Ferdinand von Mueller

  Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller , KCMG (German: Müller) (June 30, 1825–October 10 1896) was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably botanist.

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Early life

Mueller was born at Rostock, Germany. After the early death of his parents, Frederick and Louisa, his grandparents gave him a good education in Tönning, Schleswig. Apprenticed to a chemist at 15, he passed the pharmaceutical examinations and studied botany under Professor Nolte at Kiel. He received his doctorate in 1847 from Kiel University. He received the degree of Doctor of Philosophy when he was 21 for a thesis on the flora of Schleswig-Holstein.

In 1847, having been advised to go to a warmer climate, he sailed for Australia with two sisters from Bremen. It is said that, still on the ship, he already fished the first plants out of the water to analyse them.

He arrived at Adelaide on 18 December 1847 and found employment as a chemist. Shortly afterwards, he obtained 20 acres of land not far from Adelaide, but after living on it for a few months returned to his former employment. He travelled through the colony from 1848 to 1852, discovering and describing a large number of plants previously unknown to Western science. He contributed a few papers on botanical subjects to German periodicals, and in 1852 sent a paper to the Linnean Society at London on "The Flora of South Australia". He soon moved to Melbourne, capital of the new colony of Victoria from 1851.

Victorian Government Botanist

He was appointed Government Botanist for Victoria by Governor Charles La Trobe in 1853 (a post that was newly created for him), and examined its flora, and especially the Alpine vegetation of Australia, which was previously unknown. He explored the Buffalo Ranges, then went to the upper reaches of the Goulburn River and across Gippsland to the coast. The neighbourhoods of Port Albert and Wilson's Promontory were explored, and the journey of some 1500 miles was completed along the coast to Melbourne

In the same year, he established the National Herbarium of Victoria, which can still be visited today. It has many plants from Australia and abroad, many of which were collected by Mueller. Also, his large private library in Melbourne can still be visited.

Then, as phytographic naturalist, he joined the expedition sent out under Augustus Gregory by the Duke of Newcastle, Secretary of State for the Colonies. He explored the Victoria River and other portions of North Australia, was one of the four who reached Termination Lake in 1856, and accompanied Gregory's expedition overland to Moreton Bay. Mueller, for his part, found nearly 800 species new to Australia. He published in this year his Definitions of Rare or Hitherto Undescribed Australian Plants.

From 1854 to 1872, Mueller was a member of the Victorian Institute for the Advancement of Science, which later became the Philosophical Institute of Victoria. He was President of the Philosophical Institute in 1859 when it received a Royal Charter and became the Royal Society of Victoria. He was an active member of the Society's "Exploration Committee" which established the Burke and Wills expedition of 1860. Mueller promoted the exploration of Australia, and as the only member of the Exploration Committee with any experience of exploration, he made several speeches to the Society on the topic. He was influential in the establishment, provisioning and composition of the exploration party but did not favour the selection of Burke as leader.

From 1857 to 1873, he was director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne, and not only introduced many plants into Victoria, but made the excellent qualities of the blue gum (Eucalyptus globulus) known all over the world, and succeeded in introducing it into the south of Europe, North and South Africa, California, and the extratropical portions of South America.

For these services, Mueller was decorated by many foreign countries, including Germany, France, Spain, Denmark and Portugal. He was appointed Fellow of the Royal Society in 1861, and knighted as KCMG in 1879.

He was the benefactor of explorer Ernest Giles, the discoverer of Lake Amadeus and Kata Tjuta. Giles had originally wanted to name these Lake Ferdinand and Mt Mueller, but Mueller prevailed upon Giles to name them Lake Amadeus, after King Amadeus of Spain, and Mt Olga, after Queen Olga of Württemberg, both of whom had granted him honours. In 1871, to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary, King Karl of Württemberg and Queen Olga gave him the hereditary title of Freiherr. He was then known as Baron Sir Ferdinand von Mueller. [1].

By 1873, influential Melburnians were critical of Mueller's scientific and educational approach with the Royal Botanic Gardens. In April 1873, Mueller created the genus Guilfoylia and described William Guilfoyle as "distinguished as a collector [who] evidenced great ardour" and held high hopes for his collecting ability. Mueller's opinion changed when Guilfoyle was appointed to take his place as Director of the Botanic Gardens in July 1873. He accused Guilfoyle of being a "nurseryman [with] no claims to scientific knowledge whatever" and of getting the job due to being related to the wife of the responsible Minister. Mueller subsequently abolished Guilfoylia as part of the genus of Cadellia in his botanical census of 1882. Guilfoyle went on to landscape the gardens in an aesthetic and pleasing style welcomed by most Melburnians.

In 1873, Mueller received an honorary doctorate of the University of Rostock; in 1883, he was awarded the Clarke Medal by the Royal Society of New South Wales.

He published eleven volumes of Fragmenta phytographica Australiae (1862-1881), two volumes of the Plants of Victoria (1860-1865), and other books on the Eucalyptus, Myoporaceae, Acacia, and Salsolaceae, all profusely illustrated. He also co-operated in the production of George Bentham's Flora Australiensis. He took a leading part in promoting Australian exploration, especially the Burke and Wills expedition, which was the first to cross the continent, and in the various attempts to unravel the mystery which attended the fate of his fellow countryman Ludwig Leichhardt (1813-1848).

Mueller died in Melbourne.

Places named after Mueller

A number of geographical features were named after Mueller: the Mueller Ranges (WA), Muellers Range (Qld), Mount Mueller (in WA, NT, Tas and Vic) and Mount von Mueller (WA), Muellers Peak (NSW), the Mueller River (Vic), Muellers Creek (SA) and Mueller Creek (NT), Lake Mueller(Qld), and Mueller hut near the Mueller Glacier in New Zealand. Mueller Park (WA) is also named after him.

See also

• List of Australian plant species authored by Ferdinand von Mueller
• Systematic Census of Australian Plants
• Burke and Wills expedition

Bibliography

1. Chisholm, A. H., Ferdinand von Mueller, Great Australians, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1962
2. Home, R.W. (ed), Australian Science in the Making: A Bicentennial History (1990) ISBN 0-521-39640-9
3. Home, R.W. et alii (eds) Regardfully yours: selected correspondence of Ferdinand von Mueller.3 vols Peter Lang, Berne. 1998-2006
4. Kynaston, Edward, A Man on Edge: A life of Baron Sir Ferdinand von Mueller, Allen Lane, London; Ringwood, 1981
5. Mueller, Dr Ferdinand von, 1858. An historical review of the explorations of Australia. Melbourne: Philosophical Institute.
6. Mueller, Dr Ferdinand von, 1863. "Enumeration of the plants collected by Dr J Murray during Mr A Howitt's Expedition into Central Australia in the year 1862". Annual Report of the Government Botanist, p.16-18.
7. Mueller, Dr Ferdinand von, 1865. "On the systematic position of the Nardoo plant and the physiological characteristics of its fruit". Transactions and proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria: During the years 1861 to 1864, pp 137-147.
8. Voigt, Johannes H., Die Erforschung Australiens: Der Briefwechsel zwischen August Petermann and Ferdinand von Mueller 1861-1878, Justus Perthes Verlag, Gotha, 1996

References

• Serle, Percival (1949). "Mueller, Ferdinand". Dictionary of Australian Biography. Sydney: Angus and Robertson.