PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 35 



Sydney Harbour. 

 Twenty-five years ago practically the whole of the 

 wharfage of the port was under private ownership. The 

 State Government had built some wharfage at the head of 

 Woolioomooloo Bay and round Circular Quay. Besides this, 

 the next piece of Government wharfage was the iron wharf 

 at the head of Darling Harbour. A start was about to be 

 made at Darling Island on a frontage quay which was 

 intended to connect it to the main land. 



The private wharfage extended in an unbroken line from 

 the west side of Circular Quay to the head of Darling 

 Harbour. The majority of the wharves were jetties, nar- 

 row, without cover, and having from 80 to 90 feet of water- 

 way between. There was an absence of system in the lay- 

 out, many of them converging towards the outer ends so 

 that they could not be lengthened without blocking access. 

 The access from the shore was cramped and utterly inade- 

 quate; some of the wharves were reached by vehicular 

 lifts which caused great obstruction to traffic. 



With the increase in the size of vessels an impossible 

 position was reached. Woolioomooloo and the Circular 

 Quay could not furnish sufficient berthage. In addition, the 

 private wharfage was in a gravely, insanitary condition, 

 owing to the cheap and unsuitable construction of the sea 

 walls and wharf sheds. The water front was infested with 

 rats which became infected with plague introduced from 

 foreign parts. 



The whole situation in connection with the shipping was 

 so bad, that in 1900 the Government decided to resume the 

 whole of the wharfage along the city front from Woolioo- 

 mooloo Bay to Darling Island. This was accomplished by 

 Act of Parliament in the same year, the value of the 

 properties resumed being £4,831,532. The resumption 

 extended well back from the water front between Dawes 



