Portrait of Baron Ferdinand von Mueller. Von Mueller arrived in South Australia in December 1847, where he worked as a chemist, and made plant collections in his free time. He moved to Victoria in 1852 with an appointment as government botanist. In the course of this work he travelled extensively in Victoria, notably in the Murray Mallee, the Alps and the Grampians. His achievements as a botanist were astounding and he left little for later botanists to discover. He wrote over 800 papers and major works on Australian botany, as well as maintaining an extensive correspondence. He was the naturalist on Augustus Gregory's 1856 North Australia Expedition, and maintained an interest in Australian exploration, including sponsoring a number of expeditions, throughout his life.

He served on the committee of the Royal Society of Victoria which organised the Burke and Wills expedition, and in 1865 urged the ladies of Australia to fund a search for the long-lost Ludwig Leichhardt. In the 1870s he sponsored Ernest Giles on a series of expeditions, also providing practical training to William Tietkens as botanist with Giles. Mueller's private sponsorship of these expeditions encouraged interest by the South Australian government which sent out several expeditions of its own at this time.

Mueller was President of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science; the Mueller Memorial Medal for eminent scientific research is awarded by this organisation. He was a founding member of the Geographical Society of Australasia (Victorian Branch) and urged the establishment of a branch in South Australia. When the exploration of Australia seemed complete Ferdinand von Mueller encouraged the exploration of New Guinea, the Pacific Islands and the Antarctic. Cape von Mueller on Possession island, Antarctica is named in his honour.