The correspondence of Ferdinand von Mueller: ¶ [The Park Ranger acknowledged the receipt of 23 packets of different kinds of seeds from Baron Von Mueller, for planting in the park. The Baron had asked that some marum ¶ Marrum? ¶ ¶ grass seed m...

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93.10.00c

Preferred Citation:

Ferdinand von Mueller to Samuel Avery, 1893-10 [93.10.00c]. 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/1890-6/1893/93-10-00c-final.odt>, accessed June 13, 2026

Letter not found. For the text given here, see the report of the meeting of the Port Fairy Borough Council held on 11 October 1893, in Port Fairy gazette, 13 October 1893, p. 2. The official minutes of the meeting (Minute book 10, 01 Oct ober 1890 - 23 May 1894, p. 438, VPRS 11097/P0001, Port Fairy Borough Council records VA 2488, Public Record Office, Victoria ) contain significantly less information. Other municipal gardens received seeds from M around this time; see M to P. Doran, 3 October 1893 and notes thereto.

[The Park Ranger acknowledged the receipt of 23 packets of different kinds of seeds from Baron Von Mueller, for planting in the park. The Baron had asked that some marum

Marrum?

grass seed might be sent him, as well as a photograph of the grass.

According to the newspaper report, ‘The Mayor stated this request had been attended to, the photographer who was recently in the town having taken a number of the views'. Gardener's c hronicle, 16 December 1893, p. 745, published two engravings from photographs provided by M (see p. 750), presumably from this set. M to W. Thiselton-Dyer, 11 March 1894, asserts that the article was compiled by Dr [Maxwell] Masters, the Editor, from an article in the Leader (Melbourne). But the Leader article with the same text was published only two weeks earlier than that in the Gardener's chronicle, on 2 December 1893. The text of each is undoubtedly based on the Instructions that Avery produced for cultivating the grass (see M to C, Neylon, 19 June 1893 (in this edition as 93-06-19a) and notes thereto). The news item 'Marram Grass', Charters Towers herald and mining record, 3 August 1893, p. [2] published a description of the characteristics of the grass and Avery's instructions in a 'communication from the Port Fairy Town Clerk'. The same characteristics and instruction were also included in other newspapers, including Australasian (Melbourne), 5 August 1893, p. 223 (with illustrations), republished with acknowledgement but without the illustrations in Mercury (Hobart), 21 August 1893, p. [4]. Later use of the text was linked to planting along the northern Tasmanian coast in 'Illustrations for farmers. Marram grass', Tasmanian (Launceston), 15 December 1893, p. 20. The text before Avery's instructions was published earlier, in 'Rural topics', Australasian (Melbourne), 24 June 1893, p. 1149, and republished by other newspapers, sometimes with acknowledgement, for example, 'Sand-drift reclamation', Illawarra mercury, 1 July 1893, p. [4], and in others in the context of local news events for example, being brought to the attention of the local Agricultural Bureau ('Marrum Grass', Millicent times, 6 July 1893, p. [2]).

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