the Government Domain are now 
made passable for two carriages.' Then comes the important 
official announcement, dated September 9, which marks an epoch 
in regard to the utilisation of the Domain :— 
" His Excellency the Governor has directed that it be notified 
that ' the grounds in the Government Domain, near Anson's Point 
(Mrs. Macquarie's Chair) have been laid out in walks for the 
recreation of the public ; and that the Domain will be opened for 
carriages on Tuesday next, the 13th inst. 
" The road from the stairs near Fort Macquarie along Farm Cove 
to the gate which crosses the road at the extremity of the Botanic 
Garden is reserved for the exclusive accommodation of nersons on 
foot. * 
"Carriages an«l horsemen may enter the Domain at the gate 
near the School of Industry, or at the Woolloomooloo gate at the 
southern boundary of the Domain. 
" This was the birth of the Domain and its use practically as we 
know it to-day. 
"The same year, 1831, was memorable from the visit of 
Mr. James Busby to the wine-growing ! s rifts of Europe, to 
select vines likely to be useful in New South Wales. From the 
I. otanie Gardens of Montpelier, France, he obtained no less than 
433 sorts, ami from the Luxembourg Garden at Paris, 110 sorts. 
These were transmitted to the colony in the following year, and 
on January 22, 1K33, it was recorded that • 3l',2 varieties were 
alive and for the most part healthy,' in the Botanic Gardens, 
Sydney, thus began, in earnest, the wine-growing industry of 
New South Wales. Busby's vines were planted east of the creek, 
and in the vicinity of the present hot-houses. For about 2f> years 
they served to propagate vines all over the colon v. and this historic 
vineyard, or rather assemblage of vines, having served it purpose 
uprooted about 1860. Mr. L. Woolf, then an employe 
of the Botanic Gardens, and who still retains his interest in horti- 
culture, remembers these vines perfectly, and has given the 
present writer information concerning them. 
^ u The year 1831 is also memorable, in that Charles Fraser, the 
first Superintendent of the Botanic Gardens, died on the last day 
ot it. He was undoubtedly a worthy and an able man, and I 
regret that no portrait of him appears to have been preserved." 
" On Fraser's deat h Allan Cunningham declined the appointment, 
His brother Richard, then at Kew, was recommended by Robert 
brown, and also by Aiton, of Kew, and he was accordingly 
appointed by the Colonial Office. 
- After the special activities of 1831 and absence of a superin- 
tting duties in the interim), no 
events of a noteworthy character took place during the year 1832. 
"In January, 1833, Richard Cunningham entered on the superin- 
rH : l '; u t V ,jf }\ Hotanie Ganh-n. with an , .rmsmess and zeal 
-ch furnished good evidence of his having the improvement of 
- 1 departments of botany and 
A.n experimental ground was 
