246 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED. 



s,,n-;ul itM-lf over the vast grazing-grounds of the inland downs. The squatters were the 

 early pioneers. In the wake of the squatter followed the farmer and the railway; but 

 the great check to the development of the interior has been the successive terrible 

 droughts. These natural foes to settlement are now being combated, and partially over- 

 come, by artesian wells ami water-storing tanks, maintained on stock-travelling routes by 

 Government. Hut this splendid domain is practically virgin territory; the problem of "The 

 West" still challenges solution, and the wealth of "The West" will never be truly realized 

 until a scientific system of irrigation is employed throughout its almost boundless areas. 



THE WESTERN DISTRICT. 



Nearly a hundred years ago in the month of November of the year 1788 

 Governor Phillip went up to the head of the Harbour to choose a site for a redoubt, 

 and quarters for those who were to be employed in clearing and tilling the agricultural 

 land in the vicinity. Two years later so successful had the primitive tillage been the 

 Governor issued orders for the laying out of a regular town, which received the name 

 of Parramatta. It is thus, after Sydney, the oldest town in the colony. 



This old settlement, with a record beginning with the earliest history of the colony, 

 lies at the head of that farthest-reaching arm of Port Jackson called the Parramatta 

 River. Steamers of moderate draught run up from Sydney in about two hours, which 

 are passed pleasantly enough. As the River narrows the scenery changes gradually to 

 lower, less rugged and more fertile banks. From the head of navigation a tram-line 

 constructed by private enterprise conveys passengers to the Park-gates on the westward 

 side of the town. But there is another and .beautiful route by the north shore of 

 the River through Gladesville and Ryde, or longer still by the Lane Cove Road 

 through Hornsby and Pennant Hills a delightful drive, affording magnificent views of 

 the city and its surroundings; of rolling woodlands, with occasional glimpses of the 

 water, and of glorious orange groves rich with fruit or odorous with bloom. 



The town of Parramatta nestles in the bosom of the hills at the head of the River, 

 and is not only quaint, but unmistakably old-fashioned. The tale of a hundred years is 

 written plainly on the gray stone walls still backing up the ancient public buildings ; on 

 the broad leafy crowns of the beautiful oaks and the great heads of the stone-pines. 



The churches, however, as seen from the hills, have by no means an antique 

 appearance, though the double-spired St, John's dates as far back as 1803. There is 

 little, however, of the original structure left, save the old foundations and some portions 

 of the main walls. It was built originally to imitate the old church at Reculvers on 

 the Kentish coast, the last ecclesiastical edifice on which rested the eyes of Mrs. Mac- 

 arthur when saying good-bye to old England, and which she piously vowed to reproduce 

 in her new country if she ever lived to reach it in safety the vow was kept. All 

 Saints', with the tallest spire, is of recent date, and the handsome buildings erected by 

 Roman Catholics and Congregationalists are also modern, typifying a new generation, in 

 contrast with the oaks, and the cottages they overshadow 



Among the buildings to be noted are the Mercury newspaper office, the banks, the 

 commodious public offices, the old Court House and the Post Office, deeply alcoved along 

 its front; the old-fashioned and well-named "Woolpack" Inn, lying behind its broad lawn 



