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THEODOR MULLER, VICTORIA'S GERMAN POET
THOMAS A. DARRAGH
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ON 20 JUNE 1864 at a farewell function held shortly before his departure
from the Colony of Victoria, Georg Neumayer (1826-1909), the popular
Director of Melbourne's Flagstaff Observatory, was presented with a photograph album by the Melbourner Deutsche Verein.' The album, now in the
Pfalz Museum fUr Naturkunde, Bad Diirkheim, contained many photographs
of Neumayer's friends and acquaintances from both the German and British
communities. On one page of the album are two photographs each bearing
the name Muller; one labelled by Neumayer as 'Dr F: v. Muller' is of course
Ferdinand Mueller (1825-96), Government. Botanist and Director of the
Melbourne Botanical Gardens and so well known that nothing more need be
said about him. The other photograph was labelled 'Muller, Poet'. This
particular photograph was taken by the Melbourne photographer Montagu
Scott and bears the inscription 'Zu giitiger Erinnerung an Theodor Muller'. It
was an attempt to identify this man that threw me into close contact with
John Fletcher.
According to Augustin Lodewyckx in his book Die Deutschen in
Australien, 2 Theodor Muller was a Swiss who, among other writings, published Neunzehn Jahre in Australien, an account of his adventures and travels in
Australia. On reading this work, as it seemed likely to be the best source of
information on Muller, it soon became obvious that the Swiss Theodor Muller
had never set foot in Victoria, except for a few hours from the boat on his
way home to Europe. Therefore he could not have been the Theodor Muller
of the photograph, so Lodewyckx had mixed up two men. When I applied to
John Fletcher to ascertain if either Muller was known to him, he informed me
that he had just written a paper in which he reported the same conclusion and
had given a short biography of the Swiss Muller. Though he summarised the
work of the poet known to him at that time, he was not able to give any
details of his life.'
We agreed that a joint paper on the poetical Muller would be worthwhile,
with myself contributing on the biographical aspects and John on the poetical.
This was not to be, so I must be content to give such background on Muller as
has been possible to ascertain and a list of Muller's poems and other writings
so far discovered. Some of the biographical details were gathered during a very
short visit to Dresden in 1991 and the list of Muller's writings has been put
together by a detailed survey of the Melbourne German press, supplemented
by the standard German literature sources for works published in Germany.
Fortunately the literary and social aspects of Muller's oeuvre have been
discussed by Alan Corkhill in his excellent survey of German literature
pertaining to Australia.'
BSANZ Bulletin, v.18, n05.2·3, 1994
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Theodor Muller, Victoria's German Poet
Theodor Muller. Photograph by Montagu Scott, 19 Coliins St. East, Melbourne.
From Georg von Neumayer photograph album. Reproduced by courtesy of
pfalz Museum fur Naturkunde, Bad Durkheim.
BSANZ BuUetin. v.iS nos.2·3. 1994
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Thomas A. Darragh
Florens Theodor Reinhard Muller was born on 26 December 1825' at
Dresden and was baptised some days later at the Kreuzkirche. The date of his
baptism is not known precisely and his mother's name is not known, because
the baptismal register only recorded baptisms for the week (his entry is in the
week from 1 to 6 January 1826) and the entry only gives his father's name:
Georg Heinrich Muller, an administrative officer in the Office of Justice of
the kingdom of Saxony at Dresden. 6
Nothing is known about Muller's early life or education, though his
literary work points to his having been well educated, and he probably
attended one of the Dresden Gymnasia, since he was able in later life to obtain
a post in the civil service of Saxony.
Muller first came to notice in Australia in December 1850 when he applied
for naturalisation in South Australia. On the memorial applying for naturalisation he wrote his full name, stating that he resided in Weymouth Street,
Adelaide, was a native of Dresden, Saxony, 25 years of age, a butcher by trade
and had resided in the colony for 18 months. The certification of character
was signed by B. Amsberg and A. Beyer and countersigned by the Governor
Sir Henry Edward Fox Young on 24 December 1850. The certificate of
Naturalisation was duly signed on 2 January 1851 and advertised in the South
Australian Government Gazette on 16 January 1851, where it was advised that
applicants had to take the oath of allegiance within 60 days. Muller is listed on
10 April as having done so.'
A residence of 18 months would make Muller's arrival about June or July
1849, but a search of published passenger lists of ships from Germany failed to
find his name listed, so the search was extended. A T. Muller from Dresden
was one of 252 passengers who left Hamburg on 2 May 1849 aboard the
Australia and arrived in Adelaide, South Australia on 11 September 1849. Th.
Muller was also one of the signatories to a notice inserted above the list of
passengers from the Australia published in the Tanunda German newspaper,
Die deutsche Post fur die australischen Colonim, thanking the captain of the
Australia, H.W. Sleiboom, for his constant and untiring vigilance and for his
friendly treatment. 8 In the passenger list published in the Adelaide newspaper,
the Register, there is listed a F.T. Mueller.' It seems most likely then that
Muller arrived on this ship and made an error when making out his memorial.
This supposition is supported by the only account so far discovered of
Muller's time in Adelaide.
In an article published in 1872 that was prompted by the death of the wellknown German travel writer, Friedrich Gersdcker (1816-1872), Muller gave a
glimpse into his early life in South Australia. Muller wrote that he had
decided to emigrate there, when he met Gerstacker in 1848 (probably in
Dresden). Gerstacker was preparing for his great journey to the Americas and
Australia and on Muller mentioning that he also intended to go to Australia,
Gerstacker replied that they might see one another again there.
,
BSANZ Bulletin, v.IS, nos.2-3. 1994
Theodor Miiller, Victoria's Gennan Poet
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Gerstacker left Germany in March 1849 for South America and arrived in
Sydney via California in March 1851. He arrived in Adelaide on 21 June 1851
after an overland journey from Albury.IO Muller erroneously stated in his
article that the year of Gerstacker's visit to Adelaide was 1850 and it is quite
possible that he also erred in stating that he met Gerstacker in 1848 rather
than 1849 when Gerstacker departed from Germany.
Muller was informed that Gerstacker had letters for him, but Muller
doubted this was so, because he had left Germany after Gerstacker. It turned
out that the letters were for a Dresdener of the same name who had emigrated
to Adelaide before him. Muller then went on to write about the Adelaide
Germans and in doing so provided an explanation for him following the trade
of a butcher, though not what his real calling was.
We Germans in Adelaide were a strange clique then. The years 1848
and 1849 had brought out from Germany to this distant shore a different breed of individuals from those normally associated with the word
'emigrant'. Merchants, architects, students, even officers from the
army, all still of a young age, found themselves together here and
pursuing the most varied occupations, of which we scarcely would have
dreamed before, because the great gold epoch of Australia had not yet
dawned and we sought to make a living with hard work.
During the day we were handymen, quarrymen &c or dealt in this or
that article which yielded some profit, but when the sun sank below the
horizon, the various workers revealed themselves, we threw off the
dusty and dirty clothing and found ourselves assembled as a respectable
and educated company of an evening at Pollman and Wiener's.
'Pollman and Wiener' (of blessed memory) was a German cafe and
incontestably the finest restaurant and conditorei in Adelaide. Here we
drank an excellent cup of coffee or chocolate, smoked a good cigar,
read, if ships had come in bringing the latest newspapers (because there
was not yet a regular postal service between Europe and Australia then),
found a pleasant educated company of English and German nationalities
and often had a sublime musical treat through superior recitals on the
pianoforte as well as through solo and quartet singing. 1I
Muller was present when Gerstacker was an honoured guest at one of these
evenings, listening to him tell of his travels.
The only other information available about this early period is found in
another article Muller wrote in 1876. He spent Christmas 1851 alone in the
bush. He had walked all day in burning heat in order to reach if possible a
hospitable hut in the evening, but it became dark and so he was forced to stop,
lest he lose the track. He threw his swag down, gathered wood together, lit a
fire, chewed some tea for refreshment, because no water was to hand, and
then smoked his pipe and thought of Christmas at home with the burning
Christmas tree. He put more wood on the fire, spread out his blanket, and
BSANZ Bulletin, v.IS 00s.2·3, 1994
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lay down on the hatd ground of the forest. He looked up and saw the stars
flatning above with the Southern Cross right overhead. His homesickness fell
away like a rind from his heatt and gave room to newly wakened feelings of
devout confidence. He then stood up and by the light of the fire wrote down
in his diaty a poem 'Heiliger Abend 1851' in which it was asked where was his
Christmas tree and he answered in the heavens above decked out by God. In
all his writing this is the only expression of his religious feeling,"
In 1852, attracted by the news of the Victorian gold discoveries, Muller
joined the many thousands who streatned into Melbourne on their way to try
their luck on the goldfields. The exact date and means of his arrival have not
yet been ascertained, but he may have been the Theodore Muller mentioned
in the list of unclaimed foreign letters awaiting collection at Adelaide Post
Office published in the South Australian Government Gazette of 8 July 1852.
If so he was in Victoria by June 1852. It is possible that he walked to Victoria
by himself and that he spent Christmas 1851 en route.
The meagre details of Muller's life as an itinerant digger on the goldfields
have been gleaned from a few references made to his past life in an account of
a tour through the goldfields that he undertook in the spring of 1866."
After a long, tiresome journey of 14 days during which it rained day and
night with Muller leading a heavy wagon drawn by two horses through the
mud, he arrived at Bendigo, where he was to spend the next two yeats. The
first tub of earth he saw washed there yielded five pound weight of gold; a
sight which had to give encouragement to anybody who Catne there to try his
luck. In Bendigo he worked many of the gullies and hills, spending some time
at the fourth of the White Hills on the northeast of the Bendigo field. He also
worked at Golden Gully, Eaglehawk, Meyers Flat and Epsom. It seems that
he lived the life of the typical digger of the time by following the alluvial
rushes. Because he joined the Back Creek Rush (45 miles southwest of
Bendigo), he must have left Bendigo early in 1854 when that rush took place.
Towards the end of 1854 or perhaps early in 1855, Muller moved further
west, joining the rush to the Glen Patrick and the Nowhere Creek Diggings in
the Pyrenees. With a party of four men he tratnped over the spine of the
Pyrenees loaded with a heavy swag, consisting of his bed, a heavy woollen
blanket, tent, shovel, pick, tin panning dish, cooking utensils and clothing.
By 1857, he seems to have settled at Maryborough, which enjoyed a revival
that year, when rich quartz reefs were found there. Here he was involved in
quartz mining: prospecting at Mosquito Flat south of Matyborough, the
White Hill, German Reef and Frenchman's Reef. He stated that there was no
mountain or hill in the district he did not know or reef that he had not
prospected. It was here on Saturday 15 August 1857 that the Matyborough
Deutscher Verein was founded by 20 Germans at Herr Ballin's on Mariner
Reef and Muller elected secretary, a position he was to hold until his resignation in August 1860.1< He also served as secretary of the short-lived Back
BSANZ Bullcrin, v.IS, nos.2-3. 1994
Theodor Miiller, Victoria's Gennan Poet
123
Creek Verein in 1859." As secretary, it was one of Muller's duties to send in
reports of the Verein activities to the German press in Melbourne for publication. This he did, but it was not for these reports that he became well known.
In the issue of the Melbourne German newspaper Der Kosmopolit of 7
August 1857, there appeared a very long poem 'Der Digger. Der Heimat
gewidmet von Theodor Muller Maryborough 1857'. 16 This poem struck a
chord in the heart of every German miner, so much so that in the next issue
of the newspaper, the Melbourne agent, the chemist J. Kruse, reported that all
copies of the previous issue had been sold and that many former diggers had
purchased it because the poem expressed the feelings of the diggers and truly
depicted their way of life. Kruse suggested that it be reprinted to be sent
home by the next mail, but the editor stated that this could not be done
because the type had already been distributed before Kruse's letter had been
received. 17 It was this poem that established Theodor Muller's reputation
amongst Victoria's German population. It was so popular that it was reprinted twice in other publications. John Fletcher described it as 'an emotive,
emotional document in a patently Australian setting'.18
Though this was the first
that can be unequivocally attributed to
Muller, because it bore his ful name, it was probably not his first poem. In
the previous July, Der Kosmopolit published two poems, both signed
'Theodor' and with a gold miner theme, that almost certainly were his
creations. Their titles are given in the bibliography. A third unsigned poem
'Des Diggers Braut' also published in July was doubtfully attributed to Muller
by Charles Meyer. 19 Because it is unsigned and cannot be definitely attributed
to Muller, I have not included it in the list of Muller's writings.
Muller stayed in the Maryborough area for some time. He stated that he
had spent many happy hours with friends at the Nags Head Hotel at nearby
Carisbrook and was familiar with Maldon, Majorca and Avoca. The first
anniversary of the founding of the Maryborough Verein was a gala event. It
could not be reported in a German newspaper, since Der Kosmopolit had
ceased to exist by that time, however, the Maryborough and Dunolly Advertiser
gave it full coverage, stating that
The German Association celebrated the anniversary of the formation of
the society, by an invitation. ball, at the Golden Age Hotel, on Friday
last, and which was one of the most successful ever given in
Maryborough, and unequalled for the completeness of the arrangements
in every respect. Upwards of 200 guests assembled, including a large
proportion of the fair sex. Radford's Band, and the Golden Age Hall,
afforded the most excellent means of dancing ...
The report went on to state that supper was served at about 20 minutes
past one after which an address was read in German. The dancing went on
until morning. Among the guests were government officials, municipal
councillors, merchants, bankers and storekeepers of Maryborough as well as a
roem
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large number from McCallum Creek and the outlying districts. 'o This was the
only instance that the local press reported the Maryborough Verein, presumably because all its other activities were on a smaller scale and conducted in
German.
When Maryborough had a temporary decline and many of the diggers
moved to Back Creek (Talbot), the Verein moved with them and then back
again to Maryborough when the latter place rose again in favour. In 1859,
Muller was acting as secretary both to the Maryborough Verein and to the
Back Creek Verein.21 When another German newspaper was set up in
and
Melbourne, Victoria Deutsche Presse, Muller acted as Maryborough agent
22
contributed reports of the activities of the Verein as well as more verse.
At the second anniversary celebration of the Verein held on 13 August
1859, a ball and supper at the Talbot Family Hotel, Maryborouy,h, Muller
read his poem 'Toast', which duly made its appearance in the Presse. l
At its meeting held on 3 September of that year, members of the
Maryborough Verein decided that a member of any other Australian
Deutscher Verein would be eligible for membership of their Verein without
entrance fee and have the same rights and privileges as Maryborough members. This was reported in the Presse with a further report from Muller that
he had been instructed on 3 July 1858 to write to all Victorian Vereine
suggesting that all members of each Verein be members of every other Verein,
but that only Tarrengower had replied. This was the first attempt at a union
of the German clubs and societies that would not come to fruition until some
years later."
On 10 November 1859, the Maryborough Verein, like so many other
groups both in Germany and elsewhere, joined in celebrating the 100th
anniversary of the birth of Friedrich Schiller. The celebrations were held in a
hall used for masonic purposes, which was specially decorated with flowers,
and took the form of singing various lieder, recitations and a supper. Muller
played a leading role by speaking on Schiller's life and work and closed by
quoting Goethe's obituary of Schiller. 25
Muller's role as secretary involved him in more mundane matters than
literary appreciation. The question of who was entitled to vote for the local
mining board was a serious issue for those whose livelihood depended on
mining. In March 1860, he wrote a long letter 'Eine Zeitfrage' on this subject
to the Presse, complaining that the miners, in wishing to exclude the Chinese
from voting, wished to limit the entitlement to vote to those with Miner's
Rights who were citizens or naturalised, thereby excluding the Germans.
Muller pointed out that the Chinese did not need Miner's Rights because they
mined under a Protection Licence."
Muller could put together a piece of poetry to suit any occasion, and the
foundation of the Melbourner Deutsche Turn-Verein in May 1860 was no
exception, even though he was unable to attend the festivities in person. The
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Theodor Miiller, Victoria '5 German Poet
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poem 'Bei Er6ffnung des Turn = Vereins zu Melbourne am 14. Mai 1860' was
signed by Muller 'Turner vom Jahre 1854-1859'. This is intriguing, as it
implies that he was a member of a club since 1854, but which club and where
is not known. 27
Time to write could not have been a problem for Muller in 1860, because
he was able to embark on a more ambitious literary adventure than before.
This took the form of two shon stories, 'German Jack' and 'Der Gefundene',
with the collective title 'Australische Buschgeschichten' written especially for
the Presse and published in a series of 15 parts in successive issues between
June and September 1860. 'Der Gefundene' is set mostly in the Port Lincoln
area of South Australia and Muller may have lived there or visited the area to
have had first-hand information.
The third last part of the series was accompanied by a notice from the
proprietor of the Presse stating that in response to a number of requests the
stories would be issued in pocket book form. The first volume was to contain
'German Jack' and 'Der Gefundene' at a price of 3/- for Melbourne and 3/6
for country readers. A 20% discount was offered to retailers. Proceeds of the
sales were to be split between the author and publisher. The publisher was
convinced that his fellowcountrymen would support the venture all the more
because it was purely German and the first of its kind in Australia."
The book duly appeared, but the demise of the Presse two issues after the
conclusion of 'Der Gefundene' put paid to the publication of any more short
stories and the proposed second volume.
Corkhill regarded 'German Jack' as displaying 'some mastery of
characterisation', whereas the two main characters in 'Der Gefundene'
resembled 'at best, two cardboard cut-outs'. In addition it had two minor subplots that were poorly integrated with the mainline action. The saving grace
of 'Der Gefundene' was Muller's flair for scenic description, which Corkhill
regarded 'as every bit as impressive as Gerstacker's Australian sunsets'."
On 13 August 1860 at the third anniversary meeting attended by 30
members, Muller resigned as secretary of the Maryborough Verein and was
thanked for his work. Muller contributed two items to the program of the
night: a toast in verse 'An das Vaterland' and an amusing recitation 'Epistel',
both of which duly appeared in the Presse. 30
Muller remained in the Maryborough district and was one of the
Maryborough Verein members who attended the fifth anniversary meeting of
the Tarrengower Verein held at Maldon on 19 June 1861. As usual he contributed a toast in verse to the proceedings and this was duly published, not in
the Presse which had expired
then, but in a new Melbourne German
newspaper, the Deutsche Zeitung. 3
Shortly after, Muller left Maryborough and settled at Castlemaine. On 26
August 1861, a meeting was held to form a Deutscher Verein in Castlemaine
and Muller, who, it was stated, had done so much for German unity in
bi
BSANZ Bulletin, v.IS nos.2·J. 1994
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Thomas A. Darragh
Australia, was elected secretary. The meetin place of the Verein was e.G.
Ries' German restaurant in Urquhart Street.'f It seems Muller had given up
mining and was employed by one of the local German firms. In Glass's
Castlemaine Directory 1862·3, Muller is listed as shopman to Lenne & Nicolai,
Mostyn Street West, and the firm's members, Charles Lenne and Edward
Nicolai, are listed as nurserymen with gardens at Barkers Creek. An advertisement of this firm in the Castlemaine newspaper, Our Daily News, informed the public that the firm
Lenne & Co. Nursery, Seedsman, & Florists, Mostyn Street west, next
to the Union Bank, beg to call attention to their extensive stock of
Choice Fruit Trees, Vines, Shrubs, Seeds etc, Catalogues and prices of
which will be forwarded gratuitously by post, on application. Jl
Whether Muller had any horticultural experience to fit him for his position with the firm is not known.
One of the earliest activities of the Castlemaine Verein was a Deutsches
Fest held on 28 October 1861 at which Muller recited a dedication poem for
the German flag." This was probably the poem published two years earlier in
the Melboumer Deutsche Zeitung.
From December 1861 through to February 1862, Muller advertised in
Germania that the Germans of the Castlemaine district could obtain forms for
naturalisation from him at Lenne & Co., opposite the Criterion Hotel,
Castlem~ine.35 From March 1862 until September 1862 the address give,; was
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C.G. Ries & Co, Kaffee=Restaurants, Urquhart Street, Castlemame.
Despite these notices, Muller himself never applied for naturalisation in
Victoria. Though he had been naturalised in South Australia, this was not
valid in Victoria. He must have been aware of this fact, but never have felt
the need to apply in Victoria.
The highlight of 1862, as far as the residents of Castlemaine were concerned, was the laying of the foundation stone of the memorial to the exploration heroes Burke and Wills on the high ridge on the east side of the town.
As might be expected, given that a German, Ludwig Becker, had perished on
the Victoria Exploring Expedition, the Castlemaine Verein was a participant
in the ceremony. At 11am on the first of July a procession wound its way
through the streets to the site. All the local organisations took part: Foresters,
Oddfellows, Volunteers, the two fire brigades, the Band of Hope, the
Chewton and Castlemaine choirs and the Verein, the latter with the German
flag trimmed with black mourning crepe, the only flag so decorated, which
prompted many in the crowd to ask why. Muller in his report of the event
answered bitterly 'Wir wu~ten es gar woh!!' (we knew too well). Neither of
the local newspapers mentioned Ludwig Becker, who had also perished on the
expedition and for whom the flag was so trimmed. Muller put pen to paper to
commemorate the event and Becker's death in verse with his poem or elegy
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'Der erste Juli in Castlemaine', which was preceded by a short account of the
event. l7
Muller remained in Castlemaine until September 1862 and then moved to
Melbourne. On 8 October 1862, he was appointed to a temporary position as
assistant at the Melbourne Botanical Gardens and National Herbarium by the
Government Botanist and Director, Ferdinand Mueller, perhaps on the basis
of his experience with Lenne and Nicolai, the Castlemaine nurserymen. He
joined other Germans working for Ferdinand Mueller, including Carl
Wilhelmi (1829-84) and Ernest Bernhard Heyne (1825-81), fellow Saxons. In
the surviving wages books he is listed as receiving 5/- per day which later rose
to 8/- per day."
In May 1862 following a decision to arrange a general Australian German
gymnasial and choral festival in Melbourne, Muller wrote a 45 line poem in
support of the celebration 'Zum allgemeinen Deutschen Turn= und
Gesangfeste in Melbourne'. He then followed up in Oerober 1862 with a long
prose exhortation 'Seid einig, einig, einig', urging the Germans in Victoria to
support the festival and rejoicing that it was to take place.
The festival duly took place at George Coppin's Cremorne gardens in
Richmond on 24 November 1862. At the invitation of the President of the
Melbourner Deutsche Turn-Verein, the Melbourne chemist Ludwig Meyring,
Muller was invited to give the Prolog for which he recited his specially
composed 'Gut Heil'. He also spoke on the need for a central Verein to unite
all the German clubs and societies in the country with those in Melbourne
and gently rebuked the Melbourner Deutsche Verein for not undertaking this
task, even though this was in its statutes. At the prize-giving ceremony, he
was presented with a beautiful silver mounted meerschaum pipe, the gift to
the festival of Herr Pagenstecher of Melbourne. During the su}?per Muller
proposed one of the toasts to the brother Vereine of Australia. After the
festivities, the country participants were sent on their way by Muller's
specially written farewell poem'Abschiedsruf an die lieben Giiste im Inlande
nach dem ersten australischen allgemeinen Turn= und Gesangfeste'.
Shortly before the festival took place, an editorial in Germania had urged
the Germans to take the opportunity of so many persons from the country
being present in Melbourne to form a German National Verein.'" This
proposal went back to that put forward by the Maryborough Verein in 1859
which had attracted very little interest at the time. On 26 November, a
meeting of representatives from all the Vereine, with the exception of
Castlemaine, was held at the premises of the Turn-Verein in Russell Street.
Nine organisations were involved: Melbourner Deutsche Turn-Verein,
Melbourner Deutsche Verein, Deutscher Krankenverein, Avoca Verein,
Talbot Verein, Maryborough Verein, Ballarat Turn-Verein, Daylesford Verein
and Tarrengower Verein." It is strange that Castlemaine was not represented,
because at least one former member, Muller, was in Melbourne at the festival.
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The meeting decided to form a central committee of the German societies
with 10 votes for and three a~ainst. Those voting against the motion were Dr
Hermann Jonasson (1824-95) and Wilhelm Brahe (1824-1917), two of the
representatives of the conservative Melbourner Deutsche Verein, and Ludwig
Lang (1835-1919), one of the representatives of the Melbourner Deutsche
Turn-Verein. The decision was referred to the various associations for ratification.
Muller joined the Melbourner Deutsche Turn-Verein and at the February
1863 meeting, the first at which he was recorded as attending, he recited the
poem 'Der Schein vom Berge' with much feeling, good enunciation and
excellent memory." Muller was an active member of the Turn-Verein but did
not join the Melbourner Deutsche Verein. Perhaps it was too staid for him.
The various German associations duly ratified the decision to form a
central committee and the first meeting was held on 6 June 1863 at the
premises of the Turn-Verein. Muller was representative of the Castlemaine
Verein and was elected secretary." Initially called the Central-Comite der
deutschen Vereine in der Colonie Victoria, the name was later changed to
Central-Ausschuss der deutschen Vereine Australiens when societies outside of
Victoria joined. Early in 1864, Muller advised the committee that he may
have to resign because the Castlemaine Verein, of which he was the representative, no longer seemed to be in existence. His resignation was held over
until this could be ascertained. This proved to be the case and he resigned on
6 June; however, Frederick Kawerau, the representative for Maryborough,
offered to resign in his favour if Maryborough Verein agreed. On 13 July
1864, Muller handed in a letter advising that the Maryborough Verein had
appointed him their representative and he took his place on the committee
again and was duly elected secretary."
At the beginning of 1864, the central committee consisted of representatives of 13 organisations, including the Forbes and Young Vereine in New
South Wales. In November 1863, the Melbourner Krankenverein had withdrawn because it was not involved in politics. Early in 1864, the central
committee was involved in helping its compatriots in Schleswig-Holstein
following the outbreak of hostilities there. Muller as secretary wrote a jingoistic letter headed 'Wir wollen helfen' calling for money for the cause, if the next
mail brought reports of the outbreak of fighting."
At the second German gymnasial and music festival held on 26 December
1863, Muller once again contributed a 'Prolog'. Some days later a letter was
published in Germania questioning why the festival committee had not
awarded Muller a prize for the best 'Prolog' as it had done the previous year
when £10 was offered, stating that Theodor Muller would have carried the
prize even more than the previous year. The editor stated that only £5 had
been awarded in 1862 and that there was more honour to Muller for submitting his poem without expecting payment." In the next issue of the newsBSANZ Bulletin, v.IS, 00s.2·3, 1994
Theodor Miiller, Victoria's German Poet
129
paper, Muller replied that he appreciated the thoughts of the anonymous letter
writer, but that anonymous letters often did more harm than good. He knew
that no prize was to be offered and stated that Meyring had actually won the
prize the previous year. He had felt obliged to submit something and he
never had written for money and hoped that he would never do it."
In March, Germania reported that Muller's poem 'Schlagt d'rein!
Mahnung an die deutschen Briider in der Heimat', set to march music by the
Melbourne composer and conductor, Carl Gottlieb Elsasser (1817-85), was to
be sent to the Neue Siingerhalle in Germany and that another poem dealing
with the Schleswig-Holstein question sent to Maryborough had been read
there by J. Dhelin. Both were printed in Germania." Muller was also elected
to a large committee formed to collect money to send to Schleswig-Holstein."
On a less political level, 'Der Digger' was reprinted in Germania following
many requests, with the comment that since it had been written the life of the
digger had changed much. 50
Muller did not only respond to German matters in his writing. In
September 1864, following the finding in the previous month of the Duff
children who had been lost in the Wimmera scrub near Horsham, he wrote
'Die verirrten Kinder'. This appeared in Germania together with a very
detailed report of the circumstances of the affair."
In October 1864, the Turn-Verein held a celebration of the 80th birthday
of the composer Albert Methfessel (1785-1869) in its new Turnhalle in
Lonsdale Street East. They were a year too early for this celebration, so
someone must have miscalculated. Muller as usual contributed some appropriate verse 'Worte zu Methfessels Geburtstag' that duly appeared in Germania. 52
After many years of consistent writing, Muller had only one more poem
published in Melbourne; 'Fur Dr. Ludwig Leichhardt' which he wrote in May
1865 during one of Ferdinand Mueller's periodic efforts to raise interest in yet
another expedition in search of that unfortunate explorer.53 Theodor Muller
had already translated from English into German Ferdinand Mueller's lecture
on the fate of Leichhardt given in February 1865 for publication in
Germania." At the Turn-Verein meeting in May 1865, Muller recited
Schiller's 'Burgschaft', after which the Verein had a debating session. One of
the topics was whether political discussions had a place in the Turn-Verein.
Despite his support for Schleswig- Holstein independence from Denmark
expressed in his writing, Muller argued that politics had no place in the
Verein, but received little support for this view. The other members thought
that political discussion had first place in the Turn-Verein, because of the role
of the Turn-Vereine in Germany in the quest for German unity. The question was asked what would have happened to SchleswifHolstein if the TurnVereine had not participated in the cause of liberation.' Such arguments were
all very well when the Germans were united in their political views, but could
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lead to division when they were not and this was to happen in the following
year.
For some reason Muller's name did not appear as consistently in the pages
of Germania as before, though he was still secretary of the central committee
and signed the occasional advertisement in this capacity as late as August
1868.56 The destruction by fire of the Turn-Verein premises in November
1866 reduced their activities for many months and may account for Muller's
absence from the news, though it should not have prevented him writing
verse. His most public role was as a member of the committee set up to plan
the Germans' contribution to the visit of the Duke of Edinburgh in
November 1867." The decline in Muller's literary output also coincides with
a decline in the cultural activities of the German community as a whole.
German culture in Melbourne reached its zenith in 1862 and 1863, culminating in the two highly successful Turn- und Gesangfeste of those years. The
first in particular, under the patronage of Governor Sir Henry Barkly, had an
important impact on the British community. After 1863, there were no great
cultural gatherings, apart from New Year picnics, merely entertainment
evenings of the German associations.
One reason for Muller's decline as a literary contributor could have been
the conflict between Prussia and Austria and the south German states in
which Saxony sided with Austria and was invaded by the Prussians in June
1866. The earlier conflicts, so enthusiastically supported by the local
community, involved Germans fighting against foreigners, the Danes, and
served to unite the community. Now German was fighting German. There
were many Saxons and south Germans in Victoria and the fighting between
their compatriots and the Prussians must have put intolerable strains on the
local German community, a circumstance that does not seem to have been
researched. The news of the outbreak of war arrived in Melbourne in August
1866 and appeared in Germania in the issue of 16 August. It may not have
been a coincidence that Muller took a long holiday tour in September and
October 1866. An account of part of this tour formed four long monthly
parts in Germania in 1867 and was Muller's last published work in Australia
that I have located so far."
A Mr McL. on a visit to Australia wanted to see something of the bush and
the goldfields and chose Muller for a travelling companion. McL. requested
the necessary leave be granted from Theodor Muller's chief, Ferdinand
Mueller, and they left Melbourne by train on Saturday 22 September for
Sandhurst. Here they stayed at the Shamrock Hotel and Muller visited many
of the old places familiar to him from nearly 15 years earlier. He called on old
friends, including the Kr. family at Sydenham Gardens.59 As it poured with
rain, they abandoned the idea of spending more time in the town or walking
to Maldon, as previously planned, and took a coach to Maryborough on
Monday, staying at the McIvor Hotel there. Next morning they walked
BSANZ Bulletin, v.18, nos.2·3, 1994
Theodor Miiller, Victoria's German Poet
131
around the goldfield, visiting many of Muller's old friends and the old places
that he had prospected and mined. A snake was caught and preserved in
spirits for McL. to take with him. The evening was spent with Herr L.,
president ofthe local Verein. 60
Next day, Wednesday 26 September, they hired a buggy to go to Talbot 10
miles away and again visited many Germans. They returned to Maryborough
via Majorca, where ther visited Herr Mauch's restaurant for the best cup of
coffee on the diggings.' Muller discovered that an old friend was now a local
councillor and the council meeting was interrupted to allow Muller to see
him." They went on to McCallum Creek, visited more old friends and then
went back to Maryborough. On Thursday they left by coach for Avoca,
which Muller found had changed little since he last saw it. On another coach
they continued to Elmhurst and changed into the coach for Ararat, where
they stayed at the Bull and Mouth Hotel. Next day they walked around the
town and surrounding country and hired a conveyance to take them to the
Grampians. McL. hired a young man as a guide who claimed to know the
Sierra and Victoria Ranges well and also the way to the top of Mt William.
On Saturday 29 September, they left for Moyston, where they lunched and
then continued on to Barton Station near Mt William, owned by Messrs Gray
and Hood. On Sunday, when they were about to start for Mt William, it
rained heavily and the expedition was put off until next day. As they intended
to spend only one day on the journey, no food was taken and they set off
through very thick scrub. McL. was delighted with the colourful display of
wild flowers. Muller collected plants here and there and put them between
blotting paper in his botanical case. The opportunity to obtain plants may
have been the reason, or even the condition, for Ferdinand Mueller allowing
Theodor Muller the time off.
Muller believed that their guide had taken the wrong route, but McL.
insisted they follow him. After a time they ascended a large mass of rocks and
discovered they were indeed well away from Mt William. Since it was 3pm
and they had left at 7am, they abandoned the journey and decided to return to
the homestead. Their guide maintained he knew a quicker way to return and
despite Muller's suggestion that they were heading in the wrong direction,
McL. wished to follow the guide. Soon it became dark and they were bushed
for the night without shelter or food. By this time they were out on the
plains, with little timber for a fire. They managed to find water and wood
and spent a miserable night. Next morning Muller insisted on their following
the direction he believed would lead to the station, which McL. agreed to do,
and they eventually arrived back. They decided to rest for a day at the
homestead before making another attempt at the ascent.
On 3 October, they set out again, this time on horseback and accompanied
by the overseer, storekeeper and a shepherd. They rode as far as they could,
then followed a somewhat overgrown path that had been cut by surveyors,
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eventually reaching the pyramid on the top of Mt William. Here they spent
some time admiring the wonderful scenery and collected some crab-like
creatures from a pool, which were consigned to spirits. As clouds started to
build up they had to return, climbing down through cloud and were soon at
the horses to find that Miiller's had strayed. He had the heavy weight of his
botanical collections to carry, so McL. gave him a lift on his horse, but the
horse threw both off to the others' amusement.
Next morning, they had to leave, intending to go to Dunkeld and visit the
Wannon Valley, Sierra and Victoria Ranges and then press on through the
Mallee Scrub to the Murray via Lake Tyrrell. They sent the guide to Moyston
to hire a conveyance, but, on his not returning, the station overseer sent them
in to Moyston on a wagon, where they found the guide playing billiards. He
was dismissed and McL. and Miiller walked to Ararat. Overnight the weather
turned bad and they decided to give up visiting the mountains and go on to
the Murray. Next morning they left for Maryborough by coach and then
took the coach to Castlemaine via Tarrengower. At the first halting point, 20
miles from Maryborough, Miiller saw an elderly Aborigine begging in the
middle of the road in the pelting rain. This prompted Miiller to write some
comments that reveal a little of his character ·and suggest that he had previous
contact with these people, perhaps in South Australia. He stated that the
Aborigines were poor folk, once the sole owners of the land, now noble
beggars, the remnants of former great tribes, whose chiefs, with kingly pride,
stretched out to all the horizon with the remark 'all along my country'.
Whoever had seen them once and saw them now could not help having deep
sympathy for them, for whatever terrible reports about them had been spread
about, were nothing compared with the thousands of atrocious deeds against
them reported almost daily in the newspapers - by men originating from
educated nations - deeds founded in vices of which the despised savages knew
nothing. Anyone who had seen the Aborigines, who as a traveller had shared
his bread with them or spent the night peacefully at their fires, would gladly
excuse him inserting a few words out of sympathy for this dwindling race.
Miiller and McL. stayed the night at the Castlemaine Hotel and next day,
Saturday, caught the train for Echuca on the Murray where they intended to
take passage in a steamer. There Miiller decided to leave the reader and we
~ave no idea where he went or how long he took on the remainder of the
Journey.
With the demise of Germania in October 1868, following the death of its
proprietor and editor Johann Gottlieb Franke (1804-68), Melbourne was
without a German newspaper for nearly two years and hence an outlet for
reports of the German clubs and societies. The last record we have of Miiller
is a report of his attendance at the tenth anniversary celebration of the
Melbourner Deutsche Turn-Verein in the Adelaide newspaper Siid-Australische
Deutsche Zeitung. 6l The celebration held on Friday 7 May 1869 took the form
BSANZ Bulletin, v.IS. nos.2-3. 1994
Theodor Miiller, Victoria's German Poet
133
of a ball and supper attended by 150 people at which Miiller spoke. Perhaps
he took the opportunity to say farewell to his friends as he had resigned from
his position at the Herbarium effective from 1 May" and received two
testimonials from his boss Ferdinand Mueller on 4 May. The first was in
Ferdinand Mueller's typical English:
it affords me much pleasure to certify, that Mr. Theodore Mueller
during about seven years held the position of Assistant at the botanical
Museum of Melbourne and also aided in clerical and other departmental
work.
During this period Mr. Mueller displayed uniformely zeal, disinterestedness, trustfulness and intelligence, and is therefore with regret, that I
see this Gentleman quit my establishment with his view of revisiting his
special native country. While his position here is maintaining open for
him, I wish to him prosperity and happiness wherever he may stay,
should he not return.
The second in German was slightly longer and perhaps a little more
effusive. He stated that Theodor Miiller's honourable character was known in
Australia for twenty years, that he resigned of his own accord to visit his aged
mother in Saxony for a time and that his position would be held open for
him."
Miiller's departure date from Melbourne is not known, but he was back
living in Dresden by 17 December 1869, because he gave a lecture to the
Verein fUr Erdkunde on that evening. He spoke about bush travels in
Australia which he had made 20 years before and described the difficulties of
travelling in the bush, the lack of water and the impenetrable nature of the
scrub and forest."
What Miiller did in his first few years in Dresden is not known. He is
listed in the Dresden address books from 1869 until 1873 as 'Privatmann'. 67 In
March 1873 he was living at Kornerstra,8e 2, hintergebaude but by 1881 he had
moved to the small village of Racknitz, 2 kilometres south of Dresden. On 26
March 1873 he applied for a position at the Konigliches Naturhistorisches
Museum, enclosing his references from Ferdinand Mueller and stating that his
experience in Melbourne qualified him for a position." Following an interview on 28 March with Geheimrath Bar, he was offered the newly established
position of Inspector in the Museum. In a letter dated 12 April, he was
advised that he was appointed provisionally as Inspector at 50 Thaler per
month to begin on 1 May. Apparently there was also a promise made verbally that he would be made permanent and his salary increased to 800 Thaler
per year. There is no indication of why he was appointed or why the position
was established, which suggests that there was some element of patronage
involved.
Miiller's duties involved cataloguing the botanical, zoological and entomological library under the direction of Professor Heinrich Gottlieb Ludwig
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Reichenbach (1793-1879), the Director of the Museum, and for this he was
commended by the Museum administration. Later he was involved with
ordering the Museum's two plant collections: the Saxon collection and the
general collection. He was only able to put them into families because he was
used again in library work. In October 1874, Dr Adolph Bernhard Meyer
(1840-1911), who had no interest in botany, was appointed Director of the
Museum and in the following year the botanical collections and library
together with Miiller were transferred to the Konigliches Polytechnikum.
Miiller received the title Custos of the botanical collection.
The
Polytechnikum was founded in 1828 as the Technische Bildungsanstalt and
raised in status to that of a university in the 1870s.
Miiller was still concerned to increase his salary and it may have been with
a view to making money that he turned to writing. In 1878 the firm of
Schmidt und Giinther in Leipzig published two books with Australian
themes; one a novel and the other on hunting. John Fletcher was unable to
locate copies of either book in any library in Germany, the United States of
America or Australia. Whether Miiller published any poetry after his return is
not known, though if he did his work was of insufficient merit for it or him
to be recorded. He did publish at least three pieces of prose in the popular
Leipzig periodicals, Illustrirte Zeitung and Die Gartenlaube.
In June 1870 the lllustrirte Zeitung included a wood engraving after a
photograph by Charles Walter (1831-1907), which depicted gold prospectors'
dwellings in the Colony of Victoria. This was a view of several tents in a
forest setting. The article accompanying this illustration was signed by Miiller
and described an idyllic valley somewhere in the bush inhabited by birds,
wombats and possums whose peace was suddenly disturbed by ~ party of gold
prospectors, who set up camp and proceeded to prospect for gold. The last
paragraph of this piece described the scene depicted in the illustration without
indicating the locality.
The first article Miiller wrote for Die Gartenlaube was published in 1872
after the death of Gerstacker and has been mentioned already. The second
article appeared in 1876 and was an account of Christmas celebrations in
Australia. He described the first German Christmas tree set up by the
Germans in Melbourne in 1850 which attracted much attention and generated
sympathy for the Germans by the English colonists. He mentioned that the
Germans of 1848 and 1849 were different from the earlier arrivals who were
mostly farmers and belonged to pious sects. The later arrivals were from all
levels of society who did not shy away from any kind of work to live as free
citizens in a free country. These brought with them a great feeling of solidarity and Miiller believed them to be the true German pioneers. Many had to go
into the wilderness on lonely stations to earn their living. Those who remained in Melbourne founded a Deutscher Verein and collected funds to
support new arrivals.
BSANZ Bulletin, v.IS, nos.2·3. 1994
7heodor Miiller, Victoria's German Poet
135
Muller went on to contrast the climate between Germany and Australia at
Christmas and the English way of celebrating it. He described the Boxing
Day picnics and other activities of the colonists. In 1860 the Melbourner
Deutsche Turn-Verein began the first of its large Boxing Day picnics on the
banks of the Yarra. The activities at these were described and contrasted with
the situation of those who spent Christmas alone on stations. He then
described one such Christmas that he had experienced whilst travelling alone
in the bush in 1851."
At some stage after his return to Germany, Muller engrossed on 16 pages
of good quality paper in his best handwriting a copy of his poem 'Der Digger'.
A title page on thick glossy card was printed with the title 'Der Digger oder
Gold-Graeber. [printed in gold] Gedichtet an den Goldfeldern Australien's
von Theodor Muller'. His name was signed carefully in ink. This was
provided with a red cloth cover with the title 'Der Gold-Graber von Theodor
Muller' stamped in gold. This copy, now in the National Library of
Australia, was formerly in the Saxon Royal Library. John Fletcher called
this 'a facsimile reproduction ... in manuscript'.'o John, never having seen
Muller's handwriting, was not aware that it was written out by Muller
himself, but this fact gives added strength to John's surmise that Muller may
have presented this copy to one of the Saxon kings, Johann or his successor
Albert. The presentation may have been part of an attempt to solicit patronage of some kind, perhaps for the position at the museum.
That Miiller had not completely lost touch with friends in Australia is
shown by a surviving letter, dated 15 June 1878, to his fellow Saxon and
former colleague at the Melbourne Herbarium, E.B. Heyne, then resident in
Adelaide. He informed Heyne that all was well with him as he held the
position of Custos at the Dresden Polytechnikum and that Heyne could find
out more from a letter that he had -sent to another friend, one Uhlemann. He
also suggested that Heyne could read his novel A ustralische Colonisten, a copy
of which he had sent to Uhlemann. 71
Just how serious a botanist Muller was is difficult to judge, but it is hard
not to suspect that his position was merely a means of earning money. He
never published a botanical paper nor joined the local natural history society,
the Naturwissenschaftliche Gesellschaft Isis, for instance, whereas his old
colleague at the National Herbarium, Carl Wilhelmi, joined in 1869. Carl
Wilhelmi had been retrenched at the end of 1868, along with manl other civil
servants and received £371/5/7 compensation for loss of office.' Wilhelmi,
who also had returned to Germany about the same time as Muller, settled in
Dresden as the proprietor of a seed shop and maintained an interest in science.
He published several papers on Australian botany in the society's journal.
Muller, however, did join one of the Dresden learned societies, becoming a
member of the Verein fUr Erdkunde in 1873 or 1874. At its meeting held on
24 April 1874, he gave a lecture on the Overland Telegraph and telegraphic
8SANZ Bulleti.n, v.IS nos.2-3, 1994
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connections of Australia with other continents. At another meeting, held on
27 November 1874, he reported on the latest attempts to penetrate into the
interior of Australia from the diary of the South Australian explorer John
Ress. He was not listed in the membership list of the Verein for 1878, so he
must have resigned before then."
By March 1880, Muller's health had begun to deteriorate. He was suffering
from rheumatic inflammation to the extent that he was forced to take sick
leave. He applied in July 1880 for leave to go to the baths at Tepliz 50 kilometres south of Dresden in neighbouring Bohemia to undertake a three week
cure. In October 1880, he was given extended sick leave and he died on 4
March 1881, aged 55 years and two months. He Was buried in the
Trinitatskirche Cemetery on the northeast side of Dresden." His wife Clara
nee Bornowska applied for and received a pension of 480 Marks per annum.
The couple had no natural children but a fbster child Helene Bornowska. 75
There is no record of Muller's marriage in Victoria or South Australia, so he
presumably married after his return to Germany.
Muller is a significant, though now forgotten, figure in the history of the
German presence in Victoria. During the late 1850s and 1860s he was a wellknown writer and poet, at least as far as the Germans were concerned, though
he was not the only person who had verse published in the local German
newspapers. For instance Friedrich Gelbrecht even published one of his own
poems in his newspaper, Victoria Deutsche Presse, that had previously appeared
in the Adelaider Deutsche Zeitung and the well known travel writer, Friedrich
Gerstacker's poem 'Goldgraber, ho!', appeared in the Presse along with verse
by others. However, Muller Was the only one who had a large number of
poems published over a long period of time and who also wrote short stories
that were published in book form in Melbourne.
Muller's poems were overwhelmingly sentimental and often very patriotic.
They seem too sentimental for the taste of modern readers, but they reflected
the feelings and attitudes of his fellow German colonists, particularly those
who joined the various German clubs to experience and keep alive a little of
German culture. He, like so many others of the most active members of these
clubs in the 1860s, succumbed to homesickness and returned to Germany
never to return to Melbourne. Corkhill has pointed out that Muller insisted
that 'the bush was the most natural of milieux in which to spin a yarn' and so
to some extent anticipated the literary development of the nineties.76
It seems appropriate, having sketched out Muller's career, to give a small
sample of his poetry.
Spruch auf das deutsche Vaterland
!ch kenne eine Eiche gepriift im Sturmgebraus,
Sie breitet ihre Zweige weit in die Welt hinaus;
In ihrem Schatten reiste ein edeles Geschlecht
Reich·an gar hoher Tugend, von Herzen gut und recht.
BSANZ Bulletin, v.l8, nos.2·3. 1994
Theodor Muller, Victoria's German Poet
137
[ ...]
Die Eiche ist mein Deutschland! Mein Deutschland hoch und hehr,
Sie schaut mit lustiger Krone weit in der Welt umher.
Und ob auch kleine Wesen die hohe Eiche schmmn,
Die Eiche hat gestanden - die Eiche wird bestehn!
[ ... ]
Und ob auch neue Sturme durch deine Wipfel wehn,
Mit Gott und deinem Volke wirst siegreich du bestehn,
Und wir, die Sohne, rufen von diesem femen Strand,
Gott schutz' das gro{3e deutsche, vereinte Vaterland!!!
Muller was one of that small circle of German artists and scientists active
in Melbourne in the 1850s and 1860s, 'whose achievements were unequalled in
colonial Australia'." Unlike all the others in that circle, Muller made no
impression outside it because his contribution was in a language foreign to the
larger community.
Acknowledgments: This paper owes much to the immense body of
correspondence gathered together by the Ferdinand von Mueller Correspondence Project. It was one of the letters shown to me by Doris Sinkora that led
to establishing details of Theodor Muller's life after he left Australia.
I am grateful to the following persons and institutions for assistance: H.-].
Kretzer, B. O'Neil, Doris Sinkora, Helen Cohn, Sara Maroske, Frau Christel
Hebig, Clive Willman, Alan Corkhill, Ralph Grandison, Professor ]ohannes
Voigt, Sachsisches Hauptstaatsarchiv, Stadtarchiv Landeshauptstadt Dresden,
Ferdinand von Mueller Correspondence project, State Library of South
Australia and Australian Archives.
Melbourne
NOTES
Germania 30 June 1864, p.lll.
A. Lodewyckx. 1932.
'Die Deutschen in Australien',
Scbriften des Deutschen
Ausland-lnstituts Stuttgart A 32, p.179.
3. J. Fletcher, 1987. 'Theodor Muller and his nineteen years in Australia' in W. Veit. ed.
Anlipodische Aufklarungen. Antipodean Enlightenments. Festschrift fUr Leslie Bodi. Peter
Lang, Frankfun aiM, pp.87-104.
1.
2.
4.
A. Corkhill. 1991. Antipodean Encounters Australia and the German Literary Imagination
1754·1918. Peter Lang, Bern.
5. Acten des Konigl. Polytechnikums Dresdens. Custos der botanisch. Sammlung Theodor
Miiller. Staatsarchiv Dresden, Ministerium fUr Volksbildung or.15441. p.19.1etter Theodor
Muller to Ministry. 30 December 1875. gives birth date.
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6.
Letter from Stadtarchiv. Landeshauptstadt Dresden. 29 January 1993.
Georg Heinrich
MUller's position was entitled 'Controleur in der Ausfertigungsstelle' i.e. supervisor in the
document engrossing branch.
7. Australian Archives Series A 821/1, item 86/folio 10. South Australian Government Gazette
1851, p.32 (certificate ready), 10 April 1851, p.246 Qisted as having taken the oath).
8. Die Deutsche Post . . , 15 (13 September 1849), p.59. The passenger list gives the place of
i~
origin of each passenger.
9. South Australian Register 12 September 1849, p.3. Amongst the 14 persons listed from
Dresden in the Post were C.H. and C.H. Uhlmann, who signed the notice to the ship's
captain as 'Gebr. Uhlmann' (Uhlmann brothers). These appeared in the Register as Christ.
H. and Charles H. Uhlmann. Some 29 years later a friend Uhlemann [sic] was mentioned
by Miiller in a lener he wrote to E.B. Heyne in Adelaide. Even allowing for an error in
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spelling, it seems too much of a coincidence that the F.T. or Th. Miiller and one of the
persons named Uhlmann, passengers on the Australia from Dresden. were not the poetical
Theodor Miil1er and his friend Uhlemann.
10. South Australian Register 23 June 1851, p.2.
11. 'Gerstacker ist da!' Die Gartenlaube 29. 1872. pA77. The first two sentences of the
quotation are taken from Corkhill (note 4) and the remainder is the author's translation.
12. 'Weihnachtsfeier in Australien.' Die Gartenlaube 49, 1876, pp. 824-826.
13. 'Reisebilder auf dem Wege nach den Grampians.' Germania 25 April 1867, p.1367; 23 May
1867, p.1383; 20 June 1867, p.1399; 25 July 1867, p . 1 4 1 9 . ,
14. Der Kosmopolit 25 August 1857, p.314. In Deutsche Monatscbrifr fur Australien, July 1859,
p.119. there is an article probably written by Mi.iller in which it is stated that the
Maryborough Verein was founded by 13 men on the evening of 13 August 1857 in a tent on
Whitehorse Reef. The contemporary report written a few days after the event seems more
likely, though the anniversary celebrations in 1858 and 1859 were held on 13 August.
15. Victoria Deutsche Presse 15 July 1859, pA.
16. Pages 294-5.
17. Der Kosmopolit 11 August 1857, p.299; 25 August 1857, p.314.
18. Fletcher (note 3), p.89.
19. Der Kosmopolit 8 July 1857, p. 260. C. Meyer, 1980. The German Speakers of Australia
Victorian Institute of Secondary Education. Melbourne. p. 101.
20. Maryborough and Dunol/y Advertiser 17 August 1858, p.2.
2!. Victoria Deutsche Presse 15 July 1859, pA.
22. Victoria Deutsche Presse 15 July 1859, pA.
23. Victoria Deutsche Presse 2 September 1859, p.2.
24. Victoria Deutsche Presse 16 September 1859, p.3.
25. Victoria Deutsche Presse 2 December 1859, p.2.
26. Victoria Deutsche Presse 30 March 1860, p.3.
27. Victoria Deutsche Presse 18 May 1860, p.2.
28. Victoria Deutsche Presse 24 August 1860, p.3.
29. Corkbill (note 4), pp. 114-5.
30. Victoria Deutsche Presse 31 August 1860, p.2. For the publication of his items see checklist.
3!. Deutsche Zeitung21 June 1861, p.30.
32. Deutsche Zeitung 6 September 1861, pp.74, 76.
33. Our Daily News 19 August 1862, p.3.
34. Germania 8 November 1861, p.187.
35. Germania 20 December 1861, p.212; 28 February 1862, p.258.
36. Germania 7 March 1862, p.262; 12 September 1862, p.379.
37. Germania 11 July 1862, p.34!. Muller did not indicate whether he had ever met Ludwig
Becker, though they were on Bendigo at the same period. For Becker's account of his
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Theodor Muller, Victoria's German Poet
139
Bendigo life see T.A. Darragh & M. Kohler, 1993. Ludwig Seeker A letter from Australia.
Garravembi Press, Bacchus Marsh.
38. National Herbarium of Victoria Library.Regulation Cash Book 1858-63. Muller was paid
£5/5/. on 31 October for 21 days (not including Sundays), so he started on 8 October. By
1868 he was receiving 8/· per day, reduced to 7/6 from September to December 1868
(Government Botanist Register of Accounts 1868-76).
39. Germania 28 November 1862, p.4lS.
40. Germania 21 November 1862, p.420.
41. Germania 5 December 1862, p.429.
42. Germania 19 February 1863, p.477.
43. Cermania 25 June 1863, p.547.
44. Gemumia 22 September 1864, p.819.
45. Cermania 25 February 1864, p.696.
46. Cermania 7 January 1864, p.668.
47. Germania 14 January 1864, p.672.
48. Camania 24 March 1864, p.713.
49. Cermania 24 March 1864, p.712.
SO. Germania 24 March 1864, p.714.
51. Germania 22 September 1864, p.819.
52. Germania 13 October 1864, p.830.
53. Cermania 228 (18 May 1865), p.957. This poem was :uso reprinted in B/umenlese auf dem
Felde der neueren Literalur. Beilage zur Tanunda Deulschen Zeitung 21 June 1865 (Corkhill
[note 4}, p.127). I h2ve not been able to check this periodical.
54. Germania 23 February 1865, pp.908·9. This article has no indication that Theodor Mi.iller
translated it into German. However, it also appeared as an eight page pamphlet, reprinted
from Germania by J.G. Franke and Co. Das Schicksal Dr. Ludwig Leichardl's und eine emeute
Anregzmg zur Auffsuchlmg dieses Forschungreisenden Imd seiner Gefiihrten. Ein Vorlrag
gehalten in der St. George's Halle zu Melbourne am 9. February 1865 von Ferdinand Mueller ...
(Uebersetzung von Theodor Muller)' The only known copy is in the Mitchell Library.
55. Cermania 25 May 1865, p.961.
56. The Central Committee seems to have faded away, its demise perhaps hastened by Muller's
subsequent departure from Melbourne. In November 1870, the committee set up to raise
funds for the families of wounded and fallen soldiers of the Franco-Prussian War asked for
the cash balance remaining in the Central Committee's account to be donated to the relief
fund, which suggests that the Central Committee had become inactive, if not defunct
(Australische Deulsche Zeitung 11 November 1870, p.261).
57. Germania 7 November 1867, p.1478.
58. See note 13. The following account is a much abbreviated summary of Muller's long article.
Nothing is known of Herr McL. other than that he was in Australia for a short time and at
some period had travelled in Chile.
59. F.W. Kraemer.
60. Alexander Lowenstein, a tobacconist of High Street.
61. Stevens & Barlholomew's Sandhurst, Castlemaine, Echuca, Maldon, Dunolly, Maryborough,
Back Creek and Avoca Dislrict Directory for 1867 records Mauch as Henry Maugh, German
Club Hotel, Majorca.
62. This was Adolph Brehmer, a Councillor of the Borough of Craigie which included Majorca
township where the council met. Brehmer was a tobacconist and stationer. See Stevens &
Bartholomew's Directory (note 61).
63. Siid·Australische Deutsche Zeitung 19 May 1869, p.l0. The report from Victoria was dated 10
May 1869 and stated that the ball took place on the previous Friday evening.
BSANZ Bulletin., v.IS nos.2-3, 1994
Thomas A. Darragh
140
64. National Herbarium Library. Government Botanist Register of Accounts, p.162. On 30
April Miiller received £10/8/-, his wages for the full month (26 days) at the rate of 8/· per
day.
65. Acten ... (note S, 75), p.13b. Copies of both references were submitted with Theodor
Miiller's application for a position with the Museum fUr Naturkunde, Dresden.
66. VI und VII ]ahresbericht des Vereins fur Erdkunde zu Dresden (1870), p.50.
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67. See note 6.
68. Acta des Konigl. naturhistorischen Museums betreffend 1869-74.
Ministerium rur
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Volksbildung nr. 19283, p.B!.
69. Die Gartenlaube 29(1872), pA77; 49(1876), pp. 824-826. I am grateful to Dr Alan CorkhiII
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70. Fletcher (note 3), p.89.
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for a copy of the first reference and to Professor Johannes Voigt for a copy of the second
reference.
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71. Miiller to E.B. Heyne, 15 June 1878, private possession, copy, National Herbarium of
Victoria.
72. Treasurer's Statement . . . 1869. Votes and Proceedings of the Legislative Assembly Paper
1870/A6, 69pp. The Germans fared badly in the 1868 reductions. Robert Hicksch,
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Friedrich Kawerau, Georg Ulrich, Emu T odt and possibly others were included.
73. Xl und Xll ]ahresbericht des Vereins fur Erdkunde zu Dresden (1875), helt I, p.ll, Ordentliche
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Mitglieder 3 April 1875, nr. 167 Theod. Muller, Inspector am Konigl. naturhist. Museum;
p.49 report of lecture; p.56 report on Ross's journey. Muller wa.s not listed in the member-
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ship lists published in the VIll und IX ]ahresbericht (1872) and the XV]ahresbericht (1878).
74. Dresdener Anzeiger 64 (5 March 1881), p.14.
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75. Clara Muller to Direction des Polytechnikums, 13 March 1881, Aeten des Konigl.
Polytechnikums Dresdens (note 5) and Direction to Ministry, 16 March 1881, Ministerium
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rur Volksbildung nr. 15536.
76. CorkhiII (note 4), p.116.
77. T. Bonyhady, 1987.
'Deutsche
in Melbourne.
German Melbourne' in H. Gercke.
Australische lmpressionen, Braus, Heidelberg, pp.l8-33.
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Checklist of Theodor MiilIer's writings
'Zueignung eines deutschen Diggers an seine Mutter in Sachsen bei Uebersendung
eines Gold-Nuggets in Form eines Ankers' (4 stanzas, 16 lines). This poem is merely
signed 'Theodor'. Der Kosmopolit 67(17 July 1857), /.271.
: ,f
'Hoffnung des Wiedersehens. Empfindungen eines deutschen Goldgrabers in
Bendigo am Geburtstage seiner Mutter in der Heimat' (11 stanzas, 64 lines). This
poem is merely signed 'Theodor'. Der Kosmopolit 70(28 July 1857), p.283.
'Der Digger. Der Heimat gewidmet.' Der Kosmopolit 73(7 August 1857), pp.294-5.
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'Der Digger. Der Heimat gewidmet.' Deutsche Monatschrift fur Australien. July
1859, pp.126-9.
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BSANZ BuI/etin, v.18, nos.2-3, 1994
Theodor Muller, Victoria's German Poet
141
'Toast' (17 stanzas, 68 lines). Victoria Deutsche Presse 9(2 September 1859), p.2.
'Zur Fahnenweihe' (8 stanzas, 64 lines).
September 1859), p.21.
Me/bourner Deutsche Zeitung 4(30
'Bei Eroffnung des Turn- Vereins zu Melbourne am 14. Mai 1860' (7 stanzas, 56
lines). Victoria Deutsche Presse 46(18 May 1860), p.3.
'Australische Buschgeschichten.' (Original-Erziihlungen fur die "Victoria
Deutsche Presse".) 'German Jack' Victoria Deutsche Presse 48(1 June 1860), p.3; 49(8
June 1860), p.3; 50(15 June 1860), pA; 51(22 June 1860), pA; 52(29 June 1859), pA; 53(6
July 1860), pA; 54(13 July 1860), pA; finish of 'German Jack' and start of 'Der
Gefundenen' 55(20 July 1860), pA; 56(27 July 1860), pA; 57(3 August 1860), pA; 58(10
August 1860), pA; 59(17 August 1860), pA; 60(24 August 1860), pA; 61(31 August
1860), pA; 62(7 September 1860), pA.
Austra/ische Buschgeschichten, Erster Band, Melbourne, F. Gelbrecht, 1860, 157 pp.
'Diggings-Bilder Zwei Zelte' (82 lines). Victoria Deutsche Presse 56(27 July 1860),
p.3.
'Epistel, gesprochen am dritten Jahresfeste des Deutschen Vereins
Maryborough' (47 lines). Victoria Deutsche Presse 61(31 August 1860), p.3.
'Toast auf das Vatedand' (11 stanzas, 77 lines).
September 1860), p.2.
zu
Victoria Deutsche Presse 62(7
'Spruch auf das deutsche Vatedand' (8 stanzas, 32 lines). Deutsche Zeitung 9(28 June
1861), Beilage, Me/bourner Museum 2, p.1.
'Verge(3t die deutsche Sprache nichtl' (9 stanzas, 72 lines). Germania 39(4 October
1861), p.166; reprinted 42(25 October 1861), p.182.
'Zum allgemeinen Deutschen Turn- und Gesangfeste in Melbourne' (5 stanzas, 45
lines). Germania 72{23 May 1862), p.309.
'Der erste Juli in Castlemaine' (8 stanzas, 64 lines). Germania 79(11 July 1862),
p.341 (reprinted 80(18 July 1862), p.348).
'Seid einig, einig, einig!' (article urging participation in coming Turn- unci
Gesangfest). Germania 95(31 October 1862), pA08.
BSANZ Bulletin, v.IS nos.2-3. 1994
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Thomas A. Darragh
'Gut Hei!!' (22 stanzas, 162 lines). Germania 99(28 November 1862), p.424.
Prologue for the first German Turn- und Gesangfest in Australia held 21 November
1862. Reprinted 102 (19 December 1862), p.437.
'Abschiedsruf an die lieben Gaste im Inlande, nach dem ersten australischen
allgemeinen Turn- und Gesangfeste' (11 stanzas, 44 lines). Germania 100(5
December 1862), p.429. Signed Th. M. Reprinted Germania 102(19 December 1862),
p.438.
[Untitled prologue spoken at Melbourner Deutsche Turn-Verein evening] (8
stanzas, 58 lines). Germania 127(11 June 1863), 543. First line runs 'Gestattet mir, eh'
noch das Spiel beginnt'.
'Gegengrull an die Sangsgenossen in der Heimat' (3 stanzas, 24 lines) [song with
words by Miiller and music by Elsasser sung by Liedertafel Choir]. Germania 141(18
September 1863), p.599.
[Prologue for second Turn- und Gesangfest] (8 stanzas, 80 lines). Germania 156(31
December 1863), p.664. First line runs 'Zum zweiten Feste, das die deutschen
Briider' .
'Schlagt d'rein! Mahnung an die deutschen Briider in der Heimat.' (3 stanzas, 30
lines). Germania 165(3 March 1864), p.700. March song with music by Elsasser. The
music was not printed. Reprinted 168(24 March 1863), p.716.
[Untitled poem concerning the Schleswig-Holstein conflict] (6 stanzas, 48 lines).
Germania 168(24 March 1864), p.713. First line runs 'Vom Norden Deutschlands
schallt der Hiilferuf'.
'Der Digger. Der Heimat gewidmet.' Germania 168(24 March 1864), p.714. The
editor commented that the poem was reprinted following many requests for it.
'Die verirrten Kinder (Treu nach der Thatsache)' (22 stanzas, 176 lines). Germania
194(22 September 1864), p.819.
'Worte zu Methfessels Geburtstag' (10 stanzas, 80 lines).
October 1864), p.830.
Germania 197(13
'Fiir Dr. Ludwig Leichhardt' (9 stanzas, 72 lines). Germania 228(18 May 1865),
p.957.
BSANZ Bulietin, v.lS, nos.2·3. 1994
143
1heodor Miiller, Victoria's German Poet
'Reisebilder auf dem Wege nach den Grampians.' Germania 329(27 April 1867),
p.1367; 333(23 May 1867), p.1383; 337(20 June 1867), p.1399; 342(25 July 1867),
p.1419.
'Goldsucherwohnungen in Australien.' Illustrirte Zeitung (Leipzig) 54(1405) (4 Juni
1870), ppA32, 434.
'Gerstacker ist d.!' Die Gartenlaube 29 (1872), pA77.
'Weihnachtsfeier in Australien.' Die Gartenlaube 49(1876), pp.824-826.
article includes his poem 'Heiliger Abend 1851' (2 stanzas, 8 lines).
This
Australische Kolonisten oder Heute so - Morgen so! Leipzig, Schmidt und Gunther,
1878. iv, 432pp.
]agden in Australien, Leipzig, Schmidt und Gunther, 1878. 147pp. Volume 15 in
C.C. Freiherr von Thungen (ed.) 8ibliothek fur Jager und Jagdfreunde.
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