THE CITY OF SYDNEY. 



209 



THE CASSOWARY, I.Mr AM) NATIVK (OMI'AMoN. 



hibition Building, originally built by the Corporation for the Agricultural Society, but now 

 devoted to a variety of uses ; concerts, public meetings, poultry and dog shows, bazaars, 

 athletic contests, balls, minor exhibitions ; for all of which it is found convenient, while in the 

 wool-season it is sometimes used as a store. 

 Just outside the southern boundary of 

 the city is a fortunate reservation Grose 

 Farm, a hundred and seventy-five acres of 

 land originally devoted to one of the early 

 agricultural experiments of the Government. 

 The farming may not have been a particu- 

 lar success, but we owe to it the happy 

 result that the land was not granted away. 

 It is now subdivided, but only detached pub- 

 lic buildings stand on it. The University, 

 with the .Medical School, occupies a com- 

 manding position on the highest ground. 

 The three affiliated colleges have each a 

 good slice of land, and the Prince Alfred 

 Hospital stands between two of them. 

 Another portion, of twenty-four acres, has 

 been put in trust as the Victoria Park. The 



University cricket-oval lies in the valley to the west. None of the ground is at present 

 as highly improved as it should be, but every year something is done to ornament this 

 valuable lung of the city and to make it as beautiful as it is useful. 



About a mile to the north of the 

 University Reserve is \\Yntworth Park, 

 originally a sea-swamp over which the high- 

 tide sluggishly (lowed ; it had become 

 greatly befouled by the drainage from the 

 early Abattoirs, from the sugar-refinery on 

 the Blackfriars' Estate, and from the 

 houses on the slopes of the surrounding 

 hills. It was reclaimed l>y a deposit of 

 silt raised by the Harbour dredges, and this 

 silt was covered with good soil. Instead of 

 a nuisance it is now a fine Park of about 

 twenty acres, lying between the suburbs of 

 Pyrmont and the Glebe ; ornamental ponds 

 have been made ; young tree- are growing 

 luxuriantly ; a cricket-oval has been formed 



THE DIXGO OR NATIVE DOG. in tlle CCIltre ' and a luCa ' Bowling club has 



made an excellent ground in one corner. 



Another instance of the reclamation of a spoilt fore-shore is to be found on the 

 east side of Sydney at Rushcutters' Bay. As its name implies, it was originally a 



