Ferdinand von Mueller

1

Letter not found. For the text given here, see Argus , 5 November 1869, p. 7. The item is headed: ‘D r. von Mueller and his services ’ . See also W. Lockhart Morton to the Editor of the Argus , 9 November 1869.

Sir,—

In reading the report of what took place in the Assembly lately in relation to Dr. Mueller and the Botanical gardens, I felt surprise that a man who has done so much for Victoria should be subjected to so much disrespect without one voice being raised to defend him. As one well acquainted with his history during a long period of years, I will not quietly see his service ignored, and a man so distinguished trampled upon, or forced to leave the colony to preserve his honour.

Dr. Mueller, like other men, has failings, but for more than 20 years he has devoted his life and his best energies to the advancement of Australia. I need not mention the prominent position he has always held in aiding and encouraging the material progress of Victoria, for that is well known and appreciated by every colonist whose good opinion is worth having, but as a man of science his name is as a household word in every civilised country of the globe; and whilst he has thus gained for himself fame which must for all time be associated with the botany of Australia, his scientific labours and discoveries have done more than those of any other man to reflect honour upon the colony which he has made his adopted country. How is he treated for all his services? While I ask this question I cannot proceed to answer it without expressing the indignation I feel, and which every one must feel, on becoming acquainted with the wrong and injustice to which he is exposed.

About 20 years ago Dr. Mueller came to Australia for the benefit of his health. He was even then a distinguished botanist. So far as I can recollect, about 15 years ago the then Government of this colony appointed him Government botanist. The Argus took a most prominent part in urging the Government to recognise his merits, and in dwelling upon the advantages the colony would gain by the services of so distinguished a man. Dr. Mueller is one of the most unselfish of men, and after his appointment he gave over to the department without consideration all his collections of plants, which had cost him many years of toil and wanderings. This was a great wrong to himself, for now, driven from his position to make room for another, his career as a descriptive botanist is ruined. The next evil Dr. Mueller was exposed to was in making over his library to the state for about four-fifths of what it had cost him. Why did he do this? A glance at the small salary he enjoys will, perhaps, explain this. The salary given him is £600 a-year; but actually it is only about £300, the rest being spent partly in making payments on behalf of the department, and partly in supporting the dignity of his position, and in charities, not to mention a considerable sum in providing music for fashionable people. A sum of money he brought to Australia with him, invested in the early days of the colony and shortly after his arrival, would haver made Dr. Mueller now a wealthy man; but with his inadequate salary, and the numerous calls made upon his unselfish and generous nature, his landed property has been, I believe, gradually disposed of, and now he will depart from the colony a poorer man than when he came.

Some time after his appointment as Government botanist he was appointed director of the Botanical-gardens without any salary whatever. It is now, and has been for a long time, insinuated that he has not done justice by the gardens, and the Fitzroy-gardens are pointed to as proving this. With ignorant people the comparison or contrast seems plausible, but every one acquainted with the laws of vegetation knows that the Fitzroy-gardens, in their luxuriant growth of trees and English grasses, merely prove what results can be obtained by an unlimited supply of water and liquid manure in the form of sewage water. The Botanical-gardens, on the other hand, have never had a proper supply of water or of manural elements, and hence it follows that with a naturally poor soil, luxuriance of growth is not to be expected. Living in the neighbourhood for many years, and knowing the state of the gardens prior to Dr. Mueller’s time, I have no hesitation in saying that no other man could have effected greater improvements than he has. Dr. Mueller is a man of such powerful natural abilities and energy of character, that he would have distinguished himself in any walk of life, but he labours under the disadvantage of being a foreigner, and it is his misfortune to have had his merits recognised by most of the crowned heads of Europe; and he has lately committed the unpardonable offence of accepting from Her Majesty the companionship of the Order of St. Michael and St. George. In my opinion, such honours, especially the last, are really worth nothing in any sense; but at the same time the mental and moral calibre of any man who is mortally offended because another has his merits thus recognised is worth infinitely less.

If it is desired, or can be proved to be desirable, to dispense with Dr. Mueller, in order to save his salary for the use of Mr. Ferguson,

2

William Ferguson.

or for any other cause, let him be told so in a fair and manly way, but I protest against Victoria being disgraced by exposing Dr. Mueller so unmistakably to insult and disrespect that it will be impossible for him to remain in the colony. It can be proved that in the service of this country he has impoverished himslef, and given up the very means by which he might have elsewhere continued his scientific labours, and to insult such a man, and thus drive him to resign his position, is a species of tyranny which the people of this colony will repel with scorn and contempt.

I wish only to add that I have taken up the cause of Dr. Mueller without his knowledge, and he will perhaps excuse me if, in the interests of Victoria and its honour, I have been forced to refer to his private affairs.

South Yarra, Nov. 4.