200 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED. 



the curved line of which is a charm in itself. The ground lies open to the north, 

 and slopes upwards to the other three points of the compass. The shelter is greatest 

 on the western side where it is most wanted, for the wind from that quarter is at all 

 times trying to delicate flowers, and it is also protected from the south and the east. 

 Except in the hollow the soil was not naturally rich, and in some places is very 

 shallow, the sandstone protruding here and there. But art has turned these jutting 

 blocks of stone to the best account, and the soil has been artificially improved In- 

 constant and elaborate culture. Nature furnished a happy opportunity, and the gardener's 

 skill has done the rest. It was first used as a farm hence the name Farm Cove ; but 

 in the year 1816 it was dedicated as a reserve, and its ornamentation as a public 

 garden then began. The old stone wall which still remains pierced with its pillared 

 gate over-grown with ivy and faced with magnificent clumps of azaleas, separates the 

 upper from the lower garden, and was in the early days the boundary between the public 

 grounds and some bush-land that lay between them and the bay. When the lower garden 

 was added to the upper, the road-way between the two was made a broad promenade. 



A further annexation from the Government House Domain took place after the 

 close of the International Exhibition in 1879. ^ n tne Governor's paddock was built 

 the Garden Palace, and after its destruction by fire the ground on which it stood was 

 added to the area of the public gardens. The Norfolk Island pines, which at once 

 arrest the attention of the visitor as he enters by the original gate-way in the valley 

 of the Domain, are among the oldest specimens of arboriculture in the colony, and in 

 their present condition are said to be finer than any that can be found in Norfolk 

 Island itself. The two trees that face the visitor as he enters were first planted at 

 the entrance to the old Government House in Bridge Street, but in the year 1817, 

 when twelve-feet saplings, they were transplanted to their present position. These trees 

 are not only attractive by their symmetry and abundant shade, but they have also an 

 historic interest. They are of equal date with the surveying of the Domain Road by 

 Mrs. Macquarie, and indeed that energetic lady may have watched their transplanting, 

 even if she did not order it. Many capable men had the Gardens in charge in early 

 years, amongst whom were Allan Cunningham, the King's Botanist ; Messrs. Eraser, 

 Anderson, and others; and for forty years Mr. Charles Moore, the present Director, has 

 made it a labour of love to improve and beautify them. The broad grassed Hat near 

 the water was at one time a sandy beach. The tide rose to the point where Allan 

 Cunningham's monument now stands, and the walk round to the Governor's bathing-house 

 was a bit of rough rocky fore-shore, thick with sea-weed. All the present frontage for 

 some distance back from the sea-wall has been reclaimed. 



The best entrance to the Gardens is now from Macquarie Street, opposite the 

 Public Library, and in front of the fine bronze statue of Sir Richard Bourke, Hanked 

 by cannon trophies captured in the Crimean war and presented to the colon)-. The 

 gates open on broad lawns tastefully decorated with carpet-bedding. This high ground 

 was the site of the Garden Palace, and at the foot of a flight of steps the cemented 

 basement of the foundations of the central dome is still to be seen, the only remaining 

 relic of that palace of delight. Dome, courts and galleries were all reduced to ashes 

 in the fire, but where the ruins lay are now well-ordered terraces and lawns, which 



