The correspondence of Ferdinand von Mueller: 14/4/79 ¶ ¶ I dont think, dear Mr Shillinglaw, we ever made any arrangements concerning the ¶ biographic notes on R Brown ¶ . What help do you want, when & to what extent? ¶ I am likely soon away f...

Document information

Physical location:

Box 241/3 Shillinglaw papers, La Trobe Australian manuscripts collection, State Library of Victoria, Melbourne. 79.04.14b

Preferred Citation:

Ferdinand von Mueller to John Shillinglaw, 1879-04-14 [79.04.14b]. 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/1870-9/1879/79-04-14b-final.odt>, accessed May 15, 2026

MS annotation probably by Shillinglaw: 'Recd 23 Ans 25'.

14/4/79

I dont think, dear Mr Shillinglaw, we ever made any arrangements concerning the biographic notes on R Brown . What help do you want, when & to what extent?

Shillinglaw had presumably sought this information from M in connection with the biography he was preparing of Matthew Flinders, with whom Robert Brown (1773-1858) had circumnavigated Australia.

I am likely soon away for some weeks to the country on department work, & do not wish to keep you waiting.

The woodcut of R Brown

See M to J. Shillinglaw, 4 June 1876. The wood-cut of Brown is glued to the fly leaf of a copy of Brown (1810) held at the Library, Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne. The cutting is from the obituary of him in lllustrated London news, 10 July 1858, p. 29. The copy in the National Library of Australia is online at http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-136047831 .

is at your disposal at any time you may desire it. It is singular, that in the Hamilton paper (as copied into the Argus)

The Argus on 9 April 1879, p. 7, reprinted from the Hamilton spectator an article headed 'Ernest Giles, the explorer' that bemoaned the fact that Giles had never received anything like the recognition given to other leading explorers, and was now in straightened circumstances and without a job: 'If there is no more work for Mr. Giles in Australia, could he not be sent to explore New Guinea, or as some writer suggested the other day that a South Polar Expedition should be sent out by the colonies, could he not be placed in charge of it?'

Mr Giles should raise such great complaint, when he has a large interest in pastoral country in S. Australia, discovered during the expeditions called forth and mainly supported by me, and that he should not even mention Mr Tietkens, the very soal

soul?

of the 2d & 3th journey, and the very man, who saved 2 or 3 times Giles's life.

Always your

Ferd. von Mueller