FERDINAND VON M"ELLIiR. 275 



colony. Evidently his reputation as a botanist had preceded him, 

 for in the same year Governor Latrobe appointed him Government 

 Botanist to the colony of Victoria, and from that time onward he 

 devoted himself with untiring, and one might almost say with 

 phenomenal, energy to the work of the post, which was described 

 as the investigation of the vegetable resources of the colony, though 

 it may be said without any exaggeration whatever that, whilst 

 Victoria had the honour of claiming him as her botanist, the other 

 colonies shared almost equally in the advantages to be derived from 

 his wide knowledge ; he was in fact, though not in name. Government 

 Botanist of Australia, Not only was his reputation world-wide, but, 

 what is more remarkable, there was probably no township or hamlet 

 in the whole of Australia, from Cape York to Hobart and from 

 Sydney to Perth, in which the name of Baron von Mueller was not 

 known and respected. 



"When appointed Government Botanist, Mr. Dallachy was Curator 

 of the Botanic Gardens, Dr. Mueller's duties in connection with them 

 consisting in the scientific naming and arrangement of the plants. 

 Subsequently, in 1857, he became head of the Gardens ; but, later 

 on again, these were most wisely placed under the charge of Mr. 

 Guilfoyle, Dr. Mueller being thus left free to undertake the more 

 purely scientific work attaching to the Botanical Department — an 

 arrangement which no one will now deny was most wise and of 

 great advantage both to the Gardens and tlie Department. 



At first Dr. Mueller occupied a small, unpretentious cottage 

 which still overlooks the Yarra below Government House, and the 

 three years succeeding his appointment, 1852-55, were with him 

 times of great activity. In search of plants he explored a large 

 part of Victoria, crossing the Alps, where he gave the name to 

 Mount Hothani. As early as 1853 he had been to the top of 

 Mount Buffalo, and the same year found him starting alone from 

 Melbourne, with three horses, to explore what were then the almost 

 untrodden wilds of Gippsland. The sight of him, as he passed 

 through what was then the countrified suburb of Hawthorn, mounted 

 on his favourite pony, and driving before him his pack-horses laden 

 with his collecting material and slender allowance of food, is still 

 vividly remembered. 



The Mallee district and the Grampians were also traversed by 

 him in search of plants to enrich the national Herbarium, which, 

 under his guidance, and due entirely to his zeal, had become by far 

 the richest in tlie Southern Hemisphere. 



In 1855 he went further afield and joined the veteran explorer, 

 A. C. Gregory, in his expedition across the north-west, on which 

 occasion the Victoria River and other parts were explored. He was 

 one of the four who reached Termination Lake in 1H5G, and after 

 accompanying Gregory on the return journey to Moreton J>ay, he 

 came south again to Melbourne, publishing afterwards tiie main 

 botanical results in the Linnean Society's Journal. 



lu 1857 he was appointed, as before said, Director of the Botanic 

 Gardens as well as Government Botanist. There now commenced 

 the period of his greatest activity, to far as the publication of works 



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