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36-618: Since 1940 the FNCV has awarded the Australian Natural History Medallion to the person judged to have made the most meritorious contribution to the understanding of Australian Natural History. Past winners include: Alex Chisholm (1940), Helen Aston (1979), Jack Hyett (1985), and Richard Shine (2009). The FNCV is situated at 1 Gardenia St, Blackburn , in Melbourne's eastern suburbs. A range of services

72-593: A chemist at the age of 15, he passed his pharmaceutical examinations and studied botany under Professor Ernst Ferdinand Nolte (1791–1875) at Kiel University . In 1847, he received his degree of Doctor of Philosophy from Kiel for a thesis on the plants of the southern regions of Schleswig. Mueller's sister Bertha had been advised to seek a warmer climate for her health, and the great botanist Ludwig Preiss , who had recently returned from Perth , recommended Australia, so in 1847, Mueller, Bertha, and their other surviving sister, Clara , sailed from Bremen . While still on

108-493: A critical role in founding and maintaining Victoria's key biodiversity regions through conservation efforts and lobbying government bodies. This includes the club's establishment of Wilsons Promontory National Park , in collaboration with the Royal Society of Victoria in 1898. The FNCV has maintained a watching brief over the park for over 120 years. The club also played a key role in founding Croajingolong National Park ,

144-468: A large percentage of its membership. The club's first president, palaeontologist and zoologist, Frederick McCoy , was also the first director of the National Museum of Victoria (now Museums Victoria ). The two organisations have maintained a close working relationship since that founding period, with many curators and staff playing key roles in the club. Since its founding, the club has played

180-700: 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 and is buried in the St Kilda Cemetery . He was survived by his sister, Mrs. Clara Wehl, of Millicent, South Australia . His other sister, Mrs. Bertha Doughty of near Penola predeceased him. He never married. Mueller

216-517: A long-term population study in collaboration with Parks Victoria. The FNCV was founded in May 1880 by a group of nature enthusiasts that included medical practitioner Thomas Pennington Lucas , botanist and curator of the National Herbarium of Victoria , Johann George Luehmann , Charles French, and Dudley Best. The club worked closely with the Royal Society of Victoria , with which it shared

252-501: A number of regional field naturalist groups across Victoria, including: Australian Natural History Medallion The Australian Natural History Medallion is awarded each year by the Field Naturalists Club of Victoria (FNCV) to the person judged to have made the most meritorious contribution to the understanding of Australian Natural History. The idea originated with J. K. Moir, a book collector and member of

288-594: A paper to the Linnean Society of London on "The Flora of South Australia", thus beginning to be well known in botanical circles. Mueller was appointed government botanist for Victoria by Governor Charles La Trobe in 1853, a post that was newly created for him. He examined its flora, especially the Alpine vegetation of Australia, which was previously unknown. He explored the Buffalo Ranges , then went to

324-471: Is available for members, including a bookshop. Currently there are ten special interest groups within the FNCV: Bats, Botany, Day, Fauna Survey, Fungi, Geology, Marine Research, Microscopy, Terrestrial Invertebrates, and Juniors. The Day group aims to provide a generalist, high quality natural history program that invites speakers from inside and outside the club to undertake lectures and excursions around

360-619: Is named after Mueller. A number of geographical features were named after Mueller: the Mueller Ranges ( Western Australia ), Muellers Range ( Queensland ), Mount Mueller (in WA, Northern Territory , Tasmania and Victoria) and Mount von Mueller (WA), Muellers Peak ( New South Wales ), the Mueller River (NZ), Muellers Creek ( South Australia ) and Mueller Creek (NT) also Von Mueller Creek (Vic), Lake Mueller (Qld), and Mueller hut near

396-879: The Bread and Cheese Club . Moir wrote to the FNCV in 1939 suggesting that such a medallion should be awarded to a person who had performed, in his words, ‘a signal service’ to the protection of flora and fauna—‘a variation of the Nobel awards’. Nominations for the Medallion are made by field naturalist clubs and kindred bodies from all over Australia, each nomination being valid for a three-year period. The Medallion has usually been awarded annually since 1940. In that time, recipients have been honoured for their work in many fields of natural history studies, and have come from every state and territory in Australia. The list of Medallionists and

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432-473: The Bugle Ranges , and had a cottage built there. He moved there with his sister Clara, intending to start a farm, but after a few months, he returned to his former employment. Mueller thought to open a chemist's shop in the gold diggings, so in 1851, he moved to Melbourne, capital of the new colony of Victoria. He had contributed a few papers on botanical subjects to German periodicals, and in 1852, sent

468-683: The Field Nats News , since 1991, which contains club activity and excursion reports, internal notices for club members and member-submitted articles. The history of the club and their conservation work has been published by the club in Leaves from Our History: the Field Naturalists Club of Victoria, 1880-2005 , and its follow-up publication Understanding our natural world: the Field Naturalists Club of Victoria 1880-2015 . Past presidents include: The FNCV has informal links to

504-711: The Little Desert National Park and the box-ironbark forests . The FNCV has played key roles in founding conservation and natural history organisations across the country. Many regional field naturalist clubs in Victoria can trace their founding back to FNCV members starting offshoot clubs for their local region, including the Bendigo Field Naturalists Club , the Peninsula Field Naturalists' Club, and

540-620: The Mueller Glacier in New Zealand. Mueller Park , Subiaco (WA) is also named after him. Species named to honour Mueller typically end in muelleri , muellerina or muelleriana . Examples include the genus, Muellerina ( Loranthaceae ), the taxa Callitris muelleri , Persoonia muelleri , and Verticordia muelleriana , Allocasuarina muelleriana and Eucalyptus muelleriana , and Terminalia ferdinandiana . Over 26,000 specimens collected by Mueller are held by

576-515: The Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne , and not only introduced many plants into Victoria, but also 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. By 1873, influential Melburnians were critical of Mueller's scientific and educational approach with

612-729: The University of Rostock ; in 1883, he was awarded the Clarke Medal by the Royal Society of New South Wales . Mueller was decorated by many foreign countries, including Germany, France, Spain, Denmark, and Portugal. He was appointed a fellow of the Royal Society in 1861, and knighted as Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1879. A list of his 'Orders, offices, affiliations and sundry honours' has been assembled. Many of his decorations were received in return for supplying zoological specimens to royal museums. He

648-596: The Australian colonial project", but also were "intricately involved in imagining, knowing and shaping colonial Australia" (Barrett, et al., 2018, p.2). He arrived at Adelaide on 18 December 1847 and found employment as a chemist with Moritz J. Heuzenroeder , in Rundle Street . He was an inveterate explorer, walking alone to Mount Arden and Mount Brown during his first year. Shortly afterwards, he obtained 20 acres (8.1 ha) of land not far from Adelaide in

684-827: The Latrobe Valley Field Naturalists Club. To foster organisation between the Victoria clubs, the FNCV established the Victorian Field Naturalists Clubs Association, which is now the South East Australian Naturalists Association , one of the largest amateur science and conservation organisations in Australia. Since 1884 it has published the bimonthly scientific research journal, The Victorian Naturalist . The journal contains scientific research reports, contributions, naturalist notes and book reviews. Although

720-635: The Northern Territory, and encouraged settlers to send plants to him. Mueller published an educational exsiccata with the title Educational collections of Australian plants (1873–1876) and was able to distribute three fascicles in about 50 institutions. Women were key contributors to his collections. Two hundred and twenty-five women and girls, the youngest of which was six years of age, collected plant specimens and mailed them to Mueller for cataloging. These women included Louisa Atkinson , Sarah Brooks , and Flora Mary Campbell . He took

756-580: The Royal Botanic Gardens. Development of the gardens with an eye to aesthetics was sought. Mueller was dismissed from his position as director of the Botanic Gardens on 31 May 1873. He had done much to develop the gardens with the scarce resources at hand. Though his pay was not affected and he still continued as the government botanist, he never lost his sense of grievance over losing the position. In April 1873, Mueller had created

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792-484: The exploration of Australia, and as one of only two members of the Exploration Committee with any experience of exploration, he made several speeches to the society on the topic. He did not favour the selection of Burke as leader, but due to factionalism in the committee, he had little say in the establishment, provisioning, or composition of the exploration party. From 1857 to 1873, he was director of

828-452: 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

864-423: 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 (today the genus Guilfoylia is again accepted). Guilfoyle went on to landscape the gardens in an aesthetic and pleasing style welcomed by most Melburnians. In 1857, Mueller applied for and was granted the degree of Doctor of Medicine of

900-415: The journal predominantly focuses on Victorian natural history, submissions are accepted Australia-wide, on all natural history subjects. Ferdinand von Mueller published many of his first descriptions in this journal, including Agapetes meiniana , Oldenlandia psychotrioides , Morinda hypotephra , Phyllanthus hypospodius and Wendlandia basistaminea . The club has produced a monthly newsletter,

936-690: The natural history collections and institutions of Our Kingdom' He was then known as Baron Sir Ferdinand von Mueller. He published 11 volumes of Fragmenta phytographiae 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 described many novel plant species sent by botanists from other parts of Australia, notably Maurice William Holtze from

972-581: The north of the state. The club's Fauna Survey special interest group has also been studying the population numbers of the endangered regent parrot , identifying a notable population increase in Hattah-Kulkyne National Park while on an excursion. The club has also notable a growing population of the critically endangered swift parrot in Deep Lead Nature Conservation Reserve , while undertaking

1008-722: The ship, he reportedly fished his first plants out of the water to analyse them. Ferdinand von Mueller was one of a number of influential German-speaking residents — such as Ludwig Becker , Hermann Beckler , William Blandowski , Amalie Dietrich , Wilhelm Haacke , Diedrich Henne , Gerard Krefft , Johann Luehmann , Johann Menge , Carl Mücke (a.k.a. Muecke) , Ludwig Preiss , Carl Ludwig Christian Rümker (a.k.a. Ruemker) , Moritz Richard Schomburgk , Richard Wolfgang Semon , Karl Theodor Staiger , George Ulrich , Eugene von Guérard , Robert von Lendenfeld , Georg von Neumayer , and Carl Wilhelmi — who brought their "epistemic traditions" to Australia, and not only became "deeply entangled with

1044-536: The state. Accounting for both the special interest groups, and Day Group, the FNCV holds weekly member events, including lectures, tours, excursions and conservation activities throughout the year. The FNCV works closely with government and not-for-profit conservation and natural history organisations, to monitor and protect key biodiverse areas in the state. This includes an ongoing research project with Parks Victoria, studying endangered malleefowls in Mallee country in

1080-568: The then colony of Victoria , Australia by Governor Charles La Trobe in 1853, and later director of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne. He also founded the National Herbarium of Victoria . He named many Australian plants. Mueller was born at Rostock , in the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin . After the early death of his parents, Frederick and Louisa, his grandparents gave him a good education in Tönning , Schleswig . Apprenticed to

1116-606: The upper reaches of the Goulburn River and across Gippsland to the coast. The neighbourhoods of Port Albert and Wilsons Promontory were explored, and the journey of some 1,500 miles (2,400 km) 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

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1152-401: The year of the award is as follows: This award -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Ferdinand von Mueller Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller , KCMG ( German : Müller ; 30 June 1825 – 10 October 1896) was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist. He was appointed government botanist for

1188-741: 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

1224-625: Was a theist who rejected Darwinism , but is said by historians to have misunderstood key aspects of Charles Darwin 's theory. Despite his differences he remained on friendly terms with Darwin. The Mueller Medal has been awarded since 1904 by the Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science to "a scientist who is the author of important contributions to anthropological, botanical, geological or zoological science, preferably with special reference to Australia". A Victorian Railways S Class diesel-electric locomotive, S311,

1260-500: Was the benefactor of explorer Ernest Giles , who visited Lake Amadeus and Kata Tjuta . Giles had originally wanted to name these Lake Mueller and Mt Ferdinand, but Mueller prevailed upon Giles to name them Lake Amadeus, after King Amadeus of Spain , and Mt Olga, after Queen Olga of Württemberg ; both kings had granted him honours. In 1871, King Karl of Württemberg gave him the hereditary title of Freiherr , to mark his distinction in 'natural sciences generally and in particular for

1296-955: Was transferred to the government of Victoria in 1865 and is incorporated into the library of the herbarium in Melbourne. Mueller was then nominated as the botanist to accompany the North Australian Exploring Expedition (1855–1856) led by Augustus Gregory , and decided to join despite initial hesitations. 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 in Australia new to science, such as Macadamia ternifolia (named after his friend and colleague, John Macadam ). He published in this year his Definitions of Rare or Hitherto Undescribed Australian Plants . From 1854 to 1872, Mueller

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