210 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED. 



swampy area in which grew long coarse grass very serviceable in making some of 

 those early huts, which, if they did not adorn the streets of Sydney, at least accommo- 

 dated the inhabitants. Being easily procured, the reeds formed a cheap material, and reed- 

 huts answered well enough till slab or weather-board houses were available. As the 

 high ground surrounding the flat became occupied, the house drainage poured down into 

 the valley and made an offensive accumulation, while the silt from the streets filled up 

 the head of the Bay. The portion to the north of the road has been reclaimed and 

 walled in, and now forms a park in a rudimentary stage. The area on the other side 

 of the road is private property, and remains in a neglected condition. 



The reclamation of the heads of the numerous bays in Port Jackson is still a work 

 to be accomplished, but now that public attention has been strongly turned in that 

 direction there is every probability that the water-side parks of Sydney will be multiplied. 

 Down the Harbour there is a grand opportunity at Rose Bay, where the level ground 

 reaches back to the sand-hills on Bondi Beach. Westward of the city the head of 

 Johnstone's Bay, of White Bay, Hen and Chickens Bay and the swampy flats of the 

 Parramatta River all invite attention. It is only a question of money ; tide-covered mud 

 can be transformed into lovely gardens. 



Although the metropolis itself has by good luck a fair provision of park-land the 

 suburbs are not so fortunate. The land outside Sydney was mostly granted or sold ; 

 each proprietor subdivided in his own interest, and very few cared to adorn their plans 

 with squares or crescents. As the population has thickened in these suburbs the 

 people have felt the need of open spaces, and from them the movement originated for 

 the purchase, while there was still time, of land not yet built upon. The Government 

 has responded to this demand, and for each of the past four years a grant has been 

 made for this purpose. As much as two hundred and seventy thousand pounds have 

 already been spent in buying back parks for the people. A tenth part of this sum would 

 have been sufficient twenty years ago; in public matters there is always a penalty to be paid 

 for delay. What the people now feel is that it is better late than never, and in laying 

 out new townships it has become a part of our public policy to make ample reservations. 



At the South Head is a reserved area for defence works and light-houses, and the 

 greater part of the North Head is retained for quarantine purposes. Manly has its long 

 ocean-beach, with an esplanade overlooking it, and its Harbour-beach backed by another 

 esplanade and its park ; there is also a reserve of a hundred feet in breadth round the 

 adjoining headland which will some day be made into a beautiful water-side drive. On 

 the peninsula between Middle Harbour and Port Jackson proper are the defence reserves 

 of Middle Head, George's Head and Bradley's Head, and there are some, though not 

 sufficient, reservations up Middle Harbour, the best known and most used being a public 

 park at Balmoral, with a long strip of beautiful frontage of sandy beach. At St. Leonards, 

 on the heights of North Shore, there is a reserved area of forty-five acres already well 

 planted with trees of foreign and native growth, enclosing well-kept cricket and foot-ball 

 grounds and broad well-shaded walks. The cable-tram runs to its gate, making it acces- 

 sible to the population living on the lower ground. 



Farther to the west on the north side of the Parramatta, and stretching back from the 

 western shore of Lane Cove, was a large reserve of over six thousand acres known as 



