THE CITY OF SYDNEY, 



'59 



shallow circular wells ; the rock is caverned with magazines, and the powerful guns 

 sweep all the water's face in front. To this point come the artillery, professional and 

 volunteer, to practice marksmanship, and to learn with accuracy the distance of any 

 point that could be occupied by an invading foe. Often on a Saturday afternoon the 

 headlands are alive with spectators watching the practice. Here, too, the scientific 



THE FORTIFICATIONS AT SOUTH HEAD. ' 



manoeuvres of the Easter encampment are elaborately gone through, while a detachment 

 of infantry occupies an entrenched camp on the summit, and rehearses the operations 

 necessary to prevent a landing on either of the Middle Harbour bays, or an attempt 

 to take the forts in the rear. At the foot of the cliff at George's Head are 

 embrasures in which are guns that command the channel and at the same time sweep 

 the area of the torpedo-field, and protect any boom which might be constructed. 



West of George's Head lies Chowder Bay, another favourite picnic-haunt, where a 

 large hotel, a dancing pavilion, lawns and promenades are provided for holiday-seekers. 

 Beyond Taylor's Bay, much visited by boating-parties and botanizers, Bradley's Head 

 runs out clue south, and forms with the opposite headland of Point Piper the entrance 

 to the Inner Harbour. Past these are many charming bays deeply indenting the shore; 

 Little Sirius Cove, Mossman's Bay, Shell Cove, Neutral Harbour and Careening Cove. 

 It is hard to say which of these is the most beautiful. They have a general resem- 

 blance, yet each has its own special characteristics ; and they are all deserved favourites 

 with boating-parties. The large water-space in front of them, between Ktirraba Point 

 and Kiarabilli, is Neutral Bay, the anchorage for outward-bound ships, which can lie 

 here in the shelter and out of the fair-way. Past Kiarabilli is Milson's Point, important 

 as being the terminus of the principal North Shore ferry and one of the starting-places 

 of the Great North Road. Then comes the deep recess of Lavender Bay, the street 

 from the wharf at the head of which is a long flight of steps cut in the solid rock, 



