Ferdinand von Mueller

Landells's memorial was read at a meeting of the Exploration Committee of the Royal Society of Victoria on 4 July 1861 ('Exploration Party', Argus, 5 July 1861, p. 5). The main point of Landells's memorial to the Governor, in his role as President of the Royal Society of Victoria, was an offer to support Alfred Howitt's search for the overdue party led by Robert O'Hara Burke by going to Menidee, taking charge of and curing the camels reported to be still there, and then taking stores to Howitt. It included the comment about sick camels at Royal Park: 'the sepoy and the Government veterinary surgeon (who also sought the advice of others) could not and did not cure the camels in the Royal Park. This I accomplished on my return from the bush in a very short period, although they had been months under treatment without benefit previously.' Landells had been a member of the original Burke & Wills party as deputy leader and in charge of the camels, but after an argument with Burke resigned at Menindee on 16 October 1860, followed by Hermann Beckler who had lost confidence in Burke as leader (see the documents by Burke, Landells and Beckler at 'Burke & Wills Web: the digital research archive', https://www.burkeandwills.ne t .au ).