78 The South Australian Naturalist, 



ment by his more practical neighbours. It may not be irrele- 

 vant to mention that Kriehauft* later became a member of the 

 local Parliament, and won an honoured name as a legislator 

 for his consistent and able efforts to establish afforestation in 

 this State. Mueller soon abandoned farming and returned to 

 Adelaide, where, according to Krichauff, he worked for 15s. a 

 week. Truly in those far-off days there were scanty rewards 

 in Adelaide for a Doctor of Philosophy; the rays of Culture, 

 long afterwards discerned by a well-known traveller, had not 

 then begun to shine. For about two more years Mueller re- 

 mained in this State trying to earn his daily bread, and still 

 ardently following up his botanical studies. Then in 1852 South 

 Australia began to feel the attraction of the gold discoveries 

 made the previous year in Victoria. Most able-bodied men in 

 this State Avere hurrying across to the new El Dorado, eager 

 to share in the rewards that were being so prodigally dis- 

 tributed. Mueller decided to join them, not, how^ever, with the 

 intention of being a gold-digger, but to open a chemist's shop 

 in Melbourne. But Sir William Hooker, in faraway London, 

 had willed differently; he brought his influence to bear, and 

 persuaded Governor Latrobe to appoint Dr. Mueller the 

 Government Botanist of Victoria. 



Mueller's two sisters remained in South Australia. The 

 elder, Bertha, married Mr. George Doughty, a sheep-farmer 

 near Penola. She died early, and left a daughter, who is still 

 living. The younger sister, Clara, married Dr. Wehl, who for 

 many years practised his profession as a medical man at Mount 

 Gambier. Mrs. Wehl, who survived her eminent brother, died 

 in 1901, and left several children, among whom is her daughter, 

 Mrs. Andrew Stenhouse, of Woodville, to whom the writer of 

 this paper is much indebted for information regarding many 

 personal details of her late uncle. 



Mueller began his official career as Government Botanist 

 by travelling, often alone, into the unfrequented parts of 

 Victoria to make a botanical survey of the State. He was the 

 first white man to ascend Mounts Latrobe and Hotham, two of 

 the loftiest peaks in the Bogong Range, in the north-east. With 

 characteristic thoroughness, he attempted to determine their 

 heights by the boiling point of water. He crossed the Murray, 

 and ascended Mount Kosciusko in search of alpine flora. By 

 1855 he had traversed 4,000 miles and collected some thousands 

 of new plants. Li his letters to Hooker he writes enthusiastic- 

 ally about the treasure trove he has gathered. 



In 1855 Mueller began his most arduous feat in explora- 

 tion by becoming the botanist in Mr. (afterwards Sir) Augustus 

 Gregory's expedition. One of its main objects was to search 



