FROM NEW ZEALAND TO AUSTRALIA.--ARRIVAL AT SYDNEY.--HOW THE CITY WAS
FOUNDED.--ITS APPEARANCE TO-DAY.--THE PRINCIPAL STREETS, PARKS, AND
SUBURBS.--PUBLIC BUILDINGS.--SHOOTING SYDNEY DUCKS.--THE TRANSPORTATION
SYSTEM.--HOW AUSTRALIA WAS COLONIZED.--LIFE AND TREATMENT OF CONVICTS IN
AUSTRALIA.--THE END OF TRANSPORTATION.--POPULAR ERRORS OF INVOLUNTARY
EMIGRANTS.--THE PAPER COMPASS.--TICKET-OF-LEAVE MEN.--EMANCIPISTS AND
THEIR STATUS.--SYDNEY HARBOR.--STEAM LINES TO ALL PARTS OF THE
WORLD.--CIRCULAR QUAY.--DRY-DOCKS.--EXCURSIONS TO PARAMATTA AND BOTANY
BAY.--HOSPITALITIES OF SYDNEY.
[Illustration: BOUND FOR SYDNEY.]
Steamers of the Union Steamship Company run weekly between the principal
ports of New Zealand and the Australian ports of Sydney and Melbourne.
The Melbourne steamers usually come from that city direct to "The
Bluffs," the port of Invercargill, or to Hokitika, and then make the
circuit of South Island; while the steamers from Sydney run to Auckland,
and make the circuit of North Island, both lines touching at Wellington
as a common and central port. Our friends were fortunate in finding at
The Bluffs a steamer which was going direct to Sydney, and in less than
six hours after their return from Lake Wakatipu they were afloat and
away for their destination, about fourteen hundred miles distant. Six
days later the coast of New South Wales was in sight, and they entered
the Australian continent through the famous Sydney Heads.
[Illustration: ENTRANCE TO PORT JACKSON.]
All the way across from New Zealand they had been listening to the
praises of the beauty and advantages of Sydney Harbor, which were
sounded by some of their fellow-passengers who lived in the capital of
New South Wales. "I doubt if you ever saw anything that approaches it,"
said one; "not even the famous Bays of Lisbon, Rio Janeiro, and New York
can compare with it--so everybody says who has seen them all. The navies
of all the world could anchor there, and I wish they would come some
time in a peaceful way and do so. It would bring a lot of business to
Sydney, and send up the price of naval stores and supplies."
This blending of the practical with the boastful and poetical did not
fail to amuse the listeners. It was overheard by a Melbourne man, who
remarked that it was no more than you could expect of those fellows in
Sydney, who were always on the lookout for something to bolster up the
decaying village they lived in.
[Illustration: GENERAL VIEW OF SYDNEY HARBOR.]
Frank and Fred agreed that the Sydney advocate, whatever might be his
practical view of the anchorage of the navies of the world, was
justified in his praise of the beauty of Port Jackson, while his claims
as to its harbor facilities were not overdrawn. Certainly if there is
any harbor in the world where the navies of the world might anchor, it
is the one at Sydney; the entrance between the Heads is a mile wide, and
vessels drawing twenty-seven feet of water can come in at any time. The
bay extends inland about twenty miles, and is completely landlocked;
there is deep water in most parts of it, and in many places ships can
lie quite close to the shore. The shores are generally bold and rocky,
and some of the cliffs rise to a height of two hundred feet and more.
The borders of the bay consist of a great many promontories jutting into
it, and the spaces between these promontories form little bays or
harbors by themselves. Islands in the bay add to its beauty, and it is
no wonder that Frank and Fred were more than ordinarily enthusiastic
over the harbor of Sydney.
The city stands on Sydney Cove, one of the numberless bays or harbors of
Port Jackson, about four miles from the entrance from the ocean. We will
further remark that fortifications have been erected at the Heads, and
the authorities are confident that a hostile fleet or army coming to
attack them could be successfully resisted. Doctor Bronson told the
youths that the harbor which resembled Port Jackson more nearly than any
other of which he knew, was Avatcha Bay, in Kamchatka. "It has," said
he, "several little bays or harbors around it, just as Port Jackson has,
and is fully as capacious and easy of access. I wish we had a diagram of
it to show to our Australian friends."
"Before we left New Zealand," said Frank in his journal, "Doctor Bronson
telegraphed to an old friend, Mr. Donald Manson, telling him by what
steamer we expected to arrive. Mr. Manson was at the dock to meet us; he
had secured rooms for us at the best hotel, and under his care we saw
everything that was worth seeing in Sydney. Later, in Melbourne, where
he was equally well acquainted, he was similarly attentive, and we
hereby record our unanimous vote of thanks to him for his unvarying and
unwearying politeness. If we tried his patience at any time he never
allowed us to know it, and we found him a perfect encyclopædia in
everything relating to Australia, where he has been a resident for a
goodly number of years.
"One day when a proposition was made to go on a hunting excursion, Fred
innocently suggested that he had read about Sydney ducks, and would like
to shoot some, provided, of course, they were in season. Mr. Manson
suppressed a smile as he answered that the shooting of those peculiar
birds was no longer practised; he then explained that Sydney ducks can
hardly be said to exist at present, the term having been applied to
runaway convicts, ticket-of-leave men, and other waifs and strays, of
the time when Australia was the receptacle of transported criminals from
England and the other British Isles.
"Sydney seems to have been founded by or for these unfortunates. Mr.
Manson told us that the settlement was made here in January, 1788, by
Captain Phillip, who came here with a fleet of store and transport
ships, for the purpose of founding a convict establishment. He had
previously landed in Botany Bay, but finding it unsuitable, had
abandoned it for the future site of Sydney. The name of the place was
given in honor of Viscount Sydney, who first suggested the colonization
of New South Wales, and the bay was called Port Jackson, after Sir
George Jackson, who was then Secretary to the Lords of the Admiralty.
[Illustration: STATUE OF CAPTAIN COOK, SYDNEY.]
"As soon as we had settled ourselves at the hotel, Mr. Manson
accompanied us in a stroll and ride through the principal streets.
'Great changes have taken place here in the past twenty or even ten
years,' said Mr. Manson, as he called our attention to new and
magnificent buildings, which he said occupied the sites of wretched
structures that had only recently given way for the more modern
architecture. Some of the old streets are still narrow and tortuous, but
the new part of Sydney has wider and finer streets, and the
old-fashioned appearance of the city is steadily disappearing. The
principal streets are laid out to the cardinal points of the compass,
and intersect one another at right angles. They are called George, Pitt,
Market, King, and Hunter, the leading one being George Street, which
starts from the water's edge and runs through the city and out into the
country, where it becomes George Street West.
[Illustration: GEORGE III.]
"George Street is named after George III., and Pitt Street after his
Prime-minister. The other principal streets, Macquarie, King, Hunter,
Bligh, and Phillip, bear the names of the early governors, and Mr.
Manson said it was fortunate that the governors were changed often
enough in those days to permit no scarcity of names for the streets.
Here and there we saw some wooden buildings dating from the early days
of the colony; and there is an old hospital, and also an ancient church
which has pews such as we find in the churches of England one or two
hundred years old.
"St. James's Church, the one just mentioned, is old and uncomfortable,
but the cathedral is just the reverse. The public buildings of Sydney
would take several or many pages for their description, and the account
would run the risk of being tedious before reaching the end. When we
remembered the age of the colony they surprised us by their
magnificence. The Government buildings in Macquarie Street, the
Post-office in George Street, the Town-hall, the University, the Crown
Lands Office, and several other edifices would well adorn cities of much
greater age than Sydney, and yet some of the residents complain that
their buildings are not sufficiently grand for their wishes, and suggest
the demolition of some of these structures to make way for finer ones.
St. Andrew's Cathedral was begun in 1819, and has been three times
pulled down and re-erected!
"We can't say much in favor of the street-railways, or tramways, of
Sydney, most of which have steam locomotives to draw the cars. Two cars
are coupled together and drawn by a noisy, puffing engine, stopping at
every other block to receive or discharge passengers. Accidents are said
to be frequent, but of course the managers of the tramways always
declare that the fault is due to the carelessness of the victims. They
have flagmen at some of the more dangerous crossings, but in spite of
them somebody is occasionally run over. Strangers are especially liable
to injury from this cause, as they are often unaware that locomotives
are allowed in the principal streets.
"Our ride was extended to the suburbs; and, without question, no city we
have thus far seen in the Southern Hemisphere has suburbs at all
approaching in attractiveness those of Sydney. First we come to
Wooloomooloo--what a funny word that is to write!--and then we wind
along the coasts of the little bays between the promontories; Elizabeth
Bay, Rose Bay, Double Bay, Rushcutter's Bay, and I don't know how many
other bays and coves, where the well-to-do residents have their villas.
One hundred thousand people are said to live in Sydney proper, and one
hundred and fifty thousand in the suburbs, so that the city, with its
suburbs, has a population of a quarter of a million.
"Fred suggested that he would like to see the park or public garden. Mr.
Manson asked, 'Which one?'
"Fred didn't know, and then our host explained that he had a
considerable number to choose from. 'There is Albert Park,' said he, 'of
forty acres, with a statue of Prince Albert, and opposite to it is Hyde
Park Square, with a statue to Captain Cook, the discoverer of New South
Wales. Then there is the Domain, of one hundred and twenty-eight acres,
surrounding the little bay known as Farm Cove, the Botanical Gardens, of
thirty-eight acres; and we have, in addition, Belmore Park, Prince
Alfred Park, Callan Park, Moore Park, Wentworth Park, and the National
Park; and a few years hence, if you come here again, there will
doubtless be "more parks to hear from."'
[Illustration: AVENUE IN THE BOTANICAL GARDENS.]
"During our stay at Sydney we saw most of the parks named in the
foregoing paragraph, and can testify to their beauty and the
appreciation in which they are held by the inhabitants. The Domain and
the Botanical Gardens were especially attractive; their sites are
beautiful, and the Botanical Gardens contain every plant known in
Australia, together with exotics from nearly every country in the world.
For a student of botany these Gardens would furnish opportunities for
months or years of study.
"In the Botanical Gardens our attention was called to three Norfolk
pines that are said to have been planted here nearly seventy years ago;
one of them is ninety-five feet high, and its circumference, three feet
above the ground, is within a few inches of five yards. The other two of
the cluster are taller than this one, but not so large in girth. Then
they showed us a she-oak tree, which is said to give forth, when the air
is perfectly still, a sound like the murmur of a sea-shell. Another
curious growth is the Australian musk-tree, which constantly gives out
an odor which is perceptible several yards away. Trees and plants from
tropical and semi-arctic regions grow here side by side; the Canada fir
almost touching the Indian bamboo, and the Siberian larch mingling its
branches with those of the palm and the banyan.
"In the evening and on the following day, Mr. Manson introduced us to
all the officials of prominence, and to many of the leading citizens. It
was a severe brain-tax to remember all their names, but we shall try to
do honor to our country in this particular. We have been invited to so
many houses that if we should stay here a month we could not exhaust the
list, and probably by the time the end was reached a new list would be
formed. The Australians are certainly a hospitable people, and the
stranger has a 'lovely time' among them."
At their first opportunity Frank and Fred informed themselves about the
early history of the colony. Among other curious things Fred made the
following note:
"It seems that the people of the United States are indirectly
responsible for the settlement of Australia by convicts. Here is a
paragraph from page 18 of 'The Official History of New South Wales,' by
Thomas Richards, Government Printer, and Registrar of Copyright.
[Illustration: CANDIDATES FOR TRANSPORTATION.]
"'... Whilst America was subject to England, British offenders,
political or otherwise, were transported to the southern colonies of
that continent, or to the West Indies, where they were in the first
instance employed chiefly in the production of tobacco. The consumption
of tobacco was large, and the revenue derived therefrom considerable,
Virginia and Maryland being the chief producers. The American colonies
having revolted against British rule in 1776, and after a long and
severe struggle gained their independence, England sought a new field
for colonization, and first tried the coast of Africa, but found it
unhealthy. Her attention was then turned to Australia, the eligibility
of which for the purpose had been spreading since Cook's famous voyage
thither in 1768. Accordingly, a fleet of eleven sail, carrying more than
one thousand souls, was assembled at Portsmouth, in the month of March,
1787, to proceed to Australia.'"
Fred read the foregoing extract to Frank. The latter listened earnestly,
and then remarked:
"I don't see that times have greatly changed after all. England still
sends us her convicts and paupers, the only difference being that she
turns them loose upon us instead of deriving something for their forced
labor. Her example is followed by most of the continental nations, and
thus we get the human rubbish of the Old World, just as we did before
the Revolutionary War."
Fred then went on to say that the colony by which Sydney was founded
numbered one thousand and thirty persons, including seven hundred and
fifty-seven convicts, among whom were one hundred and ninety-two women
and eighteen children. Besides the officers, there were one hundred and
sixty soldiers, with forty of their wives; the live-stock included
cattle, sheep, horses, pigs, and goats; and there was a large stock of
seeds from the tropic and temperate zones. The natives did not oppose
the landing, as they supposed it was only temporary. When they found
that the settlement was a permanent one they became hostile, and many
murders resulted, caused, no doubt, in great measure by the outrages
committed by the convicts. Ships from England followed steadily, each
one bringing its quota of convicts, and in a few years Sydney had quite
a city-like appearance.[9]
[9] On the 24th of January, 1888, the celebration of the centenary of
New South Wales was begun, the occasion being the anniversary of the
landing of the first governor of the colony. Lady Carrington, the wife
of the Governor, unveiled a statue of Queen Victoria in the presence of
the governors of all the Australian colonies, including New Zealand and
Feejee. The festival extended over a week, and included the dedication
of Centennial Park, the opening of the Agricultural Society's
exhibition, and an international regatta and state banquets. On the
26th, the anniversary of Governor Phillip's proclaiming at Sydney Cove
the founding of the colony, there was a general illumination. The city
was crowded with visitors, and the gathering thoroughly represented
Australia. Special thanksgiving services were held on the opening day in
the Anglican and Catholic cathedrals. The ceremonies in the Catholic
cathedral were attended by the archbishop and all the bishops of
Australia. Centennial Hall is one of the largest halls in the world, and
is on the site of the old burial-ground of one hundred years ago.
Melbourne celebrated the centennial year of the settlement of Australia
by a World's Exhibition, to which all nations were invited. South
Australia had an International Exhibition at Adelaide in 1887, similar
to the exhibitions of Sydney and Melbourne a few years earlier.
Free emigration began a few years after the establishment of the colony,
as just described, the earliest of the free emigrants being principally
men of capital, who came with the object of employing the convicts under
contracts with the Government. Free emigrants of more modest means
naturally followed, and in course of time the free settlers were more
numerous than the convicts and military combined. In 1831, out of 76,793
persons in the colony 27,831 were convicts.
[Illustration: SYDNEY AND ITS HARBOR.]
In the early part of this century Australia had three classes of
inhabitants--free settlers, convicts, and emancipists--the latter being
convicts who had served out their sentences and become free men. The
free settlers refused to associate with them, and they in turn would not
associate with the convicts; the free settlers were inclined to be
tyrannical, and wished to have the emancipists deprived of civil rights,
and long and bitter quarrels were the result of their demands. The
governors generally took the side of the emancipists as a matter of
justice, and thus made themselves unpopular with the rest of the colony.
While studying the early history of the Australian colonies, Frank and
Fred obtained considerable information from a gentleman who seemed to be
thoroughly familiar with the subject. As he made no allusion in any way
to his ancestry, the youths thought it just possible that he might be
the son or grandson of one of the "involuntary emigrants" of early days.
Desiring to respect his reserve as much as possible, they did not make
any entry of his name in their note-books. Their suspicions were
strengthened by a remark which he dropped, that it was not considered
polite in Australian society to ask who and what a man's father was.
"The term 'convict' is of course odious," said he, "no matter what the
circumstance that has caused it to be applied to a man. Many of the
convicts who were sent to Australia owed their transportation to no
worse offences than sympathizing with a rebellion, snaring a hare, or
catching a fish out of somebody's preserved pond. I knew a man who was
transported for seven years for nothing else than twisting the neck of a
partridge, and his case was very far from being a solitary one. In the
eye of the British law he was a criminal, a convict; but in the eye of
common-sense and humanity his respectability was not greatly tarnished.
The Irish rebellion of 1798 caused great numbers of Irishmen to be
transported; they were treated as criminals, and all sorts of
indignities were heaped upon them, but their only crime was that of
seeking to free their country."
Frank asked how the convicts were treated on the voyage from England to
Australia and after they arrived there.
"According to all accounts," was the reply, "they were very cruelly
used. On the transport-ships they were closely herded together, poorly
fed, and severely flogged for the least infraction of the rules. Many
died on the voyage in consequence of the inhuman treatment they
received; in some cases the deaths were a fourth of the entire number.
On their arrival in Australia they were put at work in Government
establishments, or on public roads and wharves, or were hired out to
agricultural and other colonists. You must remember that those were the
days of brute force, and no officer in charge of convicts ever thought
of such a thing as moral suasion and kindness, however much combined
with firmness. Flogging was of daily and almost hourly occurrence, and
administered for trivial offences; a historian of the colony says that
any man who failed to go to church on Sundays received twenty lashes on
his bare back. Prisoners were put in irons often at the mere caprice of
their keepers, their food was scanty, their clothing often insufficient
for the weather, and if a man ventured to run away he was pursued by
blood-hounds and bull-dogs and brought back, unless killed by the
natives or dead from starvation.
[Illustration: THE TOWN HALL, SYDNEY.]
"Settlements were formed at several places along the coast of Australia
and in Van Dieman's Land (now Tasmania). The first convict settlement in
Tasmania was on a peninsula, and a row of bull-dogs was chained across
the narrow isthmus that connected the peninsula with the main-land, so
close together that it was impossible for a man to pass between any two
of them."
"I suppose the prisoners rarely managed to escape?" said Frank.
"Very rarely," said the gentleman. "There were many runaways, but they
were generally brought back and punished, and if their escape was
accompanied with violence they were hanged or shot. In the bush they
were liable to starve, and many a convict's bones are whitening where he
perished of hunger; the natives were hostile, and if a runaway escaped
recapture and starvation, he was very likely to fall before the spear of
a black man.
"Some of the Irish convicts of 1798 were so struck by the similarity
between the Blue Mountains, about eighty miles from Sydney, and the
Connaught Hills of Ireland that they rushed off expecting to reach their
homes without difficulty. One man who had tried on the voyage out to
fathom the mystery of the mariner's compass felt sure that he could find
his way home if he only had the thing to steer by. He stole a copy of a
work on navigation, and tore out the first leaf, which had the picture
of a compass upon it. His theft was detected and punished, and he never
had an opportunity to try his system of paper-compass navigation.
"A goodly portion of the emigrants thought China was only a little way
overland from Sydney, and many tried to reach it. There used to be a
story of a runaway who had wandered for days in the bush, and suddenly
came to a hut in which was an acquaintance. He anxiously asked how his
friend had got to China, and was much astonished to learn that he had
reached a farm a few miles from Sydney, and his acquaintance had been
hired there as a laborer.
[Illustration: SENTENCED TO HARD LABOR.]
"If you wish to learn how the convicts were brought from England to
Australia," continued their informant to Frank and Fred, "how they lived
when they got here, and how they were treated, read a story entitled
'His Natural Life,' by Marcus Clarke, an Australian journalist and
littérateur. In the form of a novel he has preserved much of the history
of the old convict days. It is not altogether agreeable reading, though
it is instructive.
"All the colonists except the convicts themselves, and they had no voice
in the matter, protested against Australia being peopled by these
objectionable individuals, and protest after protest was made to the
Home Government. These protests had their effect, and in 1840
transportation to New South Wales came to an end; an attempt was
afterwards made to renew it, but was never carried out. It was continued
later in Van Dieman's Land and other colonies, and in West Australia
until 1868, when it was brought to an end, not so much at the wish of
the people of West Australia as of those of the other colonies.
"And let me say in conclusion," he remarked, "that there are many
prominent citizens of Australia whose fathers or grandfathers were
transported, and nobody in his senses thinks any the worse of them in
consequence. There are some gentlemen high in official position--of
course it would not be polite for me to name them--who are thus
descended, and so are some of the wealthiest and most prominent citizens
in civil life. Everybody may be aware of it, but nobody talks of it in
public.
"In our political contests the opposing candidates use as hard language
about one another as the same class of men do in political contests in
the United States; they may say anything they please except that the man
they are denouncing is the descendant of a transported convict. Whenever
this is done, although the statement may be perfectly true, the injured
man can bring a suit for slander, and be certain of high damages. Only a
few years ago an aspirant for office was compelled to pay ten thousand
pounds for saying in a public speech that the man against whom he was
contending was the son of an 'involuntary emigrant' from England."
The gentleman paused, and Fred took the opportunity to ask what a
ticket-of-leave man was in the days of transportation.
[Illustration: VIEW OF SYDNEY FROM PYRMOND, DARLING HARBOR.]
"As to that," was the reply, "tickets-of-leave are in use to-day in
other countries as well as in England, though they are not known by that
name. In the United States you have a system of remitting part of a
sentence in case of good conduct, and we do the same in England. Well,
this is what the ticket-of-leave was in Australia: a man received a
conditional pardon consequent upon good conduct up to the time it was
granted, and also conditioned upon continued good conduct during the
time it was in force. In Australia a ticket-of-leave man was required to
remain in a certain prescribed district, where his conduct could be
observed; in practice it often happened that the man ran away and sought
a home elsewhere than under the British flag. A good many
ticket-of-leave men found their way to the Feejee, Samoa, Society, and
other islands of the Pacific, where they led lives that often were not
in accordance with civilized rules. In consequence of their violation of
the permit granted them, they were always greatly alarmed when a British
ship appeared in the offing.
[Illustration: HOME OF AN EMANCIPIST.]
"Many ticket-of-leave men became good citizens; some of them obtained
grants of land, and established farms where they supported themselves,
and not a few of this class became prosperous and wealthy. The mechanics
found plenty of occupation in the cities and towns, and thus there
gradually grew up a population of emancipists, who have been mentioned
already. In the disputes about the rights of the emancipists their cause
was warmly espoused by Governor Macquarie, who earned the title of 'The
Prisoner's Friend.' Some excesses followed the adoption of this policy,
but the colony was benefited by it, and ultimately all classes of
freemen were admitted to an equal footing, and the cessation of
transportation in time caused a perfect commingling of classes and an
extinction of the old feud."
[Illustration: A TICKET-OF-LEAVE MAN.]
The conversation terminated here, and the youths thanked their
informant for what he had told them on this interesting subject. They
closed their note-books as soon as the interview ended, and then went
out for a stroll. Curious to see the shipping in the harbor, they
directed their steps to the Circular Quay, the modern name of Sydney
Cove, where the original expedition landed, in 1788. The founders of the
settlement could hardly recognize the cove should they revisit it
to-day.
"Circular Quay," said Fred, in his account of their walk, "is at the
head of the cove, and has a length of one thousand three hundred feet,
available for the largest vessels. It has piers and pavilions for the
ferry-steamers, which are numerous and active, and the Government has
made a liberal expenditure for extending the wharfage accommodations and
erecting sheds for the storage of goods. The Australian Steam Navigation
Company have their wharves here, and several of their vessels were
loading or discharging at Circular Quay all at once.
"To give an idea of the commerce of Sydney with other parts of the
world, let me mention the various steamship lines whose vessels were
visible from this quay. One of the first to come within our line of
vision was a great steamer of the Peninsular & Oriental Company,
familiarly known as the 'P. & O.,' and not far from it was another
equally large steamer belonging to the Orient line. Each of these
companies has a fortnightly service each way between England and
Australia, and the sharp competition between them has had the effect of
reducing the price of passage and securing rapid voyages. A little
farther away was a steamer flying the tricolor of France; it belonged to
the 'Compagnie des Messageries Maritimes,' a rival of the P. & O. in
Asiatic waters, and at the principal ports of Asiatic and Australasian
lands. The Austrian flag was visible on a steamer of the Austrian
Lloyds, and the German flag upon a magnificent vessel of the North
German Lloyds, or 'Bremen Line.'
[Illustration: JUST ARRIVED IN PORT.]
"Australia has an abundance of steam communication with the rest of the
world. The P. & O. line has a fortnightly service each way between
London and Sydney _via_ the Suez Canal, the other Australian ports
included in its itinerary being Melbourne, Adelaide, and King George's
Sound; the Orient line has a similar fortnightly service, also by the
Suez Canal, but omits King George's Sound from its list of Australian
ports. The North German Lloyds has a service each way every four weeks
between Sydney and Bremen, its Australian ports being Sydney, Melbourne,
and Adelaide; the Messageries Maritimes--French mail-line--has a similar
four-weekly service each way between Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and
Marseilles. Then there is a four-weekly service each way of the British
India Steam Navigation Company, between Brisbane and Aden, connecting at
Aden with the same company's line, to and from London, and touching at
Batavia, Java, on every voyage. The New Zealand Shipping Company and the
Shaw Savill & Albion Company have each a four-weekly service from London
to New Zealand by way of the Cape of Good Hope and Hobart, Tasmania,
and their steamers return to London by way of the Strait of Magellan,
Rio Janeiro, and the Canary Islands. Last, but by no means least, is the
four-weekly service each way between Sydney and San Francisco, which has
been already mentioned.
[Illustration: SHIP YARD SCENE.]
"All these steamship lines receive subsidies from the colonial
governments, and all, with the exception of the American one, receive
subsidies from their home governments. It is a curious circumstance, and
a humiliating one, to Americans in Australia or having relations with
the antipodes, that the American line between San Francisco and
Australia is subsidized by the colonies, but receives nothing from the
United States, under whose flag it sails. Our commerce with Australia
and New Zealand now exceeds twelve millions of dollars annually, and
could be greatly increased by the encouragement of regular and permanent
steam communication with the colonies.
"An officer of one of the steamers running to San Francisco spoke to us,
and remarked that he had met us in the last-named city just as we were
taking passage for Honolulu. He told us we could start from Sydney for
'Greenland's icy mountains or India's coral strand,' or for any other
mountains or strands on the globe. 'That wharf to the east,' said he,
'is called Wooloomooloo; it was built at a heavy cost, but the water
near it is too shallow for sea-going vessels of the deepest draught, and
it is principally used for coasting-vessels, of which you see there are
a great many.'
"Then he told us that Darling Harbor, on the western side of the city,
had its entire frontage covered with wharves and quays. Grafton Wharf,
with its building, covers an area of more than three acres. As for
dry-dock accommodations, he pronounced Sydney one of the best ports he
had ever seen. There are two or three docks that were good enough for
the ships of twenty years ago, but are of less importance to-day. A few
years ago the Government built a dock four hundred and fifty feet long,
and wide in proportion, and it was thought sufficient for all
necessities for years to come; but hardly was it completed before it was
found too short for the largest modern steamships, and so another has
been built that is six hundred and eighty feet long, one hundred and
eight feet wide between the walls, and eighty-five feet in the
entrance-gate. How long will it be before they will find this dock too
small for the wants of commerce?
"In one year (1885) the number of British and foreign ships that entered
Port Jackson was 2601, with an aggregate tonnage of 2,088,307 tons.
There are several ship building and repairing establishments here; that
of the Australian Steam Navigation Company alone covers more than six
acres, and employs nearly five hundred persons. A hundred years ago this
was a howling wilderness; that is, if the Australian savages were
accustomed to howl, and I presume they were.
"We could give figures about Sydney that would make your head 'an
ant-hill of units and tens,' as Doctor Holmes says; but perhaps you've
had enough to convince you of the importance of the city. It has six
daily papers, weeklies so numerous that the list would be monotonous,
and as for schools, churches, hospitals, clubs, hotels, and other
institutions of a great city, there are all that could be reasonably
expected. As to manufacturing industries, it has a great many factories,
founderies, and engineering establishments; for clothing alone there are
more than fifty factories, employing from fifty to four hundred hands
each, and the other manufacturing concerns are in similar proportion."
[Illustration: ON THE PARAMATTA RIVER.]
Our friends went on a steamboat excursion to Paramatta, which lies up
the river of the same name, about fifteen miles from Sydney. Next to
Sydney, it is the oldest town in the colony, having been founded in
November, 1788; it was originally called Rosehill, but the name was
afterwards changed to the aboriginal one of Par-a-mat-ta. The first
grain raised in the colony was grown at Paramatta, and here the earliest
grants of land were made to convicts who had served their time at hard
labor and were entitled to become colonists. It is now a prosperous town
with from eight to ten thousand inhabitants, and has a considerable
business in manufacturing. Along the banks of the river and in the
neighborhood of Paramatta, there are many flower-gardens, from which
Sydney is abundantly supplied with boutonnieres, bouquets, and huge
baskets of flowers at all seasons of the year.
[Illustration: IRRIGATING AN ORANGE GROVE.]
"Our chief interest in Paramatta," said Fred, "was to see the
orange-groves, which have made the place famous throughout Australia. We
were accompanied by a gentleman who was well known both in Paramatta and
in Sydney, and he took us at once to the orangery of the late Mr. Pye,
who devoted the greater part of his life to the introduction and
cultivation of this excellent fruit. They told us that more than ten
thousand oranges had been gathered in one season from a single tree! We
have never eaten finer oranges in any part of the world than at
Paramatta, and the other fruits grown in the orchards of the place are
said to be equally good in their season. The oranges are best in
December, but they are gathered ripe during every month of the year. Of
course they wanted us to inspect some of the factories, hospitals, and
other public buildings, but our time was too limited, and were returned
to Sydney by railway instead of taking the steamboat back again."
Other excursions were made in the suburbs of Sydney, and Doctor Bronson
and his nephews received invitations to visit some of the interior towns
of the colony. One of their excursions was to Botany Bay, which lies
five miles from Sydney by land, the distance by sea being fully fifteen
miles. A horse-railway connects the village with Sydney, and the ride is
quite a pretty one. The chief object of interest is the monument which
marks the spot where Captain Cook landed in 1770, and took possession of
the place in the name of the British Crown.
The consideration of the up-country invitations was postponed until the
return of the party from Queensland, whither they went as soon as the
sights of Sydney were exhausted. How they went and what they saw will be
told in the next chapter.