1 72 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED. 



and the ships, for looking down Pitt Street the masts of the great vessels are seen, 

 and behind them the green hills of the North .Shore. " The ships seem lying in the 

 streets" is sometimes the remark of visitors, and they do lie actually alongside the 

 roadway, for the western side of the Quay is only a continuation of it, and the traveller 

 is driven in his hansom from his hotel to the gangway of the ocean liner, which hauls 

 off from the wharf and goes straight away to sea. \Yalking up this street from the 

 wharf the visitor notes on both sides the offices of steam-ship companies, shipping and 

 insurance agents, importers and brokers. 



At the intersection of Bridge Street is the Exchange, erected by a mercantile 

 corporation on a site granted by the Government. It was built many years ago, and 

 has answered its purpose; but though a fine structure it is now dwarfed by the taller 

 premises surrounding it. A large hotel stands in the rear, and is part of the property ; 

 it having been found that luncheon was a necessary sequel to the exchange hour. 

 Handsome offices occupy both sides of the street beyond this point ; the premises 

 built for the Australian Mutual Provident Society, the Bank of New Zealand and the 

 Pacific Insurance Company being prominent for their architectural merit. At one corner 

 of Hunter Street stands the office of the Sydney Morning Herald the oldest and 

 largest newspaper in the colony. Opposite are the newly-built premises of the Union 

 Bank, which fronts the large freestone building of the Empire Hotel. From this 

 point to King Street the new buildings are lofty, the value of the land compelling 

 proprietors to find in height compensation for narrowness. Among the stone structures 

 Vickery's Buildings and the handsome offices of Messrs. Dalton are the most striking, 

 while in brick and cement the stores of Messrs. Hoffnung tower over all others which 

 stand by their side, and even dwarf the Pitt Street facade of the Post Office. 

 At . the corner of King Street is Beach's Hotel, so named after the champion 

 oarsman of the world, and fronting it is a fine freestone building, the pediments of 

 which are ornamented with allegorical groups in bronze. At the intersection of Market 

 Street is the long range of Messrs. Farmer's drapery establishment, opposite which 

 is the newest and largest theatre in Sydney. A little farther on, and before reaching 

 the Mechanics' School of Arts, is one of the largest and handsomest of the many 

 arcades which are characteristic of Sydney. The School of Arts was established in this 

 quarter many years ago, and still holds its old position, though reconstructed internally 

 to meet its growing needs. This portion of Pitt Street is chiefly characterized by 

 horse-bazaars, furniture-rooms and the shops of miscellaneous trades, though a little 

 farther on new and handsome structures are rapidly rising, and the locality is undergoing 

 a thorough transformation ; but over the Bathurst Street ridge, and descending towards the 

 Haymarket valley, it still wears a good deal of its ancient character. 



The Tank Stream was the early dividing line between East and \Yest Sydney. A 

 bridge thrown over it at high-water mark was the first connecting link between the two 

 parts, and originated Bridge Street, which by a happy accident is one of the few 

 broad thoroughfares of the city, though unfortunately it is not in line with the equally 

 broad thoroughfare of Charlotte Place on the opposite side of George Street. But in 

 those early days hardly anyone seems to have thought of laying out the city on a 

 symmetrical plan. Bridge Street now contains some fine mercantile buildings, its proxi- 



