Early Life
Mueller was born at Rostock, Germany. After the early death of his parents, Frederick and Louisa, his grandparents gave him a good education in Tönning, Schleswig. Apprenticed to a chemist at 15, he passed the pharmaceutical examinations and studied botany under Professor Ernst Ferdinand Nolte (1791–1875) at Kiel University. He received his Doctor of Philosophy in 1847 from Kiel for a thesis on the plants of the southern regions of Schleswig
His sister Bertha had been advised seek a warmer climate for her health, and the great botanist Ludwig Preiss, who had recently returned from Perth, recommended Australia so in 1847 he and his two sisters sailed from Bremen. It is said that, still on the ship, he already fished the first plants out of the water to analyse them.
He arrived at Adelaide on 18 December 1847 and found employment as a chemist with Moritz 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 (81,000 m2) of land not far from Adelaide in the Bugle Ranges, and had a cottage built. He moved there with his sister Clara, intending to start a farm, but after a few months returned to his former employment.
He thought to open a chemist's shop in the gold diggings so he moved to Melbourne, capital of the new colony of Victoria in 1851. He had contributed a few papers on botanical subjects to German periodicals, and in 1852 sent a paper to the Linnean Society of London on "The Flora of South Australia", so he would have been well known in botanical circles.
Read more about this topic: Ferdinand Von Mueller
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