Ferdinand von Mueller

1

At a meeting of the Exploration Committee on 24 June 1861, M, McCoy and Neumayer were appointed to a subcommittee to report on the expediency and expense of sending SS Victoria to the north coast. Their report was presented at a meeting of the Committee on 29 June; see M et al. to the Exploration Committee, 28 June 1861. At the end of their report it was noted that M entertained it as a very strong possibility that dispatches would be found at Cooper Creek, expressing a desire for naval aid being rendered to the Burke & Wills Exploring Expedition when it arrived at the north coast.

29/6/61

My dear Dr Wilkie.

Not being certain, whether I shall be able to attend at the Exploration Meeting this day, I beg to submit to you yet a [rider] to the report drawn up by the subcommittee.

Will you oblige me by bringing it before the meeting.

Altho' Dr Mueller reluctantly concurred in the decision of the subcommittee that the recommendation of sending the Victoria to the Australian North coast should be postponed until despatches had been received from Coopers Creek (if then found necessary) — he wished, before the Exploration Committee adopts a final resolution on this question, to point out, that the Victorian Expedition may encounter many unforseen difficulties and dangers, which may be alleviated by a timely naval aid. Dr Mueller wishes the Exploration Committee to bear in mind, that the Victorian Expedition started for the desert at the end of the cool and wet season, that the route to be followed, as indicated in the instructions is intermediate between tracts of waterless country, that probably the Expedition is not supported by medical aid and that, however sanguine we may be in the anticipations of the services of the Dromedaries, the success of applying these animals to Australian travels remains yet to be proved.

2

M did not attend the Exploration Committee meeting held on 29 June 1861. On 30 June the Committee appointed M, Wilkie, Neumayer, Macadam and Howitt to another subcommittee to report on the advisability of a party being sent by sea to the north coast. It reported to the Committee on 1 July but was asked to revise its conclusions in the light of dispatches that had just been received. On 4 July Wilkie moved and McCoy seconded a motion that the Government be applied to, to make SS Victoria available to go to the Gulf of Carpentaria with a view to ascertaining whether aid could be afforded to Burke and his party. M supported the motion and after discussion it was carried (Boxes 2088 B/1, 2081/1(f)).