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A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA 



unfinished tower, and crossing Little Lonsdale Street, the visitor arrives at the Royal Mint, 

 which tills the whole of the frontage between the last-named thoroughfare and Latrobe 

 Street. The area thus covered forms part of what was originally an extensive reserve ; in 

 the centre of this was erected, as far back as the year 1853, a structure of glass and iron 

 a miniature copy of the Crystal Palace in Hyde Park which was designed to serve the 

 purposes of the first Industrial Exhibition held in Melbourne. It was applied to the 

 same uses in 1861, and was also the scene of many municipal and other festivities, as 

 well as of lectures and public meetings. In 1864 the Legislature of Victoria memorialized 

 the Imperial Government in favour of establishing a branch of the Royal Mint in 

 Melbourne ; and in August, 1869, a Royal Proclamation was issued declaring gold coins 

 minted in Victoria a legal tender in all parts of Her Majesty's 

 dominions, and the necessary steps were taken for the erec- 

 tion of a branch in Melbourne accordingly. This was opened 

 in June, 1872, since which date upwards of eight million 

 two hundred and twenty thousand ounces of gold have been 

 received and coined in the institution. The buildings enclose 

 a spacious quadrangle, in the centre of which is a fountain 

 surrounded by a grass plot, planted in order to lessen the 

 risks of injury by dust to which the delicate machinery of 

 the Mint is exposed. Entering the premises through a 

 porticp, forming part of a faade stately in its simplicity 

 and in its harmonious propor- 

 tions, the visitor perceives on 

 his right the bullion office, in 

 which the raw gold is re- 

 ceived, weighed, registered 

 and paid for ; he is then con- 

 ducted through the various 

 departments of the Mint, and 

 afforded an opportunity of 

 seeing the consecutive pro- 

 cesses of melting, assaying, 

 refining by chlorine, rolling 

 the bars into fillets, passing 

 these through the " drag 

 bench" so as to give them 

 uniformity of thickness, cut- 

 ting them into eighteen-inch 

 lengths, punching out the 

 blank discs destined for con- 

 version into coin, submitting 

 them to the machine -trial 

 press, cleansing them from 

 grease and dirt in a series THE WESLEY CHURCH. 



