THE CITY OF SYDNEY. i 7g 



Over the; ridge Bayswater Road makes a steep descent into the valley of Rushcut- 

 ters' Bay. This, farther on, becomes the Main South Head Road, and one of Un- 

 favourite drives out of the city, leading as it does past the suburbs of Darling point. 

 Double Bay and Rose Bay. The Old South Head Road, on the \<-rsant of which those 

 suburbs lie, runs on the ridge in conformity with the primitive colonial practice : to keep 

 clear of the necessity for bridges being the great aim of the early road engineers. It 

 was the task of a later day to face such constructive: works and to open out improved 

 routes. This old road follows the line of the divide between the water-shed of Port 

 Jackson and that of Botany Bay ; the topography of the eastern suburbs is understood 

 at once when this line is traced, with its lateral spurs running northward and terminating 

 as promontories in the Harbour. The western end of this divide on the western point 

 of which stands the Town Hall is really the city ridge already referred to, that sepa- 

 rated the head of the Tank Stream from the creek flowing into Darling Harbour. This 

 ridge, following the line of Bathurst Street, and crossing the southern end of Hyde 

 Park diagonally, continues up Oxford Street to the Gaol, through Paddington to 

 Waverley, at which point it trends south, dividing the water falling into the ocean from 

 that running towards the old Water Reserve, and passing through the suburb of Upper 

 Randwick continues to the North Head of Botany. This is the backbone of all the 

 land to the eastern side of Sydney. 



On its southern slope lies that sandy space which for many years has furnished 

 the water-supply of the metropolis, and which is one of the most remarkable city 

 reservoirs in the world. It is really a great slope formed by the action of the southerly 

 wind during unnumbered ages, blowing up the sand against the face of the southern 

 ridge. The rain-water that falls upon this sandy area slowly percolates through it, and 

 finally oozes out into the bed of a creek which the water has formed for itself. The 

 sand acts like an immense sponge, from which the water drains out slowly. The first 

 attempt to supply the city from this source was made at the instance of Mr. Busby. 

 who found, near the head of the creek, a lagoon then known by the name of Lachlan's 

 Swamp, the elevation of which was above that of Hyde Park. He persuaded tin- 

 Government to let him make a tunnel under the ridge from the swamp to the park, a 

 work which, owing to the indolence and incompetence of the convict workmen. In- 

 carried out with very great difficulty ; but it answered its purpose, and was an immense 

 boon to the citizens of that day, who had become severely pressed for want of water, 

 the Tank Stream having proved wholly insufficient, and also getting very much polluted 

 by the increasing population on its banks. 



Busby's Bore, as this tunnel was called, has with occasional repairs lasted to this 

 day, and still partially supplies the lower levels of the city by gravitation. Its utility 

 was so great that a closer examination was made of the whole sandy swamp, and when 

 an additional supply was required a pumping-engine was erected at the mouth of the 

 creek where the water runs into Botany Bay, a line of pipes six miles in length being 

 laid to a brick reservoir constructed in Crown Street, Surry Hills. All the wool-washing 

 establishments were removed from the line of the creek, and a puddle-wall was erected 

 across the outlet. Subsequently broad sand-dams, with wooden by-washes, were built 

 down its course, partly to store the water, and still more to hold it back so as to 



