Document information

Physical location:

OM 65-21/1, letterbook of James Park Thomson, pp. 314-5, John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, Brisbane. 93.05.19

Preferred Citation:

James Thomson to Ferdinand von Mueller, 1893-05-19. 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/1890-6/1893/93-05-19-final.odt>, accessed June 13, 2026

Private
19. 5. [189]3
1
editorial addition.
Dear Baron von Mueller,
Permit me to thank you very cordially for your exceedingly kind notes received a few days ago.
2
Notes not found.
I am now drawing Mr. Healey's
3
Not identified.
attention to the subject you speak of. I am looking forward with much pleasure to your promised letter on New Guinea [… …]
4
The paper has become extremely friable and much of the centre of the MS sheet has crumbled away. All [… …] in the text below have this meaning.
most honoured by your appreciation [… …] attentions to you. It is [… …] I take much delight in [… …] [tr]ust I may found my opini[on] [… …] permitted to offer my humble resp[ects] to one for whom I entertain the deepest r[es]pect & who has done more to further scientific pursuits in Australasia than any [o]ther living man.
I see Mr. H. O. [Forbes] [… …] every opportunity of showing his [… …] to Sir William MacGregor & [… …] I am amazed to think the Royal Geographical Society of London could not have found a more suitable & worthy subject upon which to bestow its Gold Medal. An act of this kind brings Geography & exploration into contempt.
5
The Royal Geographical Society awarded Henry Forbes the 1893 Gill Memorial (not a gold medal as reported in the Brisbane c ourier, 29 April 1893, p. 5) for his 'explorations in New Guinea, the Malay Archipelago, and the Chatham Islands' (Geographical j ournal, vol. 1, p. 452). The Gill memorial is listed elsewhere as among the awards carrying a premium. The Balance sheet for the 1893 year shows 'Gill Memorial' capital fund earned £35/1/10 in dividends, but it is not clear whether all of this was given to Forbes.
Forbes had been supported by the Royal Geographical Society and other UK bodies to explore British New Guinea (see M to W. Sewell, 23 October 1885). He arrived in 1885 and began exploration but ran out of funds. He sought additional funds and received support from the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia (RGSA) but still failed to complete his expedition. 'The scant results from Forbes's well-publicized activities … seriously damaged his reputation in Australia … [and his map] was later declared completely unreliable' (ADB). There are many letters between M and Forbes, and between M and others concerning the expedition and the fate of the specimens. See, for example, M to J. Chalmers, 18 May 1886 (in this edition as 86-05-18a) and notes thereto; M. to H. Ridley, 21 September 1886; M to W. Thiselton-Dyer, 17 August 1887 (in this edition as 87-08-17c); H. Forbes to M, 5 September 1887 (in this edition as 87-09-05a). See also Forbes's letters to the press, Argus, 6 May 1887, p. 9 and Argus, 16 May 1887, p. 7, the latter in response to the report of the meeting of the Council of the Victorian Branch of the RGSA at which Forbes's first letter was discussed (Argus, 12 May 1887, p. 9). There is a relevant letter of Frederick McCoy to the editor of the Argus, 17 June 1887, p. 10.
Those who do good honest & valuable work are overlooked.
We are in a state of very great excitement here just now. I trust it will soon be quiet again.
With kind regards,
dear Baron von Mueller,
very faithfully yours
J. P. Thomson