174 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED. 



mity to the shipping as well as to the commercial centre making it a good position for 

 offices. On the eastern side of the old Stream, which is now a covered sewer, begins a 

 quarter much occupied with Government offices, and this characteristic feature is a survival 

 from the earliest days. When Governor Phillip first landed, his canvas hut was put up 

 on the eastern side of the Stream, while the convicts were debarked on the other ; and 

 thus, while commercial Sydney made its start from the latter point, official Sydney had 

 its centre near the Governor's first residence. Traces of this are still to be seen in the 

 direction of the streets, which radiate outwards from this old central point ; O'Connell 

 Street and Spring Street going towards the Stream, and Bent Street sloping upwards in 

 an opposite direction towards Macquarie Street. An early Government House was built 

 here, and here too stands the obelisk from which the length of all the streets and roads 

 in the colony is measured. Official Sydney has clung to this locality ever since, although 

 it is no longer central. The ground has become very valuable for commercial purposes, but 

 the new and magnificent buildings that have lately been erected, as well as the proximity 

 of the vice-regal residence, seem likely to fix this permanently as the Government quarter. 



The Government Reserve originally came down to Macquarie Place, and of this the 

 obelisk triangle is a small remnant. At the corner of this little patch of green grass and 

 shady trees stands the statue of Thomas Sutcliffe Mort, the first of the city merchants 

 thus honoured, and one who well deserved the distinction. His name has already been 

 mentioned in connection with the great wool-store on the Circular Quay ; it was he, 

 too, who first established a private graving-dock and the great engineering works 

 necessary for the repair of ships visiting the Port. He is also identified with rural enter- 

 prise in a great cheese-farm at Bodalla on the southern coast, while for years he 

 laboured under the greatest discouragements at working out the problem of freezing meat 

 a problem successfully solved just as his career closed. His name was prominent 

 in almost every department of industry ; he was a strong and liberal supporter of 

 religion, art, science and culture, and had a deep sympathy with everything that could 

 promote the welfare of the .great mass of the people. His life and career won for him 

 the affectionate respect of his contemporaries, and when he died the movement to honour 

 his memory was spontaneous. 



On the side of the thoroughfare facing Mort's Statue is the handsome new building 

 erected for the Lands Department, and farther up on the same side are the offices for 

 the Colonial Secretary and the Minister for Public Works. At the northern corner is 

 the Treasury, a handsome building, though it looks small now in comparison to the more 

 recent and stately piles in its neighbourhood. A vacant space in the rear of the Treasury 

 has been turned into a temporary tram-terminus, which by no means improves the general 

 appearance of the street ; but the engineers seized upon it as the only piece of ground 

 suitable for their purpose, and it is a scene of restless activity from morning till night. 

 The area is insufficient, but by dint of management the tram-cars are incessantly entering, 

 shunting and departing from early dawn till midnight. These street tram-ways are an 

 institution in Sydney, and though everybody condemns their ugliness and admits their 

 danger, the public could not now do without them. The first was constructed in the 

 year of the International Exhibition, to take travellers from the Redfern Railway Ter- 

 minus to a point near the Macquarie Street entrance to the Domain. It was found so 



