The correspondence of Ferdinand von Mueller: Melbourne bot Garden ¶ 6/8/72. ¶ Sir ¶ ¶ I have ¶ ¶ the honor to submitting to you ¶ ¶ 1, a return of the plants supplied during a number of years from the nurseries of my Department to the industr...

Document information

Physical location:

H72/16703, unit 750, VPRS 44/P inward registered and unregistered correspondence, VA 538 Department of Crown Lands and Survey, Public Record Office, Victoria. 72.08.06

Preferred Citation:

Ferdinand von Mueller to James Casey, 1872-08-06. 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/1870-9/1872/72-08-06-final.odt>, accessed June 13, 2026

Melbourne bot Garden

6/8/72.

Sir

I have the honor to submitting to you

1, a return of the plants supplied during a number of years from the nurseries of my Department to the industrial school ground at Sunbury.

It is not clear whether this list was requested by Casey, but if not M may have anticipated a request after a critical account appeared in Age (Melbourne), 3 August 1872, p. 4: 'We understand the whole, or nearly the whole of the trees planted out by Dr. Mueller on the Sunbury Industrial School ground have died, and Mr. Ferguson has received instructions from the Chief Secretary to purchase a sufficient number of trees suitable for the locality, and to undertake the supervision of the planting himself'. M's letter is marked: 'Noted by President [i.e. Casey, President of the Board of Lands and Works] 13/8/72'.

2, a statement of the gardener, who this year proceeded to that institution, to acquaint me from personal inspection with the new requirements of plants for that place.

C. French to M, 5 August 1872.

In 1870 the Forest Inspector

William Ferguson (1827-1887).

proceeded to Sunbury to advise about the extension of the plants on that ground, and the selection then made was largely (and so far as the nurseries of my Department admitted of it) in accordance with his suggestion.

None of the plants in any of these years were planted by myself, as I have not been at the Sunbury Institution since I visited it with the honorable J. G. Francis in 1867.

I have the honor to be,

Sir, your most obedient servant

Ferd. von Mueller, M.D.,

Direct. botan Garden.

The honorable the Minister of the Lands Department

I understand that many of the growing Mulberry trees were uprooted and destroyed

The calls on my Department for supply for Sunbury were on various occasions so late in the season, that the supply of many important or desirable plants was exhausted.

Plants supplied for the grounds of the Industrial Schools at Sunbury from the Melbourne Botanic Garden

MS written by a clerk and occasionally annotated by M.

1866

400	Mulberry	(Morus multicaulis
250	do	" Morettiana
12	Ginger plants,	the spurious hardy kind. 5 the spurious hardy kind. is written by M.
6	Arrowroot
1	bundle Osiers
1	" Willows of different kinds
20	Geraniums assorted
20	various Roses
2	Ailantus
6	Sweet Potatoes
50	Wax Ash
4	Oriental Planes
2	Pomegranates
26	various Vines
2	Grasscloth plants
33	species Bulbs
150	miscellaneous plants
	various shrubs & seeds
1	bundle Mulberry cuttings
1	" Rose cuttings

1867

20	Blue Gums
160	ornamental shrubs	(incl. 27 in pots)
1	Cork Oak
18	different Pines
2000	Stone Pines (2 years old)	not in pots but transplanted
100	Haleppo Pines
400	Cluster Pines
10	Cork Oak
10	West Austral. Mahogany
10	Corynocarpus
10	Pinus insignis
10	P. excelsa
10	Tea plants
	various cuttings & plants
800	Stone Pines.	not in pots but transplanted

1868

20	select Pines
55	" pot plants
125	miscellan. Plants
20	do
25	bulbs

1869

70	Blue Gums
50	Pittosporums
50	Thuya
6	Ficus macrophylla
2	Brachychiton
50	hardy shrubs	(110 of these in pots)

1870

mainly in pots

100	Corynocarpus
100	Pinus Pinaster
175	P. Haleppensis 6 P. halepensis?
25	Cupressus Goveniana
25	C. Uhdeana
25	C. macrocarpa
25	C. Sinensis
25	C. Lindleyi
10	Brachychiton
20	Cordyline
10	Callitris
10	Ficus macroph. 7 F. macrophylla.
6	Taxus baccata
3	Palms
2	Aralias
2	Melias
2	Bamboos
2	Prostanthera
1	Coprosma
1	Brachychiton
1	Elaeocarpus
1	Macadamia
1	Plagianthus

nearly all in pots

1	Doryphora
1	Smilax
1	Cordyline
1	Pampas grass
2	Phormium
12	Manna Ash
12	White Poplars
40	Cupress. macroc. 8 Cupressus macrocarpa.
55	do
36	" Uhdeana
64	" Lawsoniana
36	" Knightii 9 Not in IPNI with this spelling, but found in other sources, for example Gardeners' chronicle and agricultural gazette, 21 April 1860, p. 362.
64	Quercus Suber
43	" castanea
42	Pinus Fremontiana
12	Quercus Ilex
12	White Poplars
40	Cupress. Lawsonia[na]
8	Araucaria
10	Quercus lanata
10	Quercus alba
20	Blue Gums
20	Cupress. Sinensis

mainly in pots

60	Blue Gums
38	do
55	do
84	Corynocarpus
34	Cupress. macrocarp.
34	Maples
15	Callitris
24	Chinese Tea
12	Assam Tea
12	Hickories
12	Black Walnuts
64	Pittosporum
100	miscell. pot plants

1871

mainly in pots

2000 different plants, including Pinus Sinensis, P. insignis, P. ponderosa P. Excelsa, American Oaks, Corynocarpus Eugenia, Cupressus macrocarpa, C. Lawsoniana, Araucaria Cunninghami, Arauc. Bidwilli

A. bidwillii?

further May 25th

10	Cupress. Lawsoniana
12	C. pyramidalis
12	Thuya
24	Elms
9	Gleditchia 11 Not in IPNI, but in Watson (1825), vol. 2, p. 138.
36	Robinia
12	Osage Orange
24	Ceratonia
24	Himalayan bushes
10	C. funebris 12 Probably Cupressus funebris.
100	Pinus excelsa
12	Acer pseudoplatanus
50	Cedrus Deodara
30	Blue Gums
43	miscell. plants.
12	miscellan. plants,	20 Sultana grape cuttings Olive seeds.

1872

1282, all good plants, in pots

50	Pinus insignis
3	P. Massoniana
50	Cupress . Benthami 13 Not in IPNI with this spelling, but in McIntosh (1853), vol. 1, p. 736.
20	C. glauca
6	C. funebris
6	C. Goveniana
6	C. macrocarpa
6	Frenela
6	Ceratonia
25	Pittosporum eugenoides 14 P. eugenioides?
100	P. tenuifolium
75	Eucalyptus globulus
6	E. rostrata
19	Acacias of sorts
6	Eucalyptus of sorts
4	Cordyline
12	Myrsine

(all in pots)

100	Pittosporum Tenuifol
100	Pinus excelsa
100	P. insignis
50	Eucalyptus of sorts
10	Cedrus Deodara
6	Acacia
200	miscellaneous pot plants
100	Callitris
100	Cupressus glauca
20	Cupress. Benthami
20	Pinus Pinaster
20	Cupressus macroc.
50	Cupr. torulosa
100	British Oaks
6	Himalayan Bushes
100	Blue Gums
22	Elms
40	Cupress. semper v 15 C. sempervirens

(882 of these in pots)

Acacia

Acer pseudoplatanus

Ailantus

Aralia

Araucaria Bidwilli

Araucaria Cunninghami

Brachychiton

Callitris

Cedrus Deodara

Ceratonia

Coprosma

Cordyline

Corynocarpus

Cupressus Benthami

Cupressus funebris

Cupressus glauca

Cupressus Goveniana

Cupressus Knightii

Cupressus Lawsoniana

Cupressus Lindleyi

Cupressus macrocarpa

Cupressus pyramidalis

Cupressus sempervirens

Cupressus Sinensis

Cupressus torulosa

Cupressus Uhdeana

Doryphora

Elaeocarpus

Eucalyptus globulus

Eucalyptus rostrata

Eugenia

Ficus macrophylla

Frenela

Geranium

Gleditchia

Macadamia

Morus Morettiana

Morus multicaulis

Melia

Myrsine

Phormium

Pinus excelsa

Pinus Fremontiana

Pinus Haleppensis

Pinus insignis

Pinus Massoniana

Pinus Pinaster

Pinus ponderosa

Pittosporum eugenoides

Pittosporum tenuifolium

Plagianthus

Prostanthera

Quercus alba

Quercus castanea

Quercus Ilex

Quercus lanata

Quercus Suber

Robinia

Smilax

Taxus baccata

Thuya