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72/17705, unit 365, VPRS 44/P inward registered and unregistered correspondence, VA 538 Department of Crown Lands and Survey, Public Record Office, Victoria. 72.08.24Preferred Citation:
Ferdinand von Mueller to James Casey, 1872-08-24. 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/1870-9/1872/72-08-24-final.odt>, accessed May 15, 2026
A copy of my former report to the previous Minister of the Department, who has
already delt
with
this case is respectfully again submitted, and now also a statement of the artisan
Cottrell, correcting the assertions of the Carpenter Petersen.
The hon. the Minister will kindly observe, that since 1870 I have
no funds
to employ a
regular Carpenter
, that the man Petersen was engaged at
weekly warning
, that he has
no claims
on the Department, that he is quite able to
obtain employment elsewhere
in his trade, that he is quite fit to work, and that any supposed injury to his sight
arose, if really such took place, entirely out of
incautiousness of his own
.
1
dealt.
2
See M to C. Duffy, 18 November 1871, a copy of which (in G. Luehmann's handwriting) is attached to the file, together
with H. Petersen's renewed complaint dated 20 August 1872 to the Minister of Lands,
J. Casey, concerning M's alleged injustice towards him, and a statement dated 24 August
1874 signed 'Sam Cottrell', setting out the work Cottrell normally did in the Garden,
that Petersen claimed he should have been employed to do but that Cottrell said was
not of a kind that required the attention of a trained carpenter. The latter carries an annotation by M: 'The
wages of Artisan Cottrell are
considerably less
than those of an ordinary Carpenter FvM 24/8/72.'
3
See M to J. McCulloch, 3 October 1870, where M commented on Petersen's complaints of poor eyesight being caused by his employment at the Botanic Garden.
Ferd. von Mueller,
Direct. botan. Garden
24/8/72.