Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 22.djvu/844

 18 acres, and in it is the original exhibition building, now much used for concerts and festive gatherings. Belmore Park occupies 10 acres, and Cook and Phillip Parks each about the same area. The Fort Phillip reserve is a sort of acropolis, two of its rocky sides being escarped. Here, at an elevation of 146 feet, stands the astronomical ob- servatory. Grose Farm, on the south-west of the city, was the site of one of the earliest attempts at Government farming. It is an undulating and elevated piece of land, and is divided amongst the university and the affiliated colleges of St Paul, St John, and St Andrew, the Prince Alfred Hospital, and Victoria Park.

The city started from the banks of the Tank stream at the head of Sydney Cove, and the chief business part is still in the limited area lying between Darling Harbour and the Domain and Hyde Park. The streets are irregular in width, some of them narrow and close together, while those leading down to Darling Harbour have a steep incline. Sydney has consequently more the look of an Old- World city than any other in Australia, and in its lack of spacious promenades and open squares and places, and in its poor oppor- tunity for displaying its public buildings, it contrasts unfavour- ably with the more symmetrically planned sister cities of Australia. On the other hand, it has a charm which is all its own, as the glimpses of the harbour and the shipping obtainable from so many points give a delightful variety to the street vistas. The principal business street is George Street, 2 miles long, flanked with hand- some commercial buildings. In this street are the post-office, the town-hall, the cathedral, and the main railway station. Only second in importance is Pitt Street, which runs nearly parallel with it as far as the railway station.

The public and private buildings of Old Sydney are of a primi- tive order of architecture, but they are rapidly disappearing as the city is being rebuilt. With the exception of Government House, the university and affiliated colleges, and the registrar-general's office, all the non-ecclesiastical public buildings are in a classical style. Of the modern public buildings the museum, the post-office, the offices for the colonial secretary, the minister for public works, and the minister for lands, and the custom-house are the finest. The town-hall is a fine building, but a little too florid ; the great hall, when finished, will be the largest in Australia. The Anglican cathedral in George Street is small. A Roman Catholic cathedral, on the east side of Hyde Park, replaces an earlier one that was burnt down, and will, when completed, be the finest ecclesiastical edifice in the city. The mint (an adaptation of an old hospital) is an imperial establishment, the cost of which is defrayed by the colonists. The annual value of the coinage from local gold is about 500,000, and this coinage has imperial currency. All the large public buildings are constructed of Sydney sandstone, which is abundant in quantity, though variable in quality. The best comes from the quarries in Pyrmont.

The length of streets, lanes, and public ways is about 100 miles. These are mostly macadamized, but wood paving has lately come much into favour. The saleyards for cattle and sheep (area 40 acres) are 7 miles off, at Homebush. The gross city revenue from all sources is about 376,000. For municipal purposes the city is divided into eight wards, each returning three aldermen, and for parliamentary purposes into three electorates east, west, and south each returning four members. In 1881 the city popula- tion was 105,000. It was in 1886 officially estimated at 125,000. The population of the suburbs was officially estimated in 1884 at 150,000, making a total metropolitan population of 275,000. Com- munication with the suburbs is maintained to a large extent by steam tramways, entirely in the hands of the Government. The whole district between Sydney and Parramatta is practically sub- urban for 2 miles on each side of the railway. The fashionable suburbs lie to the east of Sydney, the business extension of the city being more to the westward. The southern side is largely devoted to manufacturing operations, and population is rapidly extending in the direction of Botany Bay. The north shore of the harbour is outside the city limits, and the communication is by steam ferries. The north shore has deep water close in shore, but little level ground, the land rising rapidly to an elevation of 300 feet. Up this ascent the Government has constructed a cable tramway, and from the railway between Newcastle and Sydney, which crosses the Parra- matta river 2 miles below the head of the navigation, there is to be a branch line of railway to the north shore, opposite the city.

Water was at first obtained from the so-called Tank stream ; afterwards recourse was had to a lagoon on the southern slope of the dividing ridge between Port Jackson and Botany Bay, from which an artificial tiinnel, known as Busby's Bore, brought the water into the city at the level of Hyde Park. When a further supply was wanted the same watercourse was utilized, the works being constructed at the point where it flowed into Botany Bay. A scheme is now (1886) in course of execution to bring water from the Upper Nepean, at a point 63 miles from Sydney. Two streams running in deep sandstone gorges are connected by a tunnel, and their united waters are brought in an open conduit. From the nature of the ground no large reservoir is possible near its source ; but about 15 miles from Sydney, at Prospect, near Parramatta, a dam thrown across a valley makes a storage reservoir that will hold a year's supply. From that point the water is taken by open canal and piping to the existing reservoir in Crown Street, the limited area at a higher level being supplied by pumping. The delivery into the city will be over 150,000,000 gallons daily, and the cost of the whole works will exceed 1,500,000. The old system of sewerage having several outfalls along the city front proved so objectionable that a new system has been de- signed, and is in course of execution, whereby the harbour will be preserved from all pollution. A great drain is carried from the city to the ocean at a projecting headland north of Bondi Bay known as Ben Buckler, where the sewage will go at once into deep water with a southerly current. The mouth of the sewer, though exposed to the beat of the ocean in very heavy weather, is 6 feet above high-water mark, and from that point it rises with a uniform inclination of 1 in 109, and in a nearly straight line, for a distance of 4 miles 25 chains. This main sewer, which throughout is one continuous monolith in concrete, passes in tunnels under the rocky ridges, and on concrete arches across the intervening flats. It diminishes in size from 8 by 7 feet to 5 feet 1 inch by 4 feet 1 inch, and at the upper end it bifurcates to accommodate two separate districts. It is of an oblate, oviform section, as nearly circular as is consistent with a minimum velocity of 2J feet a second. It drains an area of 4282 acres, and is calculated to discharge all the sewage when this area is populated as thickly as London, to- gether with half an inch of rain per day. The bulk of the storm water is to pass off by surface drains. The sewage of the zone of land along the foreshore is to be lifted into the main sewer. From the southern slope of Sydney another large sewer runs southwards, and, crossing the mouth of Cook's River by a siphon, discharges its contents upon a sandy peninsula well suited for the purpose of a sewage farm. The jurisdiction of the port of Sydney is in the hands of a marine board, of which three members are elected by the shipping interest, and three others and the president are nominated by the Govern- ment. They have the control of the pilot service, which is en- tirely a Government department. A new lighthouse has recently been erected on the South Head cliff, fitted with a powerful electric light, which is visible 27 miles off. The quarantine ground on North Head is isolated from the adjacent watering-place of Manly Beach by a fence and a broad belt of unoccupied land. Ships in quarantine anchor in a sheltered position off the beach, where a hospital ship is also stationed. Port Jackson being the chief naval depot of Australasia and the headquarters of the admiral's station, the fortifications of the har- bour have engaged the attention of successive Governments. The inner line of defence constructed by Sir William Denison has been superseded by more elaborate works. On the north side of the harbour Middle Head, George's Head, and Bradley's Head have powerful guns which cross fire with those on the South Head, com- pletely commanding the entrance to the channel. There is also a very effective torpedo service. Garden Island, off the mouth of Woolloomooloo Bay, has been handed over to the imperial Govern- ment as a naval dep6t ; the man-of-war anchorage is close under its lee, and the colonial Government has constructed all necessary wharfs and store-houses. There is a Government dock at Cockatoo Island capable of accommodating the largest vessels, with a machine- shop close by. Adjoining this a new dock is being hewn out of the sandstone 600 feet in length and 108 feet wide ; the depth of water over the sill at spring tide is to be 32 feet, and at neap tide 29 feet 6 inches, and the width at the entrance 84 feet. Mort's Dock and Engineering Company have a large dock at Waterview Bay capable of taking in all the ordinary mail steamers. There is also a patent slip, which can take up vessels of 1000 tons, and a second is in course of construction for vessels of 1500 tons. The graving- dock is 410 feet long. Besides this, there are other smaller patent slips, and a floating dock for the accommodation of smaller craft. Sydney is in the centre of a great coal-basin, the eastern part of which is supposed to be under the sea ; whether a workable seam exists under the city itself, and, if so, at what depth, is at present undetermined, borings of 2000 feet having as yet failed to strike the coal. The seams crop out at Lake Macquarie, north of Sydney, and dip to the south ; they also rise to the surface at the south of Sydney, where they dip to the north. Twenty-four miles south of Sydney the seam has been found at a depth of 850 feet, and at