Ferdinand von Mueller’s phytochemical laboratory

Victoria’s government botanist and, at the time, Director of the Botanic Garden, Ferdinand von Mueller had a strong interest in the possible industrial and medicinal uses of plant products (economic botany), for which he established a phytochemical laboratory and engaged the services of qualified chemists to conduct experiments on wood distillation, paper-making, essential oils, alkaloids, ash of woods and seaweeds, dyes and tanning materials, and the strength of Australian timbers. The careers of Mueller’s laboratory chemists, George Christian Hoffmann, Ludwig Rummel, and Johann Georg Luehmann, and their interactions with other members of the colonial science and technology community are also described in this article.