The correspondence of Ferdinand von Mueller: Pray do not think about the desirability of moving my head-quarters. I am now after 25,000 miles of travel in Australia and at the age of 47, no longer able to commence the world ¶ Misreading of 'work...

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72.00.00c

Preferred Citation:

Ferdinand von Mueller to a friend in New South Wales, 1872 [72.00.00c]. 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/1870-9/1872/72-00-00c-final.odt>, accessed June 9, 2026

Letter not found. The text given here is from 'Baron von Mueller', an unsigned article in Empire (Sydney), 23 October 1872, p. 4. The extract is introduced by:

That the subject of this notice has experienced the pain and mortification of unappreciated and depreciated services, and personal sacrifices, through spiteful, interested, unworthy and unmerited detraction and harsh ingratitude, may partly be gathered from the following passage, contained in a letter from him to a friend in this colony, in answer to one suggesting that he should choose other headquarters for the prosecution of his great work.

The item was probably written by William Woolls, and it is likely that he is 'the friend in this colony'.

The article is in the form of a biographical sketch, mentioning M's youth and education, explorations in Australia and his publications, and how much he is valued in the other Australian colonies. It ends by hoping that the pressures on M in Victoria will not 'mar the work of the most useful man in Australia.'

Pray do not think about the desirability of moving my head-quarters. I am now after 25,000 miles of travel in Australia and at the age of 47, no longer able to commence the world

Misreading of 'work'?

anew elsewhere. My collections are gone. My library is no longer my own. I could not re-establish either, even if I had sufficient strength and moral courage left! I have most claim on Victoria. If I cannot obtain here the most modest public support; and if I cannot guard my position here against the most humiliating impediments, then I must cease to exist as a man of science, or as a worker for the lasting benefit of the present and succeeding generations.