SOUTH AUSTRALIA. io- 



Adelaide, the metropolis of South Australia, called after the wife of 

 William iv., was founded in 1836. To-day, with its suburbs, it contains 

 about 170,000 inhabitants. On the 28th of December, 1836, Captain Hind- 

 marsh, who had served under Nelson at the Nile, landed from H.M.S. 

 Buffalo at Holdfast Bay, in St. Vincent's Gulf, and beneath the shade of a 

 patriarchal gum-tree, and in presence of a few officials, read his commission 

 as the first Governor of South Australia. The anniversary of that event is 

 observed as a public holiday by all classes in the community, while the old 

 gum-tree has become a source of solicitude, and is reverently cared for by 

 the municipal authorities of Glenelg — a fashionable watering-place which has 

 grown up within sight of Governor Hindmarsh's landing-place. 



And indeed this Glenelg is a fitting entrance to the fair city of 

 Adelaide, with which it is connected by two lines of railway. Facing the 

 dazzling white beach are the seaside residences of squatting kings, wealthy 

 merchants, and other successful colonists ; while the bay itself is studded 

 with yachts and other pleasure craft, with perchance a man-of-war, or two 

 or three mail steamers, at anchor in the offing, for all the ocean-borne mails 

 are either landed or shipped at Glenelg. During the summer evenings the 

 sands and long jetty are thronged with visitors from the capital, who have 

 come down to enjoy the fresh cool breezes, or to listen to the various bands 

 of music. 



Adelaide itself is laid out on a gently sloping ground, from 96 to 176 

 feet above the sea-level, on both sides of the Torrens, which is spanned 

 by three large handsome bridges. The part out north is called North 

 Adelaide, to distinguish it from ' the City,' which lies on the other side of 

 the river. The streets are all unusually broad, even for Australian cities, 

 and run at right angles, many of them being bordered with rows of trees, 

 the shade of which is very refreshing in the hot summer days. One of the 

 features of the place is the number and extent of its beautiful public 

 squares and park lands. In this respect it transcends even Melbourne. The 

 squares in each quarter of the city are reserves of several acres in ex- 

 tent, embellished with flowers, trees, and fountains ; while the parks are exten- 

 sive reservations, surrounding the city on every side, separating it from the 

 suburbs. 



Adelaide, with ordinary care, can never be other than a healthy city. 

 Moreover, it can never extend its boundaries. This fact accounts for the 

 high prices obtained for city property. Land originally bought for eight or 

 ten shillings an acre has recently changed hands at ^1000 a foot. Its 

 surroundings are the charms of the city. On the west is the sea. Four or 

 five miles to the east is the thickly wooded Mount Lofty range, so called from 

 the highest peak, 2400 feet above the sea-level, which, trending away to the 

 southward, closes in on that side the undulating plain on which the city is 

 built. To the northward the range takes a more easterly direction for twenty 



