150 years

A conference celebrating the sesquicentenary of the National Herbarium of Victoria and systematic botany in Australia.The National Herbarium of Victoria (NHV) was founded on 26 January 1853 with the appointment by Governor LaTrobe of Dr Ferdinand von Mueller as the first Government Botanist for Victoria, thus creating Australia's oldest herbarium and Victoria's oldest scientific institution.Mueller set about the task of building his herbarium with great vigour. Through assiduous collecting on expeditions, the purchase of significant overseas collections, exchanges with overseas herbaria, and the gentle persuasion of all people he knew or with whom he corresponded, the plant collections grew rapidly in number and taxonomic importance during his lifetime. One of Mueller's greatest acquisitions was the purchase of the herbarium of the 19th century German botanist Dr O.W. Sonder. The entire Australian component of the collection was shipped progressively to the Kew Herbarium for study by George Bentham while he was writing Flora Australiensis. The plant, algal and fungal collections of the National Herbarium of Victoria, together with the rich collection of botanical literature and art works, form part of the State Botanical Collection that is afforded statutory protection in terms of the Royal Botanic Gardens Act 1991. A conference celebrating the sesquicentenary of the National Herbarium of Victoria will be held under the auspices of the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne, the School of Botany, The University of Melbourne, the Australian Systematic Botany Society, and the Australasian Mycological Society.