2 o6 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED. 



concerned. The city was put in possession ; an Act was passed enabling the Corporation 

 to sell a portion of the estate, and to borrow money for the improvement of the rest. 

 Since then the appearance of the property has undergone a great change. The road to 

 Randwick runs through it ; the western side has been levelled and grassed, and is largely 

 used for foot-ball and cricket practice. A portion, once a swampy piece of ground, is 

 devoted to the purpose of a Zoological Garden ; the pit of the old morass is now a little 

 lake with an island in its centre, on which palms, willows and ferns display their graceful 

 foliage. Animals from various climes are suitably housed and provided for. Young broods 

 of lions and tigers are here ; elephants, with their kowdahs frequently packed with many 

 children ; and, in addition to camels, bears, leopards, and the other ordinary occupants of 

 a menagerie, there is a fine collection of the birds and beasts of Australasia marsupials 

 of every kind, from the six-feet " old-man " to the tiny and dainty rock-wallaby, wombats, 

 dingoes, Tasmanian devils, opossums, tiger-cats, and all the denizens of the forests and the 

 plains. A good idea of the varied form and plumage of the different Australian birds 

 may be obtained by a visit to these Gardens ; for nearly all are to be found here, 

 from the emu and cassowary to the little silver-eye and the blue robin ; from the native 

 companion to the diminutive teal and water-hen. 



On the eastern side of the Randwick Road the reclaimed portion of the Park is 

 devoted to different purposes. A long strip lying at the back of the Barracks forms 

 the rifle-range, the targets being backed by a high natural wall of rock. It was first 

 turned to its present purpose by the English soldiers who were quartered in the 

 Barracks ; so, too, they were the first to level and lay out the present cricket-ground. 

 This is now vested in trustees and managed by the Cricket Association. Twelve acres 

 are enclosed, the playing-ground measuring one hundred and seventy-six by one hundred 

 and sixty-four yards. Two thousand people can be seated in the grand-stand and a 

 thousand in the pavilion. Uncovered seats round the oval will accommodate two thousand, 

 and on the sloping banks behind them is standing-room for fully twenty thousand people ; 

 on the occasion of great matches every inch of standing-room is occupied. Bicycle con- 

 tests and athletic sports of all kinds also come off here, and tennis-courts, both grass 

 and asphalt, are in the enclosure. Beyond the cricket-ground is the space granted to the 

 Agricultural Society. Here, in addition to stalls for the display of every description of 

 stock, is a good circular track for trotting matches, and a large central enclosure round 

 which the horses and cattle are paraded to be judged. The Randwick Race-course lies 

 south of Moore Park, and is well enclosed and planted ; there is a splendid grand-stand, 

 and all the appliances suited to a first-class race-course. The tram-way from Sydney 

 lands visitors at the gates of the Cricket Ground, the Agricultural Show Ground and 

 the Race-course. 



The Centennial Park, a magnificent reserve of about a thousand acres, to which 

 reference has already been made, lies east of Moore Park. It is laid out in carriage- 

 drives and ornamented with lagoons, the intention being to recoup the initial expense by 

 selling a ring of residential sites within the Park. To the east of Randwick, and on the 

 shore, is Coogee Bay. The whole beach, from point to point, is reserved for the public, 

 and on both rocky headlands there are liberal spaces in frequent use as picnic-grounds. 

 The beach is a popular promenade and a favourite bathing-place, the tram-way running down 



