PRKSIDEXTIAL ADDRESS. 



accompanied Mitchell's expedition to the Darling River in 

 1835. Allan Cunningham was at this time in London, and 

 returned to Sydney to take his brother's vacant place. He died 

 soon after Robert Brown. Up to this tim« about 7,000 species 

 of Australian plants had been described. 



From 1842 to 1844 Ludwig Leichhardt made an ample 

 collection of plants in the back country of Moreton Bay. This 

 collection went partly to Paris and partly to Sydney, and the 

 specimens have been described by the late Baron von Mueller. 

 The narrative of Dr. Leichhardt (" Journal of an Overland 

 Expedition in Australia, 1847"j contains as much geography as 

 botany, and is by far the fullest published account on the 

 tropical vegetation of the north and north-east tracts and 

 adjacent interior parts of Australia that we possess. 



In his excellent "Flora of Tasmania" Sir J. D. Hooker, late 

 of the Kew Gardens, gives a very valuable essay on the Flora of 

 Australia, throwing light on rlie geographical features of our 

 plant life. 



In 1855 it was first contemplated in the leading scientific 

 centres of London and Australia-to bring out a general Flora of Aus- 

 tralia under Government sanction. Dr. Ferdinand Von Mueller, 

 who will be mentioned directly, was naturally looked to as the 

 botanist best qualified for undertaking the task of preparing it, 

 but as it was indispensable to compare the herbariums of Banks, 

 Robert Brown, and Cunningham, the task was placed in the 

 hands of Mr Bentham, President of the Royal Society in England. 

 Dr. Ferdinand Mueller, in Melbourne, assisted him with his 

 ample collections, and the first volume appeared in 1863. 



Now let us have a look at Dr. Ferdinand Mueller, the late 

 Government Botanist of Victoria. This energetic man, who 

 never lost a minute of his long life, and who used to work day 

 and night, was born in 1825 at Rostock, in Meckelburg. 

 During his early training as a pharmacist in Kiel, which then 

 was under the Danish flag, he took great pleasure in botanizing, 

 and rendered valuable assistance in composing the " Flora of 

 Denmark" at an early age, between 16 and 22. Having finished 

 his University studies in 1847, he migrated with his sister to 

 South Australia. From 1847 to 1852 he botanized in South 

 Australia and Victoria, where he rambled seven times over the 



