XXVI. H. D. WALSH. 
the then considered monster the ‘‘Sobraon,’’ 272 feet long. 
These vessels to the number of ten to fifteen at a time, 
used to lie principally round the Circular Quay parallel 
with the shore. Though Sydney Harbour used to be 
described as an ideal port, with deep water right up to the 
shore, that belonged to a shipping era prior to 1860, for the 
fine clipper ships of the sixties could not come within 50 
or 60 feet of the wall at the Circular Quay. They were 
therefore moored some distance off with a network of chains, 
and a heavy staging, often 70 feet long, was rigged from 
the Quay wall to the side of the ship. These stages were 
built of a pair of piles with 6 inch by 6 inch bearers lashed 
crosswise underneath and 6 inch by 2 inch planks laid on 
the bearers. A donkey engine and winch stood on the 
shore, and the cargo was hoisted out of the hold, swung 
over to the rail and slid ashore on the staging. There 
were very few cargo sheds at that time, and it was con- 
sequently necessary to cart the goods away from the quay 
as quickly as they were landed. 
In the year 1870 the wharfage accommodation of the 
port consisted principally of a stone sea-wall on the eastern 
and southern sides of Circular Quay, small timber wharves 
on the western side as far as Campbell’s Wharf, and an 
irregular stone wali from Dawes to Miller’s Point. Beyond 
the Gas Works in Darling Harbour were the A.S.N. Com- 
pany’s Jetties, about 150 feet long; the North Coastal 
wharves; the I.LS.N. Company’s Wharf; the Hunter River 
Company’s and several other small jetties, all devoted to 
the coastal and intercolonial trade. 
An era was marked in the shipping annals of the port 
with the advent of the iron ship. The limitations of timber 
construction had been a serious bar to the growth of the 
size of ships, but this having been removed by the adoption 
of iron construction, great strides were rapidly made. Of 
