Document information

Physical location:

Sammlung Perthes Archiv,SPA ARCHPGM328,Forschungsbibliothek Gotha der Universität Erfurt. 74.12.16

Preferred Citation:

August Petermann to Ferdinand von Mueller, 1874-12-16. 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/74-12-16>, accessed September 11, 2025

1
MS a letterpress copy. For a published version of this letter, see Voigt (1996), p. 127.
16. Dez. 74.
Hochverehrter Gönner und Freund,
Ich erlaube mir, Sie zu bitten, mir 1 Exp. von "Map of part of the colony of West Australia, showing the progress of the geol. survey from Aug. 1870 to June 1872, by H. Y. L. Brown, Melbourne 1873", gütigst aus [...]
2
illegible word.
u. unter Band überschicken zu wollen.
Die Karten der nächsten Reisen von Ross u Forrest werden mich auch ungeheuer interessiren.
Ich bin Ihnen für so viele gütige Sendungen Dank schuldig, dass ich beschämt bin und von meiner Schuld kaum zu sprechen wage.
Auch die grosse Güte, nach mir eine hervorragende Bergkette zu benennen, hat mich tief gerührt und bitte ich Sie, auch dem ausgezeichneten Herrn Giles, den es wiederum Ihr Verdienst ist, entdeckt, protegirt und angeheuert zu haben,
3
meinen Dank omitted?
auszudrücken. Bei der ersten Gelegenheit, die ich haben werde, Neue Namen auf die Karte zu setzen, können Sie Sich versichert halten, dass ich meines hohen Gönners in den Antipoden, meines verehrten australischen Humboldts, nicht vergessen und auch des liebenswürdigen Herrn Giles gedenken werde.
In grösster Eile
aber alter treuer Anhänglichkeit,
Ergebenheit u. Dankbarkeit
Ihr
A. Petermann
Ich bitte Herrn Giles meine Photographie gütigst zu vermitteln, sehr stolz würde ich auf die seinige sein.
16 December 1874.
Revered Patron and friend,
I take the liberty to request that you [,,,]
4
German text illegible.
me one copy of the 'Map of part of the colony of West Australia, showing the progress of the geological survey from August 1870 to June 1872', by H. Y. L. Brown, Melbourne, 1873,
5
The map, by the WA Government Geologist, Henry Y. L. Brown, was published in Perth, WA, not Melbourne. Digitized versions are available: uncoloured at https://archive.sro.wa.gov. and coloured at http://purl.slwa.wa.gov. (both accessed 15 April 2019).
and send it to me as printed matter.
The maps of the next expeditions of Ross and Forrest
6
In 1874, John Ross was engaged by Thomas Elder to lead an exploring expedition west from the Peake station on the Overland Telegraph Line, SA, in the hope of eventually reaching Perth, but was eventually forced back; see. 'Mr J. Ross's Explorations, 1874', South Australian Parliamentary Papers, 1875, No 67. That was, however, Ross’s last expedition. In the same year, John Forrest successfully crossed from the west coast, at Geraldton, to the Overland Telegraph Line; however, he too undertook no further major expeditions.
would also be of enormous interest to me.
I owe you thanks for so many kind transmissions that I feel ashamed and hardly dare to speak of my guilt.
The great kindness of naming an eminent mountain range
7
Petermann Ranges, Central Australia.
after me, too, has touched me deeply, and I beg that you will express my gratitude also to the excellent Mr Giles,
8
Ernest Giles.
where again it is to your merit to have discovered him, to have made him your protégé, and to have employed him. At the first opportunity that I have to place new names on the map, you may rest assured that I shall not forget my eminent patron in the antipodes, my revered Australian Humboldt,
9
See Home (1998).
and that I shall also remember the amiable Mr Giles.
In greatest haste,
but in old faithful attachment,
humility, and gratitude,
your
A. Petermann.
I beg you kindly to forward my photograph to Mr Giles, and should be proud to have his.