Ferdinand von Mueller

1

Letter not found. The text given here is from the Daily telegraph (Melbourne), 10 February 1874, p. 3 (B74.02.11); i t was reprinted in Pastoral times (South Deniliquin, NSW), 14 February 1874, p. 4 (B74.02.10). The article includes the text of a telegram : 'Adelaide, 9th February. Hume left Tennant's Creek at the end of October last; three weeks provisions, two horses, a rifle, revolver, and prismatic compass. He appeared to have gone northwards, avoiding Powell's Creek, and was last seen on way to Roper, in the vicinity of Strangeways, about the middle of November, and was said to have left the Roper by the Emily schooner'. The newspaper comment on the telegram suggests that it contradicts claims made by Hume that included meeting with Warburton at Alice Springs (see Lewis (2013), pp. 146-7) , which was not compatible with the route described in the telegram . The telegram text is followed by 'Baron von Mueller has kindly furnished us with the following memo:— ' and the text given here.

A telegram appears in 'The Daily Telegraph'

2

The telegram to which M refers has not been found , but see Lewis (2013), p 147, for sources that report that Hume saw 14 loose camels near the overland telegraph line . Lewis reports that Charles Todd later investigated Hume's claims about meeting Warburton in Alice Springs and later finding the camels, and found that none were true.

to the effect that Andrew Hume

3

Andrew Hume had in 1871 claimed that 10 years earlier he had met a white man living with the Aborigines. M was sceptical, see M to W. B. Clarke, 19 September 1871. For details of Hume and his various claims see D. Lewis (2013), pp. 138-153.

has seen a number of stray camels. If this was really so it is not likely that the conclusions drawn from this fact as concerning Colonel Warburton's expedition are justified,

4

Hume claimed that the camels indicated Warburton had perished. Warburton and his party left Alice Springs in April 1873 and in January 1874 were at the de Grey pastoral station in north-western WA in a weak condition, but the news did not reach SA and the eastern colonies until mid-February; see Evening journal (Adelaide),16 February 1874, p. 3.

for I believe it far more likely that any stray dromedaries which may roam over some part of North Australia are from the herd which, after the death of Mr. M'Intyre , were left in Queensland, to be utilised there for any subsequent exploring purposes.

5

Duncan McIntrye, leader of the Ladies Leichhardt Search Expedition, died in Qld on 4 June 1866; see J. Sharkey to M, 11 June 1866.

I like to mention this to allay thus far any unnecessary fears concerning the colonel's safety. That courageous explorer may have been forced to turn north-westward by the aridity of the country more to the south, and he might then prefer to return in a somewhat other direction to the telegraph overland line, as there would be no object to proceed from North West Australia to Swan River near the coast.