VI. NORMAN SELFE. 



Hyde Park and the Domain ; but his successors disposed of nearly- 

 half the township by leases which practically amounted to grants. 



Bligh, who was Governor from August, 1806, to January, 1808, 

 found the public reserve covered by huts and farms, and began 

 operations to restore it to the Crown by cancelling leases of 

 reserved lands, notably that on Church Hill, leased to Mac Arthur. 

 Trespassers on the Domain — which then came up to Phillip-street 

 — were warned, and many who did not move had their buildings 

 razed. 



Deputy Surveyor-General Meehan was then instructed by Bligh 

 to prepare a new plan of the town, which provided, for the first 

 time, for a proper aligning of the streets. Previously to this, the 

 tenements were set down at the sweet will of the occupier, and 

 more or less in line, in what were known as "The Rows." This 

 was all changed under Meehan, but Governor Bligh's drastic 

 reform brought him into conflict with the military, and led to a 

 suspension of the civil authority — this is a matter of common 

 history. 



Suveyor-General Grimes (who had in the meantime surveyed 

 Port Hunter, Port Stephen, and Bass' Straits) afterwards took a 

 trip to England, and on his return joined the military faction in 

 its opposition to Bligh's policy. Grimes then was again sent to 

 England with Major Johnstone's despatches in connection with 

 the deposition of Governor Bligh. 



The military rule which followed under Major Johnstone,. 

 Colonel Foveaux, and Colonel Paterson, seems to have led to 

 another period of non-progress, during which engineers were at a 

 discount, and public works at a standstill. With the advent of 

 Governor Macquarie, on January 1st, 1810, everything was 

 changed, material progress became the order of the day, and 

 engineering came to the front again. 



It would be impossible to enumerate here the whole of the 

 public works executed under the sway of this progressive ruler, 

 for, including those in Tasmania, the list fills ten pages of a 



