Page:Victoria, with a description of its principal cities, Melbourne and Geelong.djvu/57

 with great taste, and shrubs and trees of almost every clime may be seen in full bloom and vigour. The large lake attached to the gardens swarms with wild fowl of every description, which have here a secure retreat from the hands of man. There are many other places in the vicinity of Melbourne to which the citizens resort for pleasure and amusement.

St. Kilda, on the shore of Hobson's Bay, is a favourite marine residence, and on Sundays the beach is frequented by hundreds, indulging in that dreamy idleness which is so delightful on the sea shore in fine weather.

Sandridge, too, is patronized to a considerable extent, the railway affording facilities of transit, which in a few minutes places Hobson's Bay and its magnificent fleet of shipping in view. This railway claims more than a passing notice, being the first one in full operation in the Australian colonies. Its inauguration, honoured with the presence of the Lieutenant-Governor, took place on the 12th September, 1854.

Three daily papers are published in Melbourne, the Argus, Morning Herald, and Age. Weekly journals occasionally appear. An illustrated one, such as the " Illustrated London News," is very creditably got up. The Argus has confessedly the most numerous circulation of any journal in these colonies, and forms in fact a peculiar feature in the idiosyncrasy of Melbourne. A Melbourne Punch has