was the arduous effort; theirs the courage, endurance, and sustaining hope; theirs the conflict with danger and the great triumph over difficulties; theirs the agony of a lingering death, and theirs the mournful glory of a martyr’s crown.  Defrauded, as it were, of the honours which would have rewarded them had they lived to receive the congratulations they had earned, it becomes the melancholy duty of their fellow-citizens to perpetuate the memory of Burke and Wills by a monument which shall testify to their worth and our munificence.

. . .

From Dr. Mueller.

Melbourne, December 21st, 1861.

My very dear doctor,

I need not assure you that I shall be but too happy to render you any services within my power, and especially such as are connected with doing justice to your poor and great son.

Having been duly authorized by you to secure the pistol of your late son, I will take an early opportunity to claim it for you and bring it to your son Thomas.  I will also very gladly do what I can in restoring to you any other property I may hear of as belonging to your lamented son William.  As soon as Professor Neumayer returns, we can learn with exactness what instruments were your son’s.  I will also inquire about the telescope.  I believe I forgot mentioning to you, that it would be a source of the highest gratification to me to call some new plant by the name of the family, who claim as their own, one of now imperishable fame.  But I will not be unmindful that, in offering an additional tribute, humble as it is, to your son’s memory, it will be necessary to select, for the Willsia, a plant as noble in the Australian flora as the young savant himself who sacrificed his life in accomplishing a great national and never-to-be-forgotten enterprise.

Trusting, my dear and highly valued friend, that the greatness of the deed will, to a certain extent, alleviate your grief and sorrow for an irreparable loss, and that Providence may spare you long in health and happiness, for your family.

I remain,

Your faithfully attached,

FERD.  Mueller.

W. Wills, Esquire, M.D.

. . .

Melbourne Botanical Gardens, January 5th, 1862.

My dear Dr. Wills,

It affords me a melancholy satisfaction that the humble tribute which I wish to pay to the memory of your lamented son, in attaching his name to the enclosed plant, elicited such kind recognition from yourself.  I need not assure you that I shall continue to maintain, as I have done on all previous occasions, that only by the skilful guidance and scientific talents of your unfortunate son, the great geographic success is achieved, which he sealed with his heroic death.

We can only now deeply deplore the loss of such a man, and award that honour to his memory which his great exploit for ever merits.