The correspondence of Ferdinand von Mueller: ¶ [If my own wishes are to be expressed concerning the list of plants from Nickol Bay. ¶ WA. ¶ ¶ I should prefer it to form part of your own report as an appendix, as a separate publication it will ...

Document information

Physical location:

Colonial Secretary's Office correspondence, Acc. 527, no. 345/12, State Records Office of Western Australia, Perth. 79.07.00

Preferred Citation:

Ferdinand von Mueller to John Forrest, 1879-07. 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/1870-9/1879/79-07-00-final.odt>, accessed June 13, 2026

Letter not found. Forrest quoted from M's letter in a memorandum to the Colonial Secretary, Malcolm Fraser, on 8 July 1879: 'In a letter from Baron von Mueller received this morning, he there expresses himself respecting the publication of his report on the plants of Nickol Bay ... I think there is something in what the Baron says & if you can further his wishes I will be glad.'

[If my own wishes are to be expressed concerning the list of plants from Nickol Bay.

WA.

I should prefer it to form part of your own report as an appendix, as a separate publication it will become a stray essay, besides it is then too strictly scientific. Still I leave the matter to Mr Frasers best judgement and like to be remembered to that Gentleman]

The proposal was not approved at that time. Forrest had evidently asked M to prepare the list, and Forrest had sent it on for publication. On 20 November 1879, Forrest wrote to the Governor, H. Ord: 'As I feel personally rather ashamed of having put my friend Baron Mueller to the trouble of writing this valuable essay & not utilizing it, I hope Your Excellency may now be able to sanction its publication, either in the form of a Council paper or in a small pamphlet, as my recent letters from the Baron give me the impression that he is very anxious for its appearance and seems hurt at the delay'. In December Forrest wrote to Malcolm Fraser asking him to speak to the Governor about it (J. Forrest to M. Fraser, 3 December 1979, CSR no.345/12, State Records Office of Western Australia, Perth, WA). In an annotation dated 15 December 1879 on Forrest's November memorandum, Fraser stated: 'This may be very valuable at a later period after the question of a "Special Settlement North district" has been decided on. Its publication then will probably be very desirable.' The same day a further minute was added in a different hand, probably that of the Governor, H. Ord: 'I agree with S. G. [Surveyor General]'. On 16 December 1879, Ord, minuted: 'C S [Colonial Secretary] You will of course give the Govt Printer instructions that it is not to interfere with the progress of his current work but is to be done as opportunity offers'.

The file includes a 35-page MS in M's hand headed: 'Enumerative notes on the plants collected during Mr. John Forrest's trigonometric Survey of the Nickol Bay District during the year 1878; by Baron Ferd. von Mueller K.C.M.G, M.D., FRS.' This was eventually published as B81.03.02.