Ferdinand von Mueller

i.e. the Chief Secretary's Department, of which the Government Botanist's Department was a constituent part.

i.e. A. Wallis to M, 31 July 1873. M evidently also sought details and included G. Luehmann to M, 1 August 1873 (in this edition as 73-08-01c), an account of Bacchus's visits.

The estimates of 1859 expenditure presented to Parliament in October 1858 for the Government Botanist included £1,000 for the erection of a museum and lecture room (see Victoria, Legislative Assembly (1858) Estimates of the revenue and expenditure of the Government of Victoria for the year 1859, Melbourne, pp. 32, 60). In M to J. O'Shanassy, 24 October 1858, M wrote that 'The intended erection of a larger building in the reserve… [would] give the fullest access to his extensive and carefully examined botanical collections, which he desires… to transfer permanently to this department as a nucleus of a State collection.' The tender for the erection was placed in November 1859, (T. Balmain to M, 22 November 1859). It was furnished and occupied by the end of the year, and the collection of Victorian plants M had placed at the public library were added in April (M to A Tulk, 6 April 1861).

on no … denied is underlined in pencil.

For an example of public acknowledgement, see text of an address by William Bacchus to the Ballarat Farmers' Club,10 February 1872, where he wrote 'I have given the names by which I have been in the habit of distinguishing them before I obtained the botanical names from Baron yon Muller, to whom I take this opportunity of. expressing my thanks for the valuable information he has given me' (Bacchus (1872)).

On 8 August 1873 A. Wallis, Secretary of Agriculture, minuted: 'From the Govt Botanist's letter it would appear that at such times as any section of the museum plants is under examination by him, no other person can gain access thereto, whether for the purpose of study or otherwise. This, in my humble opinion, is a most unsatisfactory state of things, and if enforced on the present occasion will be attended by serious loss to a large section of the public. Mr Bacchus, who for upwards of 30 years has studied our native grasses both by practical observation in the field and scientifically, has kindly consented to contribute to the next volume of the transactions of the Dept of Agriculture a comprehensive paper on our native pastures, giving the scientific and common names of each grass and the results of his observation and experience as to their relative feeding capabilities, their relative powers of resisting drought, the season of the year at which they produce the most food, and other information of a practical and highly useful nature. Mr Bacchus however, with a view to make his paper more complete, is anxious to compare some of his specimens with those contained in the national Herbarium, to make sure that he has them correctly named. Considering then that no account of our native grasses has yet been published, and that a paper containing practical information such as Mr Bacchus alone in this colony can furnish would be of inestimable service to persons engaged in Agricl. pursuits throughout the colony, I am of opinion that the Govt Botanist, since he cannot possibly require all the Grasses for study at one and the same time, should be requested to render Mr Bacchus every assistance in the accomplishment of his useful work.' Wallis forwarded this minute to the Chief Secretary 'by direction of The Honble the Minister of Lands and Agriculture'. The Minister, J. Casey, added a comment of his own: 'In allowing the Govt Botanist the use of the Herbarium it was not intended nor is it reasonable that he should prevent its being inspected when necessary. It is admitted Mr Bacchus was denied access to the plants.' On 12 August 1873 the Chief Secretary, James Francis, instructed: 'The Government Botanist will give Mr Bacchus access to these Grasses or plants & arrange generally for the courteous interchange of information'.

On 16 August 1873, M replied by a further minute on the file: 'I have anticipated the wish, expressed by the hon. the Chief Secretary, in affording on all occasions the fullest possible information in all branches of my Department, and shall not fail to do so also in future. To render this information in the Museum still more extensive, I placed even my own voluminous collections there, formed since the last 34 years. Mr Bacchus, as stated already by me, got all his grasses and other pasture plants named by me already long ago , like I have named such for other similarly observant colonists, since many years; moreover he was even promised an early supply of dried specimens, and got besides on many occasions previously living grasses and other industrial plants for testculture at his place. This and other official attention, experienced from me, he has acknowledged with gratitude on various public occasions.'

In the Victorian Legislative Assembly on 23 October, J. J. Casey, then Minister of Agriculture, said that the 'refusal to comply with the application of Mr Bacchus, president of the Ballarat Farmers' Club, for certain plants, made to the curator of the Botanical Gardens, had been contrary to his instructions and much to his regret' (Age (Melbourne), 24 October 1873, p. 3). Since M was no longer associated with the Gardens, this comment implies that Bacchus had (also?) applied to William Guilfoyle. However, Luehmann's letter reports that Bacchus had visited the herbarium twice, once at the end of June, and then at the end of July. M lost responsibility for the Gardens on 1 July.