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M1765, unit 19, VPRS 1096 inward correspondence, VA 466 Governor, Public Record Office, Victoria. 65.07.22Preferred Citation:
Ferdinand von Mueller to Charles Darling, 1865-07-22. 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//letters/1860-9/1865/65-07-22-final.odt>, accessed June 13, 2026
Melbourne bot Garden, 22/7/65
Sir Charles
In the event of your Excellency deeming this outline of the arrangements given for
the intended Leichhardt's search not sufficiently explicit, I will gladly add any
other information, that still may be desired.
Perhaps I should have mentioned, that guarantees are given to the ladies, that the
enterprise will strictly be one of search. I might also have mentioned, that all the
country round the more southern part of the Gulf of Carpentaria, which will unquestionably
soon form the basis of a distinct colony was discovered by Leichhardt, and that the
beautiful features of Arnhems Land, a country which again in itself will form a colony,
were first rendered known by Leichhardt. Indeed whether we reflect on the poor man's
intrinsic value as a scientific observer or on the advantageous consequences which
his explorations had on the extension of civilisation and settlement, I may in fairness
affirm that no one can measure himself with Leichhardt as a benefactor of the Australian
colonists. The Ladies Expedition left the borders of Victoria on Monday last & from
a letter received yesterday
may be expected to reach Mount Murchison within a few days. The late rains have come
most opportune, enabling the party to traverse the back country, while on the Darling
River the pasturage is so denuded by the flocks, driven during the drought to the
river.
1
M evidently used this letter as a cover letter to M to C, Darling, 21 July 1865. See n. 1 to that letter about enclosures and the way that they were handled in the
Colonial Office.
2
There had been proposals in Victoria to colonise the area around the southern Gulf
of Carpentaria, to be 'named Prince Albert Land, first settlement, Burke city, on
the Albert River' (letter from John Hall to Chief Secretary of Queensland, 16 June
1862, published in
Courier
(Brisbane), 7 July 1862, p. 3, and elsewhere). The border of Qld had been moved westward in 1862 to include that part of the Carpentaria
area.
See 'Evolution of Queensland's borders'
https://qldspatial.information.qld.gov.au/qldborders/
(accessed 11 December 2023). The Hall letter did not rule out being subject to Queensland land regulations,
that is, a separate colonial administration was not being demanded.
There was also regular comment on the colonization of 'Arnhem's Land', although with
less concrete plans; see for example
Sydney morning herald
, 3 January 1863, p. 4. From July 1863 the area between WA and Qld north of the original SA border was annexed
to it as the 'Northern Territory of South Australia', and no separate colony was excised
from it.
3
J. Murray to M, 21 July 1865 (in this edition as 65-07-21c).
The party will trace or endeavour to trace Leichhardt wherever his camps will lead
to, whether to
Bunder
a
bulla
,
where the natives contend he was slain, whether to Sharks Bay,
where huts & remnants of firearms
are found, whether to the more remote interior of W. Australia, where a party is said
to have sunk, whether to the vicinity of Grey Range, where
Conn
&
Giles
contend white men had fell. But it appears vain to commence the search on any other
point but the camp of the Flinders
's
River,
where the expedition will arrive in October next. I have annexed a number of documents,
which possibly may be of utility to your Excellency in transmitting home to the British
Government an account of the Ladies Expedition.
4
Also spelled 'Bunderaballa' or 'Budnderabilla'; identified by Lewis (2013), p 29,
as a watercourse at Mitchell's depot near the Maranoa River in central Queensland;
see his map opposite p. 3.
5
WA.
6
Ernest Giles; See W. E. P. [Ernest] Giles to the editor,
Argus, 27 August 1864, p. 6, describing a supposed white man's grave discovered by himself
and W. G. Conn in southwestern Qld.
7
Qld.
Trusting that the attack of illness, of which — I regret to hear — your Excellency
is suffering will be very transitory
I remain your very obliged
Ferd. Mueller