Ferdinand von Mueller builds acclaim for his work in geography and botany from start in South Australia in 1847

Ferdinand von Mueller's 1852 paper to the Linnean Society of London on “The Flora of South Australia” saw him noted in botanical circles.
Image courtesy State Library of South Australia

Ferdinand von Mueller, physicist, geographer and botanist, became Victorian government botanist in 1853 and later director of Melbourne’s Royal Botanic Gardens  – but he also had an impact of South Australian science. Before being attracted by the gold rush in Victoria in 1951, von Mueller had lived and worked in South Australia.

He arrived from Germany with a good education in Tönning, Schleswig, qualifying as a pharmacist and studying botany under Professor Ernest Nolte at Kiel University. Mueller and two sisters sailed from Bremen and in 1847 arrived in Adelaide where he was employed as a chemist with Moritz Heuzenroeder in Rundle Street, Adelaide.

An inveterate explorer, Mueller walked alone to Mount Arden and Mount Brown during his first year in South Australia. He obtained 20 acres near Adelaide in the Bugle Ranges and had a cottage built there, intending to start a farm. After a few months, he returned to his pharmacy job and then saw the opportunity to open a chemist’s shop in Melbourne.

He contributed papers on botanical subjects to German periodicals, and in 1852, a paper to the Linnean Society of London on “The Flora of South Australia” saw him noted in botanical circles. The position of government botanist for Victoria was created for him in 1853 and he started a national herbarium for that colony.

Mueller covered nearly 30,000 miles in the course of his botanical collecting in Australia. He maintained a high interest in the exploration of Australia. He was actively involved organising the Burke and Wills expedition but his choice of Peter Egerton Warburton (South Australian police commissioner 1853-67) as leader was rejected.

Mueller's encouraged further exploration in South Australia: William Gosse was sent out by the South Australian government and Thomas Elder financed Peter Warburton’s expedition.

Von Mueller was a founding member of the Geographical Society of Australasia (Victorian branch) and urged a branch be started in South Australia. His first friend in Adelaide, Samuel Davenport, was elected president of the South Australian branch in 1885.