Document information

Physical location:

72.01.00b

Preferred Citation:

Ferdinand von Mueller to Lewis Bernays, 1872-01 [72.01.00b]. 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, <https://vmcp.rbg.vic.gov.au/id/72-01-00b>, accessed September 11, 2025

1
Letter not found. The text given here is from the Brisbane courier, 18 January 1872, p. 2 (B72.01.09). It is introduced by 'We have been favored by Mr. Bernays with the following extract of a letter received from Baron von Mueller:—'. Given his official position in the Qld government and the title used, the addressee is almost certainly Lewis Bernays rather than his brother Dr Albert Bernays with whom no correspondence has been found. The letter is dated to January 1872 on the assumption that Bernays would have made its contents available to the press soon after he received it; but it could have been written as early as mid-November 1871; see M to C. Birch, 10 November 1871 (in this edition as 71-11-10a).
Mr. Charles Weldon Birch has lately performed some exploring trips about the Thomson River.
2
Qld.
In the ranges between the Belyando and Upper Thomson River he found numerous springs. About twenty miles south from Lake Buchanan he came to a salt lake from 15 to 20 miles broad, and from 30 to 35 miles long. This lake has no outlet. It has been named Lake Tochmos,
3
Printer's error for Jochmus? The lake is now known as Lake Galilee.
in honor of Field-Marshal Baron Tochmos, of Cotignola, who visited the Australian shores about a year ago. Mr. Birch traced the Dar
4
Darr? SW of Longreach, Qld.
River (a Northern tributary of the Thomson River) through two degrees of latitude and discovered on the western side of the Dar two new mountains, one in latitude 22 degs. 30 mins. S., and the other some miles further southward. The former received the name of Mount Zeil, the other the name of Mount Heoglin,
5
Printers error for Heüglin?
in commemoration of the private expedition into the Arctic regions by Count Ziel and Dr. von Heoglin in 1870, when a portion of Spitzbergen was accurately surveyed, and the new King Carl's Land was discovered further to the east-ward.
6
See also M to A. Jochmus von Cotignola, 2 February 1872. The names suggested for the new features were not universally approved of. The Queenslander, 20 January 1872, p. 4, having recorded that M had forwarded an account of Birch’s trip, commented that
it is recorded that the explorers daubed a lake which they came across … as well as two hillocks, with the barbarous cognomens of certain barons and doctors. The first of these worthies is described as a “field marshal who visited the Australian shores about a year ago.” The other “made an expedition into Spitzbergen and the new King Carl’s Land.” Good reasons truly for inflicting their names upon the landmarks of Queensland! And this is daubed scientific research; and such are the means taken to perpetuate the names of scientific men. It will be a fraud upon the good nature of this country if the inflictions are ever allowed to appear in print.