480 



AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED. 



below, which is covered by the suburbs of Richmond and Collingwood. The folds of 

 the River Yarra, flowing at the foot of the Park, are so voluminous as to carve it into 

 three peninsulas, which also resemble promontories. One of these overlooks the spacious 

 grounds and extensive buildings of the Convent of the Good Shepherd at Abbotsford, 



an institution in which a 

 beneficent work is being 

 accomplished for the re- 

 clamation of fallen women. 

 A second looks down 

 upon the original lunatic 

 asylum of the colony, 

 deriving from its situa- 

 tion the name of Yarra 

 Bend. The scenery on 

 the banks of the River 

 is eminently picturesque, 





THE YARRA AT HAWTHORNE. 



owing to its numerous 

 Y^rr^E^^H 



yW^^^I **^| . convolutions, the precipi- 



tousness of the high 

 ground on one side, and 

 occasionally on both, and 

 the beautiful groups into 

 which the trees arrange 

 themselves. The Park 

 itself is in the borough 

 of Kew, and where the 

 reservation ceases advan- 

 tage has been taken 

 of the exceptional lofti- 

 ness of the site, and the wide expanse of country which the eye ranges over, to erect some 

 of the finest mansions in the outskirts of the city. Founded on the village or cottage 

 system, this asylum has been built piecemeal during a period of forty years. It was 

 commenced in 1848, and placed in the most sequestered position that could be found 

 within so short a distance of Melbourne. Almost encircled by the Yarra, on the other 

 side of which rises a wooded amphitheatre, the seclusion of the spot is perfect. The 

 buildings include ten separate cottages for women and eight for men, and as these are 

 protected from the sun by verandahs overgrown with creepers, and each has a small 

 garden attached, they have a home-like and pleasant look. There are also spacious and 

 airy dormitories, dining-rooms and officers' quarters, providing accommodation for upwards 

 of seven hundred patients. A farm of fifty-five acres furnishes occupation to such of the 

 inmates as are capable of manual labour, and to whom it is likely to prove beneficial, 

 and a prettily-situated cricket ground is much resorted to for purposes of recreation. 



Recrossing the River, and ascending the high ground which overlooks the old asylum, 

 the visitor gains the commanding eminence occupied by the huge edifice known as the 



