CHAPTER V.
Towns
of New South Wales—Sydney—The Harbour—English air of Sydney —The
Market—Hyde-park—Emancipists—Appearance of the city—Streets-—Public
buildings—Botanic Garden—Public institutions—Religious
establishments—Manufactures—Bishoprics—Presbyteries—Revenue—Bathurst —
Paramatta — Newcastle — Maitland — Morpeth—Windsor— Berrima —
Wollongong—Boyd Town—Liverpool—Penrith—Appin—Port Macquarie —Roads.
SYDNEY.
This
city, the capital of the Australian colonies, and if we are to attach
any importance to the aspirations of the colonists, to become, at no
distant date, the metropolis of the Australian empire, is situated on
the southern shores of Port Jackson. On approaching the city from the
heads, it has an imposing appearance, and when we take into
consideration the comparatively short period of the existence of the
colony, the wonder is that such a city should have sprung up within
that period; its wealth having been entirely of its own creation—the
country not possessing a single article of commerce which has not been
introduced by the settlers. In this respect, New South Wales was almost
alone among the countries of the earth—of which there are few which do
not contain some of the exportable necessaries of life, but in
Australia nothing exportable was indigenous—all has been created by the
energy of the colonists.
From such insignificant beginnings, and with a society, for
