Government Buildings, Macquarie Street, Sydney. 



CHAPTER V. 



New South Wales. 



Survey of the Colony — Sydney and its Harbour — The Great West — The Blue Mountains— Their 

 grand Scenery — An Australian Show Place — The Fish River Caves— Dubbo to the Darling — 

 The Great Pastures— The Northern Tableland— The Big Scrub Country — Tropical Vegetation. 



NEW SOUTH WALES is the mother colony of Australia, and though, 

 after the gold discovery, she was for a time thrown into the shade 

 by the prowess of her former dependency, Victoria, she is making rapid 

 strides to recover ; in fact, she may be said to have regained her old premier 

 position. Her eastern boundary is the Pacific Ocean, which washes a coast- 

 line of 800 miles, bold in its outline and studded with numerous harbours. 

 Imaginary lines divide her from Victoria to the south, Queensland to the 

 north, and South Australia to the west. The greatest length of New South 

 Wales is 900 miles ; its greatest breadth about 850 miles ; mean breadth, 

 600 miles. The superficial area is 309, 100 square miles. That is to say, the 



