Document information
Physical location:
Unit 14, p. 156, VPRS 4025/P Town Clerk's letter press copy books, VA 511 Melbourne, Public Record Office, Victoria. 68.05.00bPreferred Citation:
Edmund FitzGibbon to Ferdinand von Mueller, 1868-05 [68.05.00b]. 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//letters/1860-9/1868/68-05-00b-final.odt>, accessed June 13, 2026
[May 1868]
1
editorial addition. The date is supplied by the reference to '22nd ulto', referring to M to T. Smith,
22 April 1868, in which M recommended that no fencing be erected along the Yarra River but that,
instead, cattle be excluded from the area of Yarra Park. His letter was considered at a meeting of the Melbourne City Council
Health Committee on 30 April 1868; the present letter reports the decision made at
that meeting. M had been persistent in seeking to prevent cattle grazng along the
river bank, see for example, M to E. FitzGibbon, 7 January 1867, and most recently, M to J. Smith, 22 April 1868.
[...]
22nd ulto furnishing suggestions with respect to the management fencing and planting
of the Yarra Park.
2
An appropriate introduction to the letter is not recorded in the file copy.
I am to express the thanks of the Health Committee of the Council of the City of Melbourne
for the attention which you have given to the matter and for your kind offers of assistance. I am to state however that the Committee think that the erection of fences along the
Yarra Bank road will be advantageous for the protection of trees and the prevention
of accidents
3
'
the
prevention of accidents
'
may be a reference to an accidentl
al
drowning on 30 April
near the Botanic Garden
('The month',
Illustrated Australian news for home readers, 23 May 1868, p. 2, col. c, 'Since the accident, Dr. Mueller, though not the responsible
party, has considerately caused a double fence to be placed across this path, so as
to prevent any similar occurrence taking place again'.
E. G. FitzGibbon
Dr F. Mueller
&c &c &c