Published Resources Details
Journal Article
- Title
- Of weeds and other introduced species: Ferdinand Mueller and plant and animal acclimatisation in colonial Victoria
- In
- The Victorian naturalist
- Imprint
- vol. 124, no. 2, 2007, pp. 69-78
- Url
- https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.665557768175801
- Subject
- Chronological Classification 1788-1900 Natural Sciences Biological Sciences
- Abstract
Prompted by nostalgia and economic hopes, but without an ecological understanding of the world, Ferdinand Mueller and other Europeans sought to 'improve' the Colony of Victoria by introducing useful and attractive species. As Government Botanist (1853-96), Mueller introduced an enormous diversity of foreign plants for cultivation and naturalization, and, while Director of Melbourne's Botanic Garden (1857-73), tested their colonial viability. From 1858 to 1861 Mueller was the honorary secretary of a management committee for a collection of birds and animals resident in the Botanic Garden; and, for the following twelve years, vice-president of a society which grew out of that committee - the Acclimatisation Society of Victoria, which was devoted to the introduction of species with economic and aesthetic appeal. Even after losing the Botanic Garden, Mueller continued to publicise and popularise the introduction of desirable plants, meanwhile providing weed information and advice.