82 
FROM CAPE OF GOOD HOPE TO SYDNEY 
colony. Whether on account of its sheltered position amidst the gently undulating hills by 
which it is surrounded, or its more homely and rural aspect as compared with Sydney, or its 
genial atmosphere, Paramatta is one of those places which irresistibly tempt the traveller to 
murmur, “ Here would I set up my tent ! ” It is some pleasant country-town of England, 
transplanted, as if by the stroke of a magician’s wand, under the warm and sunny sky of 
Australia. It is the old country, without its chilly damp air, and its occasional clouds of 
smoke ; and Thomson’s lines rise to memory— 
“ Do not the skies, with active ether clean, 
And fanned by sprightly zephyrs, far surpass 
The foul November fogs?” 
The old-fashioned architecture of Government House, with its park-like surroundings, further 
helps the illusion. The green lawn, the avenues of trees, the gate-lodge, and the facade 
itself, suggest the demesne of an English country gentleman. 
PARAMATTA, FROM THE GROUNDS OF OLD GOVERNMENT HOUSE. 
Paramatta is the junction of four lines of railway. Of these one runs eastward towards 
Sydney, another penetrates the romantic valleys of the Blue Mountains to westward ; a third 
line traverses in a south-westerly direction the districts which lie between the sea and the 
mountains; the fourth proceeds in a north-westerly direction towards the township of 
Windsor. The day—not far distant—when the railways of New South Wales are joined to 
those of Victoria, will commence a new era in the history of the sister colonies. Petersham 
is a station on one of these lines, and is a very agreeable suburb of Sydney, a few miles from 
the city; and one at least of our voyagers must preserve pleasant memories of the spot. It 
may not be inappropriate here to record the experience that the Australian colonist is no 
whit behind the genuine Briton in cordiality and open-handed hospitality; nor could the 
ladies be fairly asked to yield the palm to their English sisters for the grace with which they 
adorn the domestic circle, and render more grateful to the weather-beaten wanderer the 
amenities and comforts of civilised life. 
which 
In a recently colonised land like Australia, nothing is more interesting than the contrast 
presents itself at every step between the uncivilised past—which, though it has left 
