), Correspondence of Ferdinand von Mueller, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. https://vmcp.rbg.vic.gov.au/

Deirdre Morris, 'Mueller, Sir Ferdinand Jakob Heinrich von (1825–1896)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/mueller-sir-ferdinand-jakob-heinrich-von-4266/text6893, published first in hardcopy 1974.