, 4 S AL'STRALASIA ILLUSTRATED. 



or the clash of a paddle-boat sets them on the dance. They entwine, intermingle, become 

 convoluted blent and broken in a maze of colour like the transformation scene of a 

 pantomime. The Circular Quay is brilliant with the electric-beam which, piercing through 

 the rigging and reflected from the sides of the vessels that crowd the wharves, gives to 

 the water-surface a steely blue, showing up with strong lights and shades the outlines of 

 giant ships and ocean-steamers lying round the wharf, and the shadowy masses of the 

 great wool-stores behind. 



Aloft, tier above tier on the westward side, the lighted windows of old Sydney 

 look down upon the Cove where the first anchor was dropped, close upon a hundred 

 years ago ; for the steepest part of all the city was the earliest occupied, the settlers 

 clambering up these cliffs, and lingering in sight of the water from which they seemed 

 loath to break away. This high ground is kept in view as the ship rounds the embattled 

 rise of Dawes' Point. Another line of jetties, ships, wharves and warehouses occupies 

 the sweep between the Battery and Miller's Point ; and past the latter is the entrance 

 to Darling Harbour a busy scene even by night. The shore is thick with jetties, 

 alongside which loom, silent and dark, the bold forms of various craft, while elsewhere 

 are steamers agleam with long rows of cabin-lights, their decks alive with the bustle 

 of departure. Passengers, porters and stewards throng the gangways ; seamen rush 

 hither and thither at the order of the officer pacing the bridge and hurrying forward 

 the departure ; the shrill scream of the whistle breaks upon the ear ; and the clang of 

 the signal-bell ringing out upon the midnight air echoes. from the silent hills that skirt 

 the water's edge upon the other side. Behind the long line of vessels is the back- 

 ground of the rising land, with houses irregularly grouped, and the summit of the 

 rocky hill the Acropolis of Sydney crowned with the tower of the Observatory. It is 

 pleasant after the voyage to step out on the wharf, to hurry up the steep-cut rocky 

 street, to get to rest and to dream and to wait for the morrow. 



To see Sydney first by night is to see it full of bewildering mystery. To see it 

 afterwards by daylight, while it will explain the unknown, will also reveal new charms. 

 A good way to understand the Harbour is to take a steam-launch, and starting from 

 Circular Quay to coast along the southern shore to the Heads, noting en route the 

 continuous succession of promontories and bays ; then, crossing over to Manly and 

 .Middle Harbour, and following up the northern shore towards Parramatta, to return to 

 Darling Harbour by the western shore. Such a trip will omit the upper branch of the 

 Parramatta River, but it will give a fair view of the greater part of Sydney Harbour 

 at present occupied for business or for pleasure. 



Let the start be made from the Circular Quay at an early hour, just as the great 

 city awakens to another day of strong-pulsed life and bustling activity. From the mouth 

 of the bay a backward glance at the Quay shews the whole situation, and the contour 

 of Sydney Cove the chief water-gate of the city with its background of stores, is 

 taken in at one view. The low land at the mouth of the old Tank Stream shewn 

 elsewhere in a map of early Sydney was filled in, and a semicircular wharf replaced 

 the original shore-line, making a splendid city-front, with an easier gradient to the 

 main streets than there is from any other wharf ; and the whole of this frontage remains 

 as one property in the hands of the Government. 



