14 ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS, 
kinds of trees for the purpose of planting out future forests in the — 
adjoining or other districts in situations where they may be 
expected to succeed. It is much to be regretted that reserves of 
this description were not made at an earlier period, for, had this — 
been done, we should not have had to lament the loss and destruc — 
tion of a class of vegetation as rich in numbers of species and as : é 
luxuriant in growth as can be found in any part of the world: I~ 
refer to the coast jungle forest extending from Shoalhaven in the — 
south to the northern extremities of the Colony, which for the : 
most part has been cleared. A quarter of a century ago” the 
beautiful district of Iawarra, which is about 40 miles south of 
Sydney, was clothed with a dense mass of trees, shrubs, é&e., with ; 
a foliage as rich and varied in appearance as could be found im — 
any tropical country ; and now, alas! with one especial excepti 
of about 40 acres, nearly the whole of this magnificent vegetation 
has been destroyed, and the country turned into grazing paddocks. 
This especial exception is the property of a coal company, which 
fortunately has preserved the surface in its primitive conditi 
and on which can still be seen gorgeous masses of two different q 
kinds of palms, called, locally, the bangalow and cabbage-tree 
; known botanically as Seaforthia elegans, and Corypha : 
puree: These, with three or four kinds of tree-ferns, Viz : a 
Alsophila Cooperii, Alsophila Australis, Alsophila Macarth 
and Dicksonia Antarctica, and many climbing plants, and a ¢ 
undergrowth overtopped by species of Ficus, Eucalypts, and other 
tall trees, the trunks and branches of which are often clothed ‘ i 
an abundance of stag’s-horn fern (Platycerium Alcicorne) 
the community are due for preserving from destruction this 3 . 
nearly the only remaining portion of the glorious natural vé 
within the last quarter of a century, from natural deca, 
barking and clearing for cultivation, at least one-half 
