The correspondence of Ferdinand von Mueller: [ ¶ Your letter of the 23rd covering the one from the Baron was duly received, I could not see Mr [Goyder] today but asked Mr Jones to do so and see if the desired alteration could be made. ¶ M had as...

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93.02.23

Preferred Citation:

Ferdinand von Mueller to Alexander Macdonald, 1893-02-23. 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/1890-6/1893/93-02-23-final.odt>, accessed June 9, 2026

M's letter not found. The text given here is from D. Lindsay to A. Macdonald, 27 February 1893 (A38, letter book, Royal Geographical Society of Australasia (Victorian Branch), Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney). M's letter is dated to 23 February as the latest it could have been written, received by Macdonald and sent on from Melbourne to Lindsay in Adelaide. The correspondent is confirmed by D. Lindsay to A. Macdonald, 4 March 1893 (A38, letter book, Royal Geographical Society of Australasia (Victorian Branch), Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney), saying that he 'encloses the Barons letter to you asking if the name of the Mountain could be changed'.

[Your letter of the 23rd covering the one from the Baron was duly received, I could not see Mr [Goyder] today but asked Mr Jones to do so and see if the desired alteration could be made.

M had asked that the name be changed from 'Mt Von Mueller' to 'Mt Sir Ferdinand', but Lindsay reported that Goyder replied that 'it was too late to make an alteration to the map as the required number has been printed' (D. Lindsay to A. Macdonald, 4 March 1893; see n. 1).

Personally I do not think it can be, as though it is easy enough to add to a map it is not easy to take anything off. The Mt referred to by the Baron is Mt Mueller whereas I named the other one Mt Von Mueller

WA; 27°47'S, 121°34'E, named by Lindsay as leader of the Elder Scientific Exploring Expedition 1891-2, based on a report made by the surveyor Lawrence Wells who led a light party while Lindsay went to Adelaide after dissident members of the party resigned. For background to the creation of the light party, see Lindsay (1893), pp. 156-8; Wells's journal is at pp. 161-92, with the description of the area around Mt Von Mueller at pp. 171-2. The National Library of Australia's digitized version of the map drawn by Lindsay and Wells is at https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-230715680 .

so there is a difference.]