Document information
Physical location:
L65/15565, unit 734, VPRS 44/P inward registered and unregistered correspondence, VA 538 Department of Crown Lands and Survey, Public Record Office, Victoria. 65.12.28Preferred Citation:
Ferdinand von Mueller to Clement Hodgkinson, 1865-12-28. 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/1860-9/1865/65-12-28-final.odt>, accessed June 13, 2026
Melbourne botan. Garden,
28/12/65
Sir
I have the honor to solicit permission from the hon. the Board of Land & Works to
remove a quantity of gravel from the Gov. House reserve as on former occasions for
topdressing some new walks in the bot. Garden.
I have the honor to be,
Sir, your most obedient servant,
Ferd. Mueller.
Clem Hodgkinson Esq
Assist Commiss of the Department for Land & Survey & Member of the Board for public
works.
1
On 29 December 1865, Hodgkinson minuted: 'Recommended that Dr Mueller be authorized
to obtain gravel in this reserve from a site of two acres so chosen as not to interfere
with the site from whence gravel is being obtained for reserves vested in Bd of Land
& Works, and subject to the same arrangements adopted for getting gravel from the
latter site, viz that concurrently with the taking of the gravel the top soil is to
be again brought to a smooth surface with the aid of the spade & rake. (By taking
gravel from this reserve, and restoring the surface in the manner alluded to, the
reserve is greatly benefitted as regards its adaptation for arboriculture, as the
ground from whence the thin layers of gravel have been abstracted is rendered as well
suited for reception of trees as trenched ground.)'
The Board of Land and Works approved Hodgkinson's recommendation on 3 January 1866,
and C. Hodgkinson to M, 8 January 1866, included the conditions under which M could extract gravel.