Ferdinand von Mueller

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Letter not found. The extract was included in an unsigned obituary, almost certainly by William Woolls: 'The late Robert David Fitzgerald',  Sydney mail and New South Wales advertiser, 3 September 1892, p. 531. It was introduced by

Nothing could better show the estimation in which the late Mr. FitzGerald was held by eminent botanists than the following extract of a letter written by the universally-known Baron Mueller to the Rev. Dr. Woolls, F.L.S., in response to his letter to the Baron informing him of the death of Mr. Fitzgerald, which took place on the 12th ultimo. He writes:

The extract was also published in Messmer (1932), p. 240.

It is indeed an irreparable loss, not only to our favourite science but to ourselves personally, who have learned to appreciate his sterling character in life. Your communication came to me with all the more sadness as I was not even aware of his illness. Were the distance not so great I would have endeavoured to be in time to pay my last worldly homage to him on the way to the grave. My telegram,

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Telegram not found.

despatched as soon as I heard the tidings, will have conveyed to you my request to express my deep condolence to his family; may I beg of you to communicate also to the Linnean Society of New South Wales the expression of my profound sadness on account of this great and sudden loss. So long as the lovely orchids of this part of the world embellish with singular and varied beauty the natural features of Australia, so long will the memory of our leading orchidologist be held dear in the study of God's works.