Baron Ferdinand von Mueller, botanist : autograph letter, signed, to a lady plant collector, re. an intriguing specimen she has sent him. Melbourne, October 1889.

Manuscript in ink, [3] pp., octavo (200 x 125 mm); dated 7 October 1889; although von Mueller addresses his correspondent only as ‘dear Madam’, she is Melbourne philanthropist Jane Emma Murphy (see note on provenance below); von Mueller discusses a plant specimen Murphy has sent him (almost certainly from the Mornington area, where she resided), which he is unable to identify; the letter is in fine condition, with some remnants of old hinges at the corners.

An unpublished letter from von Mueller to one of his circle of women plant collectors, a significant coterie that included Louisa Atkinson, Annie Walker, Ellis Rowan, and Harriet and Helena Scott.

Transcript of the letter:

‘Sendings from a place like yours, dear Madam, are always welcome, but I miss the real gems, minute plants. The plant, of which you found only one specimen, the one with lobed leaves and long narrow (string like) pods is new to me as Australian. It may however be merely an introduced South European weed, as a plant not unlike this grows near the Mediterranean shores. To make sure, what it is, a specimen with ripe seed-vessels needs to be got later in the season. Did you find the plant near a garden? Regardfully, your Ferd. Von Mueller’.

Sir Ferdinand Jakob Heinrich von Mueller (1825-1896), botanist, was born in Rostock, Mecklenburg-Schwerin. He attended the University of Kiel, where he was awarded a Ph.D.. In 1847 he arrived in Adelaide with his sister. After a series of botanical discoveries, Mueller went to Melbourne where he was appointed government botanist by La Trobe in 1853. In August 1857 he was appointed director of the Botanic Gardens; however, by 1868, due to his scientific focus in developing the Gardens, Mueller was facing criticism due to their lack of structures and statues. He was replaced in 1873. Mueller remained government botanist, but he is said to have never entered the Botanic Gardens again.

Von Mueller was largely responsible for the international recognition given to Australian scientific research in the mid nineteenth-century. He published over 800 papers and major works on Australian botany, and many of his studies have remained unsurpassed in their scientific rigour and value as definitive publications in a range of topics. His discoveries also had vast practical value for the colonists of Victoria, as it brought them great economic benefits, though von Mueller did not profit financially from them himself.

As a result of his achievements von Mueller was awarded many honours. In 1867, he was granted his ‘von’, and in 1871 he was appointed as a hereditary baron by the King of Württemberg. He was made C.M.G. in 1869 and K.C.M.G. in 1879. He was awarded the royal medal of the Royal Society, London, in 1888. Devoted to his work, the scientist never married. He died on 10 October 1896 in South Yarra, Melbourne.

Provenance: Autograph album compiled by Jane Emma Murphy (Balcombe) (1854-1924), of “The Briars”, Mornington, Victoria, Australia; thence by descent through the à Beckett family, Melbourne.