Ferdinand von Mueller

Drouin,

1

Vic.

15/3/84.

The two excursions,

2

In November 1882 Tate went to Mt Gambier, and in January 1883 he went to Kangaroo Island, both SA; see Tate (1883c), p. 95 and Tate (1883), p. 134.

of which you sent me an account,

3

Letter not found.

dear Prof. Tate, must have been to the highest degree interesting. The one reminds me vividly of a tour of mine to Villunga,

4

Willunga, SA?

during which I followed the Onkaparinga valley

5

M may be referring to the trip that his collecting recods at MEL reveal he made in the Onkaparinga Valley in November-December 1848. Other collecting records show that he was also in the region in August-September 1850.

down through then widely uninhabited country, getting benighted without food and fire.

I will examine the

Hydrocotyle

Search for Hydrocotyle in

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6

See also M to R. Tate, 2 March 1884, in this edition as 84-03-02a.

more closely on my return. The stay here has done me very little good, as the locality is too cold for me, and the weather was rainy and boisterous on many days of my stay. If I do not get worse during the winter here (much colder than in Adelaide) I will in early spring make a tour to the S.A. borders from Lake Hindmarsh, there being now coach-lines from where the Railroads cease. I hope that the German Residents will have patriotism enough left, to protest against the alteration of the name of their village Grünthal.

7

The name Grünthal was retained until 1917 when, as part of the general wave of anti-German feeling aroused during the First World War, many German place-names in SA were given non-German names; Grünthal became Verdun.

It is poor gratitude to those, who as early pioneer formed the settlement, and came on their own expense, to obliterate the records of their part of colonisation there on the geographic map. The German Members of Parlament should not allow this. The Giant Eucalyptus ought at Grünthal to be fenced and protected. Is the stem solid?

Let me offer my best felicitation to your 44th Birthday, and express a hope, that you will double that number of years in due time. Prof Chevreul of Paris lectures yet at the age of 98!