,20 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED. 



mouth of the Shoalhaven River, where also there is a small shipping-port. Among these 

 sands lie shallow lagoons, and a little beyond them highly fertile plains backed by the 

 rugged coast-ranges. To the north, the shores rise again in dark lines of battlemented 

 and turreted rocks water-worn forms scored and scarred by the wash of centuries. 



The thriving little town of Kiama, resting on green leas swelling gently from the 

 margin of its sheltered cove, is seen in passing ; and if there is anything like a swell, 

 we may get a sight of that curious natural phenomenon called " The Blow-hole." This 

 is a lateral tunnel at the water's edge, terminating in a perpendicular shaft, some soft 

 deposit in the hard basaltic rock having been worn away. The swell dashes into the 

 tunnel, and then bursts up in spray through the shaft. Beyond Point Bass is Shellhar- 

 bour and the entrance to Lake Illawarra its cultivated shores overlooked by the wildly- 

 timbered ranges. A few miles north of the Lake is Wollongong, lying at the foot of 

 the steep mountain slopes. Its little harbour has been secured by a mass of heavy 

 masonry ; and round the basin, which has been cut out of the solid rock, are busy 

 wharves. The mountains fringing this part of the coast are all coal-bearing. A sharp eye 

 will detect the mouths of tunnels running into the hills, and from those openings can be 

 seen the coal-laden trucks speeding along the steep incline of the tram-way down to the 

 wharves, where they discharge their loads into the waiting steamers. Wollongong is 

 an active commercial centre and a place of great trade, second only to Newcastle 

 among the coast towns of New South Wales. 



A few miles to the north is the mining town of Bulli, the shore in front of which 

 does not seem a very promising place for the shipment of coal, being exposed to nearly 

 all winds ; yet on its pier are coal-laden trucks, and it is only when a very unfavourable 

 wind is blowing that vessels have to haul off to their moorings, or go out to sea. 

 Two or three miles beyond Bulli is Coalcliff, with another mining township and a simi- 

 larly exposed shipping-place. 



From, this point to Botany Bay only a few little sandy beaches break the mono- 

 tonous line of cliffs. The hills decrease in height, and are bare and barren-looking. 

 Between the moderately-elevated cliffs of Cape Banks and Cape Solander lies the 

 entrance to that famous expanse which Cook called Botany Bay. To the south the 

 tree-clad undulations run down to the water's edge, and there end in a shore of rocks 

 and boulders ; to the west sweeps the long curve of a fine beach ; to the north, the 

 land, flat at first, rises inland to hills whereon are scattered the white villas of the 

 rapidly-spreading Sydney suburbs. Close to the north head of the Bay lies Bare Island, 

 which has been selected as the site of the fortification to guard the entrance. 



From Botany Bay to Port Jackson are nine miles of picturesque coast-line, 

 consisting alternately of bold sandstone cliffs and sandy bays, where in easterly gales the 

 surf breaks with magnificent effect. Two of these inlets, Coogee and Bondi, are 

 connected with the city by tram-way, and are favourite holiday resorts. Suburban villas 

 may be seen capping all the rises. On the South Head stands the light-house, a white 

 tower, perched three hundred feet high near the edge of jagged and precipitous cliffs ; 

 at night the dazzling stream of its revolving electric light sweeps the horizon once a 

 minute, and the reflection of its beam is said to be visible on a clear night for 

 a distance of sixty miles. On the point of the headland is the inner light-house, a 



