Ferdinand von Mueller

1

Decorative letter head: 'ES', the initials of Strickland. MS annotation by M: 'Answ 14/2/86 F.v.M.' Letter not found.

Sydney

10th Febry 1886

My dear Baron

I feel very much ashamed of myself and full of repentance that I have not only left your kind note of the 27th January

2

Letter not found.

unanswered but also have I failed to acknowledge receipt of the flower you have done me distinguished honor of calling by my name

3

M named Leptosiphonium stricklandi in B86.02.03, p. 32.

— Such a compliment from the first scientist of Australia, and the most renowned botanist of the day ought indeed to have been acknowledged as respectfully and as quickly as possible — Let me beg of you to pardon me, for reasons I will immediately give you, and now accept my very grateful and sincere thanks for the honor you have done me — I shall long bear it in mind — your kindness has awakened up afresh within me deep regrets that I was unable to take my place at your recent very interesting meetings, at all events to hear your learned and very admirable address — I have not only read it, but I have studied and it is indeed a very grand paper. I have been ever so glad to see Pasco and his companion, but they seemed bent upon excursions in which I cannot just now accompany them — and this very much to my regret — my colleagues are made of such queer stuff that I fail even to get them to come and dine with me to meet them — They are hard working, extremely domestic men. Personally I have done my best to return in some small degree the honor and hospitality you all show to us when we visit your great Capital. — of late I have had deep anxieties here and painful troubles at home and I have been absent up the country to sell some property — Thank god I have been successful and as soon as ever I can get away I shall be off for a holiday — As though to complete my troubles, the Society is unfortunately now quite a thorn in my side — We are short of Cash by nearly £300 and as yet we have failed to melt the hearts of the Govt. Eventually I hope we shall succeed in getting money in from the Govt and from private sources. There has been no mismanagement, as our accounts will prove — The deficiency has arisen from the large sums spent by Everill at Thursday Island and Queensland, both going and returning and the small amount realized by sale of extra stores and food supplies — also the cost of preparing our exhibition which we gave gratis to the Public during the Xmass and New Years holidays astounded us by its extravagance — of course we shall get out of the trouble but just now it is depressing and very annoying to me. You will, I am sure, by

4

my?

dear Baron you will admit that I have been heavily handicapped and not without good reasons been deprived of all heart to write to my friends even to you who have been always so kind and good and encouraging —

We are at our wits end for a good Secretary and for money to pay him — but I am fighting hard our up hill battle and I am far from despairing of a complete victory —

Possibly you may see in the papers that a vagabond calling himself G eneral McIver has given us trouble — He is I think well put down for the present at all events, but his intrusion upon our last meeting was most annoying, and injured us much — making Everill's paper fall flat upon the audience

5

Everill presented his report of the New Guinea expedition at a public meeting in Sydney sponsored by the NSW Branch of the Geographical Society of Australasia (RGSA) on 4 February 1886, with the Governor in the chair. The report of the meeting in S ydney morning herald , 5 February 1886, p. 12 makes no mention of any 'intrusion'. However, Brigadier-general McIvor had for some time being trying to organize a competing exploration of New Guinea for a 'New Guinea Protecting Syndicate' (Telegraph (Brisbane), 7 November 1885, p. 2) and had threatened to horsewhip Strickland, who summonsed him before the water-police court and asked that McIvor be bound over to keep the peace (Goulburn herald, 9 February 1886, p. 3).

— Our new Governor

6

Charles Robert, Lord Carrington, had arrived in Sydney only a few weeks earlier to take up his post.

is not ill disposed towards us and will doubtless become our Patron. I have yet to learn that he has any special liking for Geography — I like the idea of establishing a uniform type and system of printing for all the Branches of our Society — also we must manage to carry out the idea of obtaining Royal permission to bear the title of Royal for all Australasia for our Society We have found Mr Lanark very intelligent and zealous. I am anxiously awaiting another interview with him and my old friend Pasco. —

I am about to write a very strong remonstrance to Mr Forbes

7

Henry Forbes. The RGSA was dissatisfied with the progress and conduct of Forbes, who had had an additional subsidy from the RGSA to supplement his British grants.

and insist upon his adhering to his original bargain with us — Mr Lanark and Capt Pasco will tell you of our feelings here on the matter — and now my dear Baron with renewed apologies and best good wishes believe me to be always sincerely your